If momentum truly is the next days starting pitcher…prove it!

by John Kincade

The Phillies will return to Citizens Bank Park on Friday with their second chance to grab their second win of the NLCS. The events that transpired on Wednesday afternoon leave everyone with a lot of questions. It’s up to Rob Thomson to find the answers. Here are mine;

- In a high leverage situation with a lead slipping away in Game 1 of the NLDS vs Atlanta, Rob Thomson decided to go to his biggest bullpen arms to stop the bleeding. Yesterday, in the exact same type of situation, he went to one of his shakiest arms in Brad Hand. We saw how that played out. I believe a post season game requires urgency in your decision making, but more importantly consistency. Faced with the same challenge, he chose the lesser option and it cost them.

- Aaron Nola has written a great story of turnaround in September and October. Unfortunately the lasting memory if the series doesn’t turn around quickly will be the Game 2 start and the blowing of the 4-0 lead. It’s not fair, but it’s absolute reality. You have to deliver on the biggest stages. When you do you are celebrated. Conversely when you lose you face the critique. Yesterday was the Aaron Nola edition of the Cliff Lee NLDS game. That game is still talked about all these years later. It’s up to his teammates to give him a chance to write a different ending in Game 6.

- If momentum truly is the next days starting pitcher, Ranger Suarez is firmly on the hot seat. Unlike the last series when the series returned to Philly with Aaron Nola on the mound, you are at a pitching disadvantage in Game 3. The Phillies can’t give back home field advantage in Game 3. In my mind that would be a true momentum swing in the series that could bury them.

- There are no days off the rest of the series. The use of the bullpen is going to become the ongoing storyline from this point forward. If they don’t get significant innings from Suarez and their other starters moving forward I don’t see how they will navigate their way to 3 more wins.

- Topper has already made it clear that we won’t see Zach Wheeler until Game 5 on Sunday. I already am obsessing on the weather forecast. I don’t want to see a stop/start type of day where you might not get the best of what he had to offer. You won’t have a pitching advantage in Game 3 and it’s hard to believe that you will in Game 4 either. Are they going back to Noah Syndegaard or does Bailey Falter get the call?

- The home field advantage at Citizens Bank Park has been terrific. I see that continuing. Crowds can help fire up players and create a great energy. What the crowd needs are the Hoskins and Harper home runs from Game 3 vs Atlanta. You can have a packed house, but it’s still all about the players performance. I don’t expect that the Padres will be intimidated by it.

- My best guess is that we will enter Game 5 with the series tied. You’ll get a second opportunity for Wheeler and Nola to pitch you into the World Series. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. It didn’t necessarily have to be.