Baseball
Phillies score flashing style and power, Clinch N.L.C.S. Atlanta’s
The Phillies score was third in their division in 2022 after they fired a manager. After removing the World Series champions, they will now be competing for a pennant.
PHILADELPHIA — Not many places would be so quick to seize a visiting team’s signature, contentious chant, and make it into a rhythmic one.
The fake Native American war chant, known as the “tomahawk cut”, which is often celebrated in Atlanta but repeatedly condemned for being racist everywhere else, pulsed through Citizens Bank Park’s stands on Saturday. It was a mockery of a rival’s misfortunes.
The Phillies were aiming to secure a spot in the National League Championship Series. They surged early. Fans would also be taunting if there were to be dethronement of the team that won last year’s World Series.
In the second inning, there were plenty of barbs and provocations. The Phillies used bold baserunning and a lot of power to defeat Atlanta 8-3 in Game 4. The Phillies won under a bright Philadelphia sky, with the cityscape and outfield fences framing the game, to end the best-of-5 showdown.
The Phillies’ persistent October march into the N.L.C.S. this year, which will start on Tuesday, will not be a matter of luck. It will pit the Phillies against either the Dodgers or the Padres. The Phillies, after a disappointing regular season that saw a managerial firing, a third-place finish in the division, and a scraping for the playoffs, have begun a systematic disassembly.
The Central Division champions are the Cardinals. Swept in St. Louis in a wild-card round. The Braves, reigning World Series champions? The division series was so confusing that one could only wonder if the Phillies actually had 101 wins in the regular season (and not 87).
Manager of Atlanta, Brian Snitker said, “We ran into an extremely hot team, pretty much.” They were hitting all the right notes. They played great baseball. They had big hits. They took us out offensively and I believe all credit should go to the Phillies.”
After watching a rookie starter be thrown out, Atlanta faced its first elimination game since 2020. To avoid an early exit, it deployed one of its most experienced pitchers. Atlanta hoped Charlie Morton would bring the same beguiling curveball that he learned from Philadelphia in 2016 and that helped him become a formidable master of postseason pressure. He was 5-0 in playoff elimination runs when he entered the ballpark Saturday.
On Saturday, however, no pitch could do more to deceive Morton than to buoy Philadelphia. In the second inning, one was thrown back and hit his elbow. Jean Segura was at the plate and Jean Segura was in the second. Jean Segura’s third batter gave him a single, which put runners on the corners.
Brandon Marsh, a centerfielder who had been hitless during the division series, entered the batter’s box. Morton threw the curve for a called pitch. The count was moved to 2-2 by four fastballs. Morton threw the breaking ball.
It slid toward Marsh. The bat rang out, and Marsh made contact. Marsh was attempting to make contact with the ball when he raised his fist. Ronald Acuna Jr. was the Atlanta right fielder. He had already stopped his pursuit just before reaching the warning track.
Morton was able to get out of the inning with more curveballs, but he wouldn’t face another batter. Although the comebacker was too much, Snitker stated that an X-ray had not shown any damage. In the top of the third, Orlando Arcia scored for Atlanta. Collin McHugh was given a two-run deficit by the Braves.
J.T., Philadelphia’s catcher, is the real man. Realmuto is unlike any other catcher, either now or in the past. He was originally trained as a shortstop but was pushed into catching by a Marlins Scout. This season, he tied fourth in the National League for triples and was one of only two N.L. Players who have sabotaged at least 20 bases and homered at least 20 times. (Ivan Rodriguez is also the M.L.B. The feat was achieved by a catcher.
He tagged a slider deep in the centre field on a 1-1 count. Michael Harris II couldn’t keep up and the ball crashed back towards the outfield grass. The ball continued rolling and rolling toward the right, as Realmuto stormed to the basepaths.
Realmuto was first and second, respectively. He came in third place, a one-man march against an otherwise solid outfield and an All-Star catcher. He dove home. Safe, for the first-ever inside-the-park home run of a catcher during postseason history.
The margin was narrowed to two runs by Matt Olson, Atlanta’s first baseman. He homered to the right to reduce the gap to one run in the fourth. The Phillies score added three runs to their lead in the sixth with a string of singles before Travis d’Arnaud (Atlant’s catcher) hit a solo homer to start the seventh.
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia’s designated hitter, also hit his third postseason home run on a 1-1 count.
The season’s end was unexpected, but not surprising for Atlanta. Atlanta has never had a team with more than 100 wins in a regular season. In 1999, Atlanta won 103 victories and defeated the Mets in N.L.C.S. The Yankees won the World Series.
The 2022 Atlanta team was swept in a series that many predicted would pit the Braves against St. Louis. In two of the four games, they failed to score. Strikeouts were in the hundreds. Scorers could be found standing on the basepaths, almost certain that they would not score.
The Phillies score is, however, the most surprising team in baseball. They were eight games below.500 on the final day of May. The Phillies went on to win 66-46. The Phillies score announced last Monday that Rob Thomson, the interim manager following the departure of Joe Girardi, would be given a two-year contract.
The Phillies score insists that they play one game at a time, and even one pitch at a time. Even if they had a feeling they might have something special in store.
“To claim that we didn’t wake up this morning with a feeling that this was coming about, I would be lying,” Nick Castellanos (Philadelphia right fielder) said in the clubhouse following the game. “That doesn’t mean you should take everything for granted, or expect the best from baseball.
However, Philadelphia was not the only city to do so.
On Friday night, the Phillies had just completed their first postseason match at Citizens Bank Park for 4,025 days. A chant was heard along Pattison Avenue.
“One more win!” cried the crowd. The Philly’s score suddenly stopped abruptly at the N.L.C.S. “One more win!”
One man saw the whole thing from a different angle. Perhaps the World Series trophy will return to South Philly after all this. Through the noise, he cheerfully piped up to give high-fives, backslaps, and hugs.
He cried, “Nine more wins!” “Think big!”
Eight more were needed by the Phillies on Saturday night.
The reigning champion was eliminated.
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