Game 93 - Tuesday Night, July 20th in New York
Record - 47-46, 2nd Place, 2 1/2 games behind the Mets
One Sentence Summary: A struggling Aaron Nola, a costly error from Didi Gregorius and two ineffective Phillies relievers all contributed to this 6-4 loss in the Bronx.
What It Means: The Phillies will go with a bullpen game tonight and try to earn a two-game series split.
What Happened: Nola was chased in the sixth inning, having allowed four runs on seven hits, including two home runs. A fifth inning throwing error from Gregorius allowed the Yankees to score the tying run and they didn't look back after that. Brandon Kintzler (7.66 ERA) and Enyel De Los Santos (6.94 ERA) both allowed additional home runs in their sole innings of work. Bryce Harper and Ronald Torreyes each had a pair of hits, with Rhys Hoskins and Andrew McCutchen contributing solo home runs.
Featured Card: The on field story here is that Nola has not been consistently effective this year for the Phillies. In 19 starts, he's now 6-6 with a 4.64 ERA and in 10 of those starts, he's not made it through the sixth inning. The off field story is that Nola has called his decision not to receive the Covid vaccination a "personal choice" and according to various reports, at least half of the Phillies have made a similar personal choice. This has the effect of necessitating sudden roster scrambling, as shown below, and it also puts the team in a disadvantage against three other forces - the rest of the league and teams with a majority of vaccinated players, their fans wary of people who continue to not trust science and receive their news and guidance from questionable sources and finally, science. I've long been a fan of Nola's and he's been a strong community advocate for Philadelphia and the ALS Association in particular. But I need to look at him, and his teammates, in a different light now and that's my personal choice. The difference is that my personal choice won't cause anyone potential illness and won't contribute to the Phillies potentially missing the postseason again.
Transactions: Zach Eflin (rhp), JD Hammer (rhp) and Bailey Falter (lhp) all landed on the injured list. Eflin with a right knee injury and the latter two relievers because of Covid protocols. Nola (rhp) was activated and Mauricio Llovera (rhp) and Mickey Moniak (of) were recalled.
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