Heart-less Phillies collapse again in Game 1 of the NLDS vs. the Mets, like they did in the NLCS last year

by Marcus Hayes | Columnist
Published Oct. 5, 2024, 7:49 p.m. ET

The worm turned quickly.

Boos descended as the ball settled into J.T. Realmuto’s mitt, the third out of an inning that will live in infamy.

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Zack Wheeler had pitched seven scoreless frames and spent himself after 111 pitches.

Kyle Schwarber had led off the game with a homer, hence a 1-0 lead.

Bedlam had returned to the Bank. It was Red October.

Then, it was bloody October. It was flashback Saturday. It was a 6-2 loss to the Mets in Game 1 of the NLDS, wasting seven shutout innings from ace Wheeler, a leadoff homer from Schwarber, and a double from Bryce Harper.

It was all so familiar.

NLDS: Mets defeat Phillies 3-1

Game 1: Mets 6, Phillies 2 | Hayes | Murphy

Game 2: Phillies 7, Mets 6 | Hayes | Murphy

Game 3: Mets 7, Phillies 2 | Hayes | Murphy

Game 4: Mets 4, Phillies 1 | Hayes | Murphy

Trea Turner took extra hitting for 30 minutes after the game; he is, after all, zero-for-16 in his last four playoff games. When he finished, he put his two bats in his locker, showered, dressed, and frowned in recall.

“You saw last year, we had games with Arizona, we had games where we scored, and we had games where they pitched really good,” Turner said.

Phils manager Rob Thomson cited poor plate discipline for Saturday’s toothless showing. He sounded a lot like he did when the Phillies blew it last year against the Diamondbacks.

“It’s, ‘Can you control the zone?’ like ‘Topper’ said,” Turner continued. “Can you bunt and move a guy over, have an effective at-bat, when they’re going well?’ “

Lately, in the biggest games: No.

The Phillies have now scored five total runs in their last three playoff games, all at Citizens Bank Park. They have a $260 million payroll.

Five. Total. Runs.

The Mets, meanwhile, mirrored the 2022 Phillies, the plucky, “Dancing On My Own” heartbreakers who rode a nothing-to-lose wave of confidence through the wild-card round and to the World Series.

The Phillies mirrored everything that was their failure in the NLCS last year. Remember, they returned to Citizens Bank Park from Arizona with a 3-2 series lead and scored three total runs in Games 6 and 7. The Diamondbacks small-balled their way to wins.

The Mets went single-walk-single-single-sacrifice fly-single-single-sacrifice fly to score their five runs in the eighth inning. None of their hits came close to the warning track.

The Phillies are a team that relies on bombs, and they died a death of a thousand cuts.

“There was some chasing,” Thomson said.

» READ MORE: Murphy: The Phillies just lost a must-win Game 1. The bats better arrive fast in Game 2.

The chasing didn’t lead to whiffing — the Phils struck out just eight times — but there was enough so Thomson considered it as big a factor as the Mets’ hodgepodge pitching strategy.

“We’ve got to cut down on our chase,” Thomson said. “We’ve got to be more disciplined.”

Phillies relievers Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm, and Orion Kerkering combined for a five-run eighth, and just like that, the Mets’ amazing run continued.

“It’s on us to score enough runs for those guys,” Turner said, “because they’ve always kept us in games.”

The Mets were the best team in baseball since May 29, with a .626 winning percentage, and won 20 of 29 down the stretch. They’ve won all season a lot like they won Saturday.

And, so, the Phillies faithful couldn’t help themselves. They’d seen this before, the last time they watched playoff Phillies. That’s why thousands of the 45,751 witnesses to that eighth-inning abomination expressed their disgust with a Phillies team that failed them again.

Failed them from the bullpen, just like last year, when the Phillies lost the last two games of the NLCS, at home.

Failed them at the plate, just like last year, when the bats disappeared. After Schwarber’s 425-foot bomb, the Phillies managed just three hits, nine baserunners, and one run over 27 outs.

Turner, the $300 million shortstop, has that oh-fer going.

Nick Castellanos, the $100 million right fielder, was riding a zero-for-23 playoff streak with 12 strikeouts before his soft, eighth-inning single Saturday.

» READ MORE: Rob Thomson, Nick Castellanos, Ranger Suárez: The Phillies with the most to lose and gain in the playoffs

You can’t question Wheeler, who is the best playoff pitcher in team history and the best pitcher in baseball since 2020. You can’t question Harper’s heart. He walked twice and doubled late. He’s the best playoff hitter in team history, and he’s the best playoff hitter in baseball since 2022. You’d better not question Schwarber’s heart, because he keeps producing — two hits Saturday — and because he might put his cleat through your chest.

Everyone else? Absolutely. Question away.

Last year’s bullpen was a fairer target. Craig Kimbrel, the chief culprit, was 35, pitching on fumes after an All-Star first half, although Kerkering was a rookie who’d vaulted through five levels of minor-league ball.

This year’s ‘pen? Hoffman and Strahm both were All-Stars, but Hoffman was a reclamation project last season and delighted to be employed both last year and this. Strahm, however, is making $7.5 million, pitching on five days’ rest, and he had nothing.

Just like the lineup.

The Phillies managed one hit in two innings off emergency starter Kodai Senga, who was an All-Star as a rookie last season but lost all but one start of this season to strained muscles and joints. Senga “opened” for David Petersen, a lefty starter who’d thrown 95 pitches in a must-win game at Milwaukee six days before, then closed out the Brewers in the clinching Game 3 of the wild-card series Thursday. Reed Garrett gave the Mets two scoreless innings, Phil Maton a clean eighth, and by the time Ryne Stanek entered for the final three outs, the score was 6-1, the stands were half-empty, and the parking lot exits were jammed.

They missed Kody Clemens driving in J.T. Realmuto in the ninth, and they also missed the Schwar-pop that mercifully ended the evening. The biggest stars shined, and a win seemed inevitable, but fans filed out, stunned, depressed, and wondering:

Does this silver-spoon team have the heart of the Tin Man?