‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Larry Andersen on another NLDS loss, being honest with fans, and what’s next

Orion Kerkering’s eyes were still red and watery as he stood up and answered for his wild throw that ended the Phillies’ playoff run last Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

It brought to mind Mitch Williams in 1993.

OK, so this wasn’t the same. Kerkering’s error happened in Game 4 of the divisional round; Williams gave up a season-ending, walk-off homer to Joe Carter in Game 6 of the World Series. But you get the idea. In both cases, the Phillies’ hopes were dashed in the blink of an eye, a relief pitcher’s worst nightmare.

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Larry Andersen was there in Toronto in 1993, recording the last two outs of the eighth inning. But because he hit Tony Fernández and walked Ed Sprague with two out, the Blue Jays could bring the top of the order to the plate against Williams in the ninth.

Andersen, 72, has broadcast Phillies games for the last 28 years and achieved immense popularity with the fan base for his honesty and pull-no-punches style. Who better, then, to join Phillies Extra this week to discuss Kerkering’s miscue and where the Phillies go from here?

Here’s an excerpt from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

A: Just keep working at your craft. They talk about closers or relievers: You have to be able to flush it and come back the next day. In this case, he has to flush it and come back the next year. There’s nothing he can do right now that’s going to change what happened, nothing he can do in the future that’s going to change what happened. But he can change what people see in him. And I think one of the things for him is just understanding the game’s hard, that it’s tough.

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You mentioned [reliever Matt] Strahm coming over and putting his arm around him. Strahm, to me, had a tough series. He had some good moments, but he had some really bad moments. And so for him to go over to Kerkering is big. And I would think that guys went over to Strahm after the Teoscar Hernández home run [in Game 1]. [Strahm] has been around long enough that he knows. But sometimes, for Kerkering, I think from the time he got here [in 2023], he looked nervous to me. He just did. And that’s not saying it’s bad. I was nervous every game I pitched in. I can’t recall a game where I didn’t have some nerves, which I don’t think is a bad thing.

A: I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the definition of insanity, and that, to me, is what I think about. These decisions are way above my pay grade. I can have an opinion, but it means nothing. It’s what they decide. But doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, it can be tough … I have no idea what they’re going to do. And listening to [Kyle] Schwarber talk after the game, I almost felt like he was sorry that he was going to be leaving his team. That’s how I took it. Now that might be way off. Maybe he’s just sorry for the way it ended and can’t wait to get back. Or maybe it was just him talking about, just in general, that if he’s not back it’ll be sad. I don’t know. There’s got to be some changes.

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I still am baffled why we didn’t have somebody that could run on that bench. [Johan] Rojas had a leg problem. I don’t know if Justin Crawford was ready after his [concussion], but if he was, [he’s] a guy that hits .330 every year at a .411 on-base percentage, stole [46] bases. But the one thing I’ve heard about him all year was he hits too many balls on the ground. I never heard that about Rod Carew; I never heard that about Larry Bowa; I never heard that about Juan Pierre, right? There’s some guys [who] had some pretty good careers that hit the ball on the ground. If you don’t have pop, why do you want him hitting it in the air?

The one thing that this team lacked was they had punch, but they didn’t have quality at-bats. They would run into one, right? But outside of Trea [Turner], [who] obviously led the league in hitting, who hit for average on his team? So it’s like, if you hit .330, I don’t care where you hit the ball. It doesn’t matter to me.

Going back to the fundamentals. Bunting. I don’t know if he can bunt or not, but how was Johan Rojas, or if Justin Crawford can’t bunt, how are these guys not able to bunt a ball? The fundamentals. Is it worked on? Is it stressed? Maybe it is. I don’t know. But those are the things that frustrate me, and maybe I’m thinking too much old school for what the game is today. I don’t know. Maybe people will say you’re just down on analytics. I’m not down on it. I just don’t think it’s all about that, right?

A: I don’t know. Definitely, I want to come back for another year, at least. With the [collective bargaining agreement] coming up the following year, honestly, I don’t know if I want to be a part of that. I’ve been a part of it. Almost cost me work in Philadelphia because somehow I got involved as a player rep back in ’94 because our other two guys took off, and it kind of left me here in Philadelphia. And I’m like, ‘I don’t want to be in this position.’ But I was also kind of hinted toward, ‘You might want to back off a little bit if you have any interest in working in this organization.’

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So, on top of that, I do want to thank you for mentioning the difference between negativity and honesty. Because this organization has been great to me for the most part, but there’s been some instances where I’ve been called in. I was getting called in regularly, where I had a [former team] president tell me that I’m not liked by the front office. I had another boss tell me that I was a dime a dozen as a color analyst — a boss. There’s been some other instances, and that hasn’t happened of late, which I really appreciate.

But my big thing would be, ‘You guys are getting honesty mixed up with negativity, and if I’m not honest in this town, I might as well not be here, because the fans will hate me.’ And I said, ‘I need you to understand that I’m not broadcasting to our front office.’ Dave Dombrowski might not like what I’m saying; John Middleton, our owner, he might not like what I’m saying. But the fans do. And the fans are a big part of what pays us and people listening, get sponsors. It all comes back just to me being honest, I think. And so, I’m going to be honest to the fans. That’s what my obligation is to.

Even though the Phillies are paying me, they’re paying me, but for my integrity, I’m going to be honest with the fans. And I said to them a few years ago, ‘If you don’t want me, just say so. If you don’t want me around, if you don’t want me doing this.’ So it’s hard. I don’t try and make the organization mad at me. But also, I think they need to understand, from my perspective, that I’m doing this for the fans, and the fans are so important to this organization. Then that’s the way it has to be.

And speaking of how I feel, I feel tremendous. I feel great. However, there’s some internal things that I’m actually getting a scan [this week] to find out if there’s a second recurrence of the cancer. We’ll see. But for me, I put it in the Lord’s hands and whatever it is, it is. I’m not going to change it. I can just trust Him, and that’s what I’m doing.