Jimmy Rollins on Schwarbombs, Nick Castellanos’ comments, and more from the Phillies-Dodgers Game 3 broadcast
Rollins had plenty to say about Kyle Schwarber’s performance and Nick Castellanos’ talk about the team’s home atmosphere as the Phillies extended the series to Game 4.
Red October isn’t dead yet.
The Phillies’ bats finally came alive to keep their season alive with an 8-2 win against the Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, shrinking Los Angeles’ best-of-five series lead to 2-1.
Here’s a closer look at the Phillies-Dodgers broadcast …
» READ MORE: Schwarbombs to the rescue: Kyle Schwarber breaks through with two homers to help Phillies force Game 4
The environment at the Bank
Nick Castellanos made waves when he said the Red October environment at Citizens Bank Park can easily turn into a weakness. The Phillies lost the first two games of the series at the Bank, and the crowd let a fair amount of boos ring down during Monday’s loss.
During TBS’s pregame show, Jimmy Rollins said the blame put on the environment was misplaced.
“It is hard to get booed at home, but you have to understand the fans’ perspective,” Rollins said. “They’ve been frustrated for years. This isn’t one game, this is years of games, not winning series at home, not finding a way to get it done, not getting the big hit. This year, probably the most expectations they’ve had, the way they ended the season. [The window] is closing. If that’s how you feel, you can silence all that by going out there and getting the job done.”
But Rollins knew that one good swing could change the Phillies’ fate. On Wednesday, they got the job done.
“You need that as a team that’s looking for something to give them a boost,” Rollins said after the game of Kyle Schwarber’s two home runs. “It’s not just the fact that it was a home run, it’s the fact that it was a Schwarbomb. It sent the message. We’re here, we’re here to fight. It’s one swing, it’s hard to explain, it’s a feeling, you catch that ball right and you’re like, ‘There it is.’”
Schwarber’s shot
Schwarber finally had the big playoff moment Phillies fans have been waiting for, hitting a monster home run to right field at Dodger Stadium in the fourth inning, his first of the NLDS.
The TBS commentators were in awe of just how far that ball traveled, and tried to remember the last time someone hit a ball that far in that direction.
“I think I remember Giancarlo Stanton going to the top of left-center, but I can’t remember anyone getting to right field,” Brian Anderson said. “ … This is one of the moments you miss Vin Scully. You’d walk over and ask him and he’d be able to tell you in order, the years. We miss him every day.”
‘Liability in right field’
Castellanos’ defensive prowess, or lack thereof, has been a source of controversy for much of the Phillies’ season. Castellanos had been frustrated with his outfield rotation role, and his poor defense cost him his spot as an everyday player after the Phillies traded for Harrison Bader.
With Bader limited with an injury, Castellanos is back in the everyday outfield rotation, but the commentators still don’t buy his defense.
“Castellanos, the liability in right field,” Anderson said, introducing the outfield.
Brutal stuff. Castellanos was fine in right field tonight, though.
Suárez’s strong outing
Sometimes, you just run into poor timing. TBS sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi interviewed manager Rob Thomson as Ranger Suárez entered the game, and she asked Thomson how many pitches Suárez was free to throw. “80-100 pitches,” Thomson said.
On his first pitch of the game, Suárez gave up a home run to Tommy Edman. He locked in from there, though. That was the only run he allowed over five innings.
Bats ‘too good not to get going’
In the regular season, the average pitch speed batters see is about 92 mph, Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long told Shehadi. In the playoffs, that increases to about 97 mph, which can be harder for batters to adapt to.
But in the fourth inning against the Dodgers, the Phillies finally started to find their rhythm, knocking Yoshinobu Yamamoto around for five hits and three runs. And in the eighth, they blew up Clayton Kershaw, scoring five runs to put the game away.
“They’re too good not to get going,” Long told Shehadi about his hitters.