 |
 |
NLDS Game 4 - Saturday Afternoon, October 15th in Philadelphia
Phillies win series, 3-1
One Sentence Summary: Behind the stabilizing force of a bullpen game (!), a three-run home run from Brandon Marsh and a seemingly relentless offense, the Phillies stunned the Braves and the baseball world by easily defeating the defending World Champions and advancing the the League Championship Series.
What It Means: Writing this on Sunday evening, I'm still not sure this has all sunk in. The Phillies, who were swept by the Cubs on September 29th, prompting me to use "Collapse Seems Imminent" as a game summary headline, are advancing to the NLCS to face off against the Padres beginning on Tuesday night. It's surreal.
What Happened / Featured Card: A bullpen game! The Braves managed four hits, three of which were harmless solo home runs. Noah Syndergaard, Andrew Bellatti, Brad Hand, Jose Alvarado, Zach Eflin and Seranthony Dominguez combined to strike out 15 and walk none. Hard to believe.
What It Means: Writing this on Sunday evening, I'm still not sure this has all sunk in. The Phillies, who were swept by the Cubs on September 29th, prompting me to use "Collapse Seems Imminent" as a game summary headline, are advancing to the NLCS to face off against the Padres beginning on Tuesday night. It's surreal.
What Happened / Featured Card: A bullpen game! The Braves managed four hits, three of which were harmless solo home runs. Noah Syndergaard, Andrew Bellatti, Brad Hand, Jose Alvarado, Zach Eflin and Seranthony Dominguez combined to strike out 15 and walk none. Hard to believe.
Alec Bohm led off the second by lining a single off the elbow of Braves' starter Charlie Morton. Jean Segura singled next, setting up Marsh for his three-run home run to right center field. An inning later, J.T. Realmuto would become the first catcher to hit an inside-the-park home run in the postseason, circling the bases and aided by right fielder Ronald Acuna, who never ran towards center to try to corral the ball. In the sixth, and to provide insurance runs that proved to be unneeded, Rhys Hoskins, Realmuto and Bryce Harper delivered three straight singles to make it a 7-2 ballgame. Harper added an exclamation point with a solo home run in the eighth, his second of the postseason.
In the top of the ninth, with no one sitting in the entire ballpark, Dominguez struck out the side (Dansby Swanson, Matt Olson and Travis d'Arnaud) on 20 pitches to send the Phillies back to the NLCS for the first time since 2010.
Field Report: Doug and I rushed from his morning baseball game to get to Citizens Bank Park about an hour before first pitch. We enjoyed a lunch from Bull's, settled into our seats, and joined nearly 46,000 other fans in hanging on every pitch thrown, from Pat Burrell's cermonial first pitch to the 99.7 mph sinker thrown by Dominguez to end the game. We waved our red rally towels, cheered Marsh and Realmuto and Alvarado, jeered the Braves, and stayed about an hour after the last out was recorded just to take it all in. We had seats towards the back of Section 113, while my brother-in-law and his wife were seated closer to the field. We all met up after the game, collectively in shock by what we had just experienced.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment