The Phillies entered the NLDS like Rocky Balboa and went out like a bunch of Spider Ricos.
And the meltdowns in the City of Brotherly Love are living up to their reputation after the Phillies flopped in the NLDS against the Mets, getting dismantled by their rivals in four games.
“You know what makes this hurt the most? You lost to the Mets, man,” Hunter Brody, a Philadelphia sports personality, said. “You lost to a team that had Hawk Tuah throw out a first pitch. You lost to a team that’s got a purple damn monster (Grimace) jumping up and down. Their stars showed up.”
It’s been a rough year for Philadelphia sports teams with the Eagles, Phillies and 76ers all suffering disappointing postseason exits and two of those coming against rival New York teams.
The Knicks knocked the 76ers out in the first round of the NBA playoffs, albeit as favorites, and the Mets added to the misery by upsetting the NL East champion Phillies.
While the 76ers lost a hard-fought series to a higher-seeded team, the Fightin’ Phils proved to be anything but.
They went out in a relative whimper behind an anemic offense and a ghastly bullpen.
“When I look for something to hold onto, something I can say, ‘Ya know what, they played great and they lost to a better team, but next year is gonna be better, and we know that, they’re on the come, I don’t feel that way,” NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Michael Barkann said.
Analyst Ricky Bottalico agreed and predicted an uncomfortable offseason for the franchise.
“I feel like there’s gonna be a lot of changes. I feel like a lot of fans are going to be upset about some of these changes but I think they’re going to be the right changes. Going up and down the ladder, they’re coming down the rungs,” Bottalico said. “That’s not a good sign there when you look at going to the World Series, going to the NLCS, now just the NLDS. This is a team that was good enough to win a World Series in these last three years and you know what you came up with? Nothing. You came up empty and I don’t think there’s one fan in this area that is happy about the way this season ended and nobody should be. This is a team that should be moving on past the NLDS.”
Both the NBC show and Brody harped on a potent Phillies lineup looking rather feeble against the Mets’ pitching, with the team tallying 12 runs in the four games but just five in its three losses.
Stars like Kyle Schwarber (2-for-16) and Trea Turner (3-for-15) did not show up when it mattered, and Alec Bohm (1-for-13), J.T. Realmuto (0-for-11), Bryson Stott (2-for-11) and Brandon Marsh (1-for-13) apparently started their vacations early without telling anyone.
“If you leave Bryce Harper on second base after a leadoff double in the sixth, shame on you. If you leave Nick Castellanos on third base because J.T. Realmuto doesn’t know how to get a hit in four games, he did not have a hit in the NLDS, and he’s flailing at 2-0 pitches with lazy pop-ups that don’t move any runners. It’s unacceptable,” Brody said. “Trea Turner is a waste. That contract is going to bite you in the ass for years to come. … And don’t even get me stated on how much he sucks at the plate. What are you swinging at?”
He added: “We had to bench (Bohm) … We had to sit his ass on the bench. … Your catcher is non-existent. … Our best offense is dribblers to (Mark) Vientos. That’s the best you got offensively?”
