Phillies hitters are sitting with the sting of an NLDS Game 1 that raises familiar doubts

PHILADELPHIA — It was 7:55 p.m. when Trey Turner walked through the Phillies clubhouse on Saturday. The result, a 6-2 loss to the New York Mets, was settled for 31 minutes across Citizens Bank Park. But Turner was still in his full uniform. He carries two bats. His hat was turned backwards. Some of his team mates have showered and left. Hull erupted in the house.

Turner needs time. He analyzed video of his at-bats from Game 1 of this National League Division Series. Batting between two lefty sluggers, Turner went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. The Phillies went 19 batters without a hit in the middle of the game. It wasn't at the $300 million shortstop. But it's impossible to watch these Phillies now and think about last October. The seeds of doubt were planted in this ballpark and, at-bat after at-bat with Phillies hitters failing to yield hard contact, an excited sellout crowd grew nervous.

“You never know when it's going to happen,” Turner said. “That's why you have to push. Look forward to that next pitch, that next opportunity. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Tomorrow is Sunday and the Phillies must win. In the first season under manager Rob Thomson, the Phillies dropped a Game 1. The Phillies have failed to win a series seven times in franchise history when they lose a Game 1.

So they must do something that has never happened in 142 seasons of Phillies baseball.

The Phillies lost Saturday despite not allowing an extra-base hit. Jack Wheeler delivered one of the greatest pitching performances the Phillies have ever seen in October — 111 pitches over seven innings of one-hit ball — and they lost. They saw their two best relievers – Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm – lead in every count and the Mets hung five runs on them. They got a familiar flurry, a leadoff Kyle Schwarber blast, and they still lost.

That eighth inning was 24 minutes of hell for a Phillies team built to win in October — a team that had been traveling for months this season. The bullpen meltdown was unexpected. “It was stunning,” Thomson said. “It was.” But the Phillies kept the door shut on New York's resilient lineup.

The game was lost in the middle innings, when Wheeler did his best to carry the Phillies.

“Obviously, as an offense, we wasted that start,” Bryce Harper said. “It's the same thing, man. Chasing the ball in the dirt. We didn't work as deep as we should have. We've got to figure out what they're trying to do with us and flip the switch as an offense.”

Same thing. What is the Met trying to do?

“Obviously, they're going to bury stuff and try to chase us as much as possible,” Harper said. “They have really good pitching. But we've got really good hitters here. We just have to persevere and realize that we can do it.”

It was interesting, then, to hear the contrast between the two teams after a sloppy Game 1. Brandon Nimmo, who singled on an error on an 0-2 fastball from Strahm, credited the Mets pitchers for keeping them alive. They knew Wheeler was nearly unstoppable, especially with the challenging Shadow that dominates both offenses. But a one-run deficit allowed Nimmo to “think small.” The Mets batted with five singles and a walk in the eighth inning. They scored two runs on a sacrifice fly.

“At that point it's doing whatever the game asks of you,” Nimmo said. “If it's just a sac fly, if it puts the ball in play, if it grabs a guy – whatever. And all of these guys believe in going out there again with a plan, understanding what the baseball situation is and not trying to do too much. Now, sometimes it turns out to be a home run or a big double or something like that.”

Sometimes it doesn't.

“From the first inning to the seventh inning, I think, it was really hard to watch baseball,” Nick Castellanos said. “I think about both sides. What did we have? Three hits in the first seven innings. I think both teams put together better at-bats in the back of the stadium after Sun.

they did But New York was better. Nimmo said he could see no laces on the ball. “So you're literally swinging at a black ball,” Nimmo said. Shadows at Citizens Bank Park are worst, hitters say, when the mound is dark and the batter's eyes are still bright. It was like that for most of the game.

“I don't know if I'm seeing a lot,” Mets third baseman Mark Vientos said. “It was hard to watch baseball, for sure. But both teams were dealing with it.”

They were. Castellanos admitted that. Game 2 starts at the same time — 4:08 pm So, now what?

“It's going to be a grind,” Castellanos said. “It's going to be the same for us as it is for them. We have to find a way to deal with it.”

Phillies hitters are sitting with the sting of an NLDS Game 1 that raises familiar doubts

So far, the scouting report is clear. Teams are throwing the Phillies fewer fastballs in the zone. When pitchers make mistakes, they hurt them. Opponents are throwing more off-speed pitches for both strikes and balls. Phillies are aggressive. They will chase.

“Sometimes you get passive and all of a sudden you're taking good pitches to hit,” Castellanos said. “And then sometimes you get ready to hit and you don't get anything in the zone to hit. I think the first step is just washing it down, coming together, understanding that it's not going to be easy. Just rebuild and fight. That's all we can do.”

Harper said: “We have to be better.”

Turner digs into his at-bat. He chased a pitch in his first at-bat, striking out three. He took a borderline 0-0 changeup in his second at-bat and called it a strike. He swung and missed on a curveball at the same spot later in the at-bat. It was a ball. “You think you have to make that swing,” Turner said. Then, he is a fielder based on choice.

He came to the plate in the fifth inning with a runner on second and one out. Yohan Rojas worked a nine-pitch walk to start the inning. His runs were great insurance.

Turner chased after a first-pitch changeup and whiffed it. He took a ball. He faced lefty David Peterson, who had been the starter all season but was now pitching his 46th, two days after a clinching victory in Milwaukee. This was Turner's moment.

He clips a slider down and away. It floated into foul territory and landed in the glove of Mets first baseman Pete Alonso for the second out. Harper strikes out. Rojas was trapped there.

“A lot of balls I went back and looked at personally that were hitting the edge of the box,” Turner said. “It's hard to hit this pitch. I don't know if I can dictate something and take those pitches or do this or do that. But I think I personally made the right decision today. It is more effective. And I couldn't perform well enough.”

Sunday might be better. But it's quickly getting too late for these Phillies.