Friday, November 4, 2022

World Series Game 5 - Phils Can't Push Across Runs

Astros 3, Phillies 2
World Series Game 5 - Thursday Night, November 3rd in Philadelphia
Astros lead series, 3-2

One Sentence Summary:  A few misplays in the field and the lack of clutch hitting downed the Phillies in this 3-2 loss, as the World Series heads back to Houston for a do or die Game 6.

What It Means:  I still believe.

What Happened / Featured Card:  Two Astros runs scored as a result of fielding issues by the Phillies.  In the first, Jose Altuve doubled and then went to third when center fielder Brandon Marsh misplayed the ball.  Altuve would easily score on a Jeremy Pena single, with Noah Syndergaard striking out the next two batters and J.T. Realmuto gunning down Pena at second on an attempted steal.  Syndergaard allowed a solo home run to Pena in the fourth before departing.  In the eighth, the Astros scored the eventual winning run when Rhys Hoskins couldn't cleanly field a ground ball hit by Yordan Alvarez, allowing Altuve to score.  Had Hoskins come up with the ball and thrown home, Altuve almost certainly would have been out.

Not to be overlooked here, Connor Brogdon did an amazing job out of the bullpen for two innings, allowing a hit and striking out five.

The Phillies offense had their chances between a lead-off home run from Kyle Schwarber in the first and an RBI single from Jean Segura in the eighth.  They loaded the bases in the second, with Hoskins striking out  to end the inning.  They had a runner in scoring position again in the third, fifth, sixth, eighth innings and went 1 for 7 overall in those clutch spots, with 12 runners stranded on base throughout the game.  In the ninth, Realmuto launched what should have been at least a double to deep center field, with Chas McCormick making a leaping catch to stun Realmuto and the crowd of nearly 46,000.  Following a Bryce Harper hit by pitch, Nick Castellanos grounded out weakly to shortstop to end the game.


Field Report:  Doug and I were back again, for the fourth night in a row, watching this game from the back of Section 105 in right field.  Also for the fourth night in a row, Doug had his standard Bull's BBQ order - pulled pork platter with slaw on top, corn bread and baked beans for sides.  We spent most of our time pregame standing in the front of our section hoping for a stray baseball from one of the Astros shagging batting practice fly balls.  Doug, much like the Phillies in this game, came away empty.

The crowd was much more into this game then they were Wednesday night for Game 4.  We rarely sat and from our vantage point, it seemed as if Realmuto's ninth inning fly ball had gone out.  We departed the ballpark after the Castellanos ground out to end the game, thankful for the opportunity to witness Phillies postseason baseball, but hoping for two more wins in Houston.


No comments: