PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies will be in a slightly different place Monday night when the National League Championships Series opens: Namely, in South Philadelphia.
For all the success the Phillies have had over the last two postseasons, this will be the first non-wild card series that starts in Philadelphia.
Zip codes haven’t affected them much – the Phillies got off to winning starts in series-opening games in Atlanta, San Diego and Houston last year and Atlanta in the NLDS last week. But starting at Citizens Bank Park’s notoriously unwelcoming environs foists a different dynamic upon the series.
“I don’t think it necessarily changes our mentality at all,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said Sunday. “It is nice to be able to start at home and be able to feel this crowd from Game 1. We’ve done a good job, I believe in every series, of starting off on the right foot and winning Game 1, and that’s such an important part of every series. We’ll have our home crowd behind us for the first couple of games.”
That may be especially important in dealing with an Arizona team giving off similar vibes to last year’s Phillies. The Diamondbacks ended a lengthy playoff drought (since 2017), snuck in as the sixth and final wild card entry, then won two straight games at an NL Central champ (Milwaukee). They pulled a surprise in the division series by toppling a 100-win team, a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Diamondbacks had 43 come-from-behind wins this year, plus both games against the Brewers. The Phillies had 44, plus the last two games against Atlanta. Both possess top-end rotation pieces – Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly will match up with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in Games 1 and 2 – and a deep batting order, albeit built more around speed than the power shown in the five-game playoff winning streak.
“They’re playing a lot like us right now; they’re hot,” Realmuto said. “That’s what the postseason is all about, is you get in a rhythm, you get confidence, you get momentum and that’s something they’ve really played with this postseason.”
Like the Phillies last year, the Diamondbacks are relishing proving people wrong these days.
“I think a lot of people counted us out, from the start of the season,” Gallen said of a team that lost 110 games in 2021. “But the 26 guys in that clubhouse … I don’t think we’re surprised. I think we all expect to be in this position, expect to succeed, and we’re just glad we’re doing it at the right time.”
Getting to the starting pitchers may decide the first two games. Gallen tossed six solid innings in closing out the Brewers, then pitched into the sixth in a Game 2 win over the Dodgers. Given a 9-0 lead after the Game 1 battering of Clayton Kershaw, Kelly threw into the seventh without giving up an earned run.
That meets a Phillies staff that has a 1.53 team ERA. Starters have allowed six earned runs in 34.1 innings pitched with 36 strikeouts and four walks. The command in particular has translated into deep outings.
“That’s everything in the postseason, not giving away free bases,” Realmuto said. “Every lineup we’re going to face here is going to be really good. Every hitter is going to be focused and locked in. You’re just giving the offense a little bit of momentum every time you give them a free pass instead of making them earn it. What we’ve said all year long with our pitching staff is, we really like our stuff. We think we have some of the best stuff in the league from top to bottom, so why not throw the ball in the strike zone? Why not just attack the hitters and make them hit it?”
The Phillies subdued a Braves lineup that was among the best in big league history in terms of power. The Diamondbacks are less heralded, but the Brewers and Dodgers can attest to their danger.
Presumptive Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll is the catalyst, coming off a season in which he had 25 home runs and 54 stolen bases. He’s hitting .412 in the postseason with two home runs, the same as teammates Alek Thomas and Ketel Marte. Catcher Gabriel Moreno, who hit .284 with seven homers in his rookie season, has three homers and six RBIs in five games.
Add in the veteran presence of Tommy Pham, Lourdes Gurriel and Evan Longoria, who played against the Phillies in the 2008 World Series as a rookie with the Tampa Bay Rays, and they’ve got some dangerous assets.
Though manager Torey Lovullo expects the atmosphere Monday to be a degree intensified from what they navigated in Milwaukee and Los Angeles, he’s not worried that it will be too much for his team.
“We are an extremely prepared team, and our guys can slow the moment down and go out there and execute,” Lovullo said. “So am I concerned about it? It’s a minimal concern, but I don’t think we’re going to go out there and be glossy-eyed to the point where we can’t execute.”
The Phillies have a chance to get that home-field advantage from the first pitch of a series for the first time. And until a teams wins here in the postseason, they’ll press that edge as far as they can.
“I think we’re in a better frame of mind when we’re at home,” manager Rob Thomson said, “because we know we have the support of 48,000 raucous people.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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