Phillies Asert Their Winning Reputation In Game 1 Victory
There is no such thing as a postseason game that does not conjure memories of the past. So, as the Miami Marlins threatened in the late innings and the grips tightened on 46,000 rally towels at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies and their fans knew what was at stake. They were on the Marlins’ side of this story. Down two in the late innings. Chip on their shoulder. Seemingly unhittable reliever staring them down.
The Phillies lived to tell the tale last October when 11 years of waiting gave way to an improbable comeback in their postseason return against the St. Louis Cardinals. It sparked everything that’s happened since. The World Series appearance. The first 90-win season since 2011. And, now, a 4-1 Phillies victory on Tuesday in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series that was both more and less convincing than the now third-largest scoreboard in Major League Baseball indicates.
Experience isn’t always a difference-maker in the postseason. But it was evident on this night. Zack Wheeler cruised from the jump, establishing his fastball and mowing down the Marlins lineup. Jesús Luzardo struggled to settle in, and while his calling card slider was nasty at times, he also lacked command. Miami struggled to get chances, notching just two singles in the first six innings. The Phillies weren’t perfect; they went 3-14 with runners and scoring position and could have let the wind go out of the crowd’s sails when they stranded second and third with no one out in the first frame.
But while the Marlins struggled to make adjustments, the Phillies knew theirs would come. Not every situation that comes up this October will have an obvious counterpart to a year ago, although the Phillies did start Game 4 of the NLDS nearly identically on offense. The general lessons don’t fade away, though. That is what made last year’s run so impressive; a Phillies team full of postseason newcomers learned and applied lessons on the fly. Seeing the Marlins fail to do so only exemplifies how special things were a year ago.
The learning points aren’t the only things that linger. A sea of red engulfed the blue seats, just like last year. Players pointed to the dugout as they sprinted down the first base line in celebration of big hits, just like last year. Dancing On My Own reverberated through the still-full ballpark several minutes after Craig Kimbrel secured the final out with a routine grounder to third. Everyone remembers that.
At the start of the season, the Phillies made it a point to ditch their anthem and put some of last year’s euphoria in the rearview mirror. “I’ve already heard the murmurs from different people,” said Garrett Stubbs in Spring Training. “They’re like, ‘We want that to be kept in ’22.’ I agree with them. It wouldn’t feel the same.” But as the season progressed and new trials emerged, they leaned on familiar comforts, just like everybody else.
The Phillies couldn’t live in the past, but there was a better way to handle that old energy. Last October created an identity the organization could have only dreamed of in the past. The goal in 2023 was to create something better; no one wants to sing a “second-place song” anymore. But the easiest way to do that was using the gains as much as possible to bring them closer to new heights.
After all, those were the gains that allowed Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm to be key contributors rather than support pieces, driving in the first two runs with timely hits in the early going. They allowed José Alvarado to become beloved and harness the energy of big moments, rather than be overwhelmed by them.
It started a youth movement that has welcomed new faces, like Cristian Pache and Johan Rojas, a combined 2-5 with an RBI and run and smooth defensively in their postseason debuts. Helped the Phillies know when to trust their coaches, like how Stott’s improved footwork from January time with Bobby Dickerson helped him finish Wheeler’s shutdown play in the hole. It also told them when to go with their gut, an instinct Bryce Harper had well before he steamed through Dusty Wathan’s stop sign en route to scoring an eight-inning insurance run.
It’s easy to appreciate because every moment offers a reminder of what was. The Phillies were these Marlins a year ago. Left for dead at times, unable to rise to the moment for decades, suddenly under the bright lights. Nothing is ever taken for granted in Philadelphia, a city where sports success has always been hard to come by. The Phillies’ run last fall did more than create season-ticket sales or even lifelong memories. It changed their reputation. They were no longer the bumbling, unpredictable-in-the-worst-way team.
Changing a reputation is hard. It took nine wins against three of baseball’s best a year ago to do it. Keeping it is even harder. The Marlins changed theirs, at least in part, just by making it here. In less than 30 hours, it could be right back in danger of reverting. It will take more than one win against their scrappy opposition for the Phillies to keep theirs. It will probably take more than two. That, too, is a challenge the Phillies know how to handle. They did so the best way under the Tuesday night lights, showing their guests the difficulty of meeting these moments — and reminding themselves of the joy that doing so brings.
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