Friday, October 6, 2023

NLWCS Game 2 - Nola's Gem, Stott's Slam Sink Fish


Phillies 7
, Marlins 1
NLWCS Game 2 - Wednesday Night, October 4th in Philadelphia
Phillies win series, 2-0

One Sentence Summary:  Aaron Nola pitched a gem, and a sixth inning grand slam from Bryson Stott sent the Phillies to the next round of the 2023 playoffs.

What It Means:  The Phillies made quick work of the Marlins and they'll head to Atlanta to open the best-of-five NLDS on Saturday night.

What Happened:  Nola was on, and he pitched seven shutout innings allowing just three hits and a walk.  He was aided by solid defense in the outfield and a pair of timely double plays.  Orion Kerkering made his postseason debut with a scoreless eighth inning, and Gregory Soto allowed a ninth inning run before clinching the win.

The Phillies offense provided a few huge hits.  In the third, Cristian Pache walked and Kyle Schwarber doubled him home with a sharp ground ball that went just pass the Marlins' first baseman.  Trea Turner would single Schwarber home to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.  In the third, J.T. Realmuto hit the first home run of the Phillies' postseason, a solo shot to left.  In the sixth, and essentially ending the Marlins' season, Alec Bohm laced a lead-off double to left, Bryce Harper walked and Nick Castellanos reached on an error by third baseman Jake Burger to load the bases.  With Marlins' reliever Andrew Nardi on the mound, Stott crushed the first pitch he saw into the right field bleachers and the Phillies fans collectively started thinking about taking on the Braves.


Featured Card:  With apologies to Nola, the key moment of this game was Stott's big swing.

Field Report:  We were back!  (I'm still tired.)  We had seats in the Diamond Club for this game, and we arrived a little later to the ballpark than the night before.  A Shake Shack burger was on the menu for Doug while I opted for a grilled sausage with onions and peppers, before watching Jamie Moyer throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  Once we made our way to our seats, we didn't move for the duration of the game and on more than one occasional my Apple Watch alerted me that noise levels were dangerously loud.  "Didn't move" probably isn't the right descriptive here as we were on our feet more often than not.  Stott's slam was perhaps the loudest and most raucous moment I've experienced at the ballpark.

After years and years of mediocre to bad baseball between 2012 and 2021, I'm making sure to soak in every moment of good baseball from this Phillies team.

No comments: