Phillies Facing MAJOR Decisions...

The Philadelphia Phillies are alive but find themselves in a must-win spot as they look to officially punch their ticket past the wildcard round and earn a matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But there are some significant decisions that need to be made to discover what is the best pathway to winning a crucial Game 3 series with injuries to Edmundo Sosa and questions about the overall pitching staff right at the forefront of the conversation. So obviously there is plenty of good reason to be fired up over the game to win a gutsy performance by this Phillies team that showed the level of fight that I needed to see down the stretch of this season. But this is a team that has no time to rest on their laurels, feel accomplished about what an impressive performance it was yesterday to come from behind and win that one as they have to get right back to work. Well right at the top of the conversation for what is the best pathway to win is who will even be taking the ball in the first out for this matchup. We got this report starting from John Clark that tweeted that Zach Wheeler has never started a game on short rest in his career. He did come in relief on short rest once in his career in the 2023 NLCS in Game 7. Aaron Nola is expected to start tonight and we did get that made official with Matt Gelb jumping on the news right here. Now I will be honest, I had kind of operated with the mindset that my assumption was this would be Wheels' spot, that I thought they would roll with him on short rest and make sure that you are giving the baseball to your best pitcher right here. I understand the give and take and I did want to dive deeper in sort of the full write up for why this is the case, so I do want to refer to this from TheGoodFight.com. The Phillies managed to force a decisive Game 3 in the Wild Card Series with the Braves thanks in large part to the Herculean start from Christopher Sanchez and the downright incredible performance from Andrew Payton out of the bullpen. Thanks to the efforts of those two, the entire Phillies bullpen is likely available for tomorrow's win or go home Game 3. The use of Payton in relief is also a preview of the type of strategy the Phillies will use today. Now to interject right here, I understand that we can take it as face value that it is a positive that the entire bullpen is available. With that said, that doesn't mean that I have confidence in pretty much any of these guys. We will dive name by name in the next paragraph here, but to me, the blueprint or the bigger takeaway that I saw from Payton being capable of doing that is that it's going to have to be a real option and a button you press for however long this team remains in the playoffs right there. That was a big balls moment for Andrew Payton. That was him going from a boy to a man on the brightest stage when it comes to the MLB outlook right there and he did perform. He deserves the utmost credit for that, but they're going to need him to repeat this. That can't just be a one and done opportunity for the kid. Now to continue on with the article that goes on to state, Aaron Nola will likely be the Phillies starter, but he won't be the only one to appear at some point in the game. Zach Wheeler will almost assuredly be available on 3 days rest and could theoretically even be an option to start, although Nola has never appeared out of the bullpen and Wheeler has postseason experience doing so, making the latter a more likely candidate to be used in relief. After those two, the Phillies should have Alex McFarlane and Johan Duran available, although the former status is uncertain after appearing in both games so far and the length of which the latter can go is unknown after his long appearance in Game 1. They will also have the likes of Tim Mizah and Jonathan Bolan, although the latter has not pitched since injuring his groin a few weeks ago. They may even have Painter, who could possibly face a few batters after throwing 37 pitches yesterday. There is a path to 27 outs there, but it will call for more creativity like the Phillies showed yesterday. So, how would you deploy the Phillies pitching today in Game 3? Well, to jump into that question right here, I'm going to start off by leading I get Nola being the guy from the early innings of this game. Now granted, he wasn't exactly the most inspiring in his most recent start on short rest and he was lit up and really put the Phillies in a bad spot in that game as they were still looking to officially clinch their opportunity in the postseason right there. But ultimately, the thing that I think works in Nola's favor is you sort of have this pitch count in your head of there's always that Nola inning where, you know, when you leave him out there slightly too wrong, that's when you get punished as a team. I think that working against you as you're leaving him out on the mound is actually a positive because, unlike with Zach Wheeler, who still has somewhat of a tendency of he can get got when you leave him out there for too long. This dude can mow down seven consecutive hitters just as he did in his previous start and then in the fifth inning, leak a little bit of oil like we've seen that happen with Wheels as well. But you do have a little bit more confidence in the grittiness that he pitches with, the competitiveness that he shows on the mound and on top of that, the stuff just plays better out of the bullpen. For Nola, we know the raw velocity that he deals with. It is something that he's going to sit in the low to mid 90s. It's just the facts being the facts there, and frankly, he's found a way to operate at a relatively high level for the bulk of his career. But to me, I do think there is a difference when a guy comes out of the bullpen to throw 94 versus a guy come out of the bullpen to throw 97, as which will be the case with these two pitchers right there. So I do think from a stuff standpoint, it plays to having Zach Wheeler being the guy that comes out of the pen after the fact. And ultimately, those two, how deep that they can take you, will it make or break this matchup? If you can get seven or eight innings between the two of them, between Nola starting out and Wheeler sort of piggybacking on top of that, maybe the pathway is to stick with the bullpen. Maybe that is. Johan Duran, can you stretch him out for two innings again? Probably not. And frankly, we saw the outlook for when that did occur in game one. McFarlane, the guy who's pitched in both games in this series, those are certainly the two arms that I have the most confidence in. I will say, Bolin, I kind of think it's a positive that he got this time off. He'd been used at a rate well beyond what has been the norm for him throughout the entirety of his career. And he's been straight up better from a perspective of how he's performed for the bulk of the season. I think the fact that he did have a little bit of time off, I would have him as an option, assuming the Phillies are confident with what his health situation is. Now, the other name that I do think should be brought to the equation here is, of course, we did mention Andrew Painter slightly, and I do think that should be in play, as I did love this quote from Andrew Painter, or first, I did want to pull up this quote coming from the Gelb article, which states, the Phillies could also use Zach Wheeler, who was on short rest, as a reliever in game three. Hastings Lozardo, who started game one, is in play for an inning or two in game three, if needed. And as far as Painter, I love this quote from him, as he said that, yes, he would be available to pitch. And he said, quote, Lozardo would make fun of me if I didn't. He kind of continued on to say, you know, I'm 23 years old, I should be able to pitch every day right now. I feel good. The body feels good. And these are obviously massive stakes. So, yes, if they asked me to take the ball, I will willingly step on the mound, which I love the mindset from Painter. Honestly, good for Andrew Painter, because yesterday must have been probably the biggest confidence building moment of his entire career to this point. There have been some rocky stretches in the early part of the season. He was sent down to the minor leagues not that far ago. And the fact that he found it within himself to have the guts, the mental resolve to turn things around and be a major part of this current Phillies team is a huge testament to the work that he has put in. So shout out to Andrew Painter. But ultimately, the other question that the Phillies need to balance is what's going on with the lineup. We obviously know that so much of this team, the identity is fully dependent on, is Kyle Schwab going to match? Can Bryce Harper come through in the clutch? Can Trey Turner continue delivering singles, getting on base, wreaking havoc? Can Alec Boehm continue looking like, frankly, the team's best hitter, as has been the case throughout this two-game series, and really for a little bit of an extended stretch now, that the main names are going to have to show up and be major staples in the offense. But we also got this update surrounding Edmundo Sosa, who's quietly been a very big part of this Phillies team since we shifted the entire lineup configuration around, and ultimately the Luis Arias injury did force Sosa to be a key part. And the update that we did get comes from Destiny Lizardo here, who tweets out, Edmundo Sosa said after the game that it's not his groin that's bothering him. It's more of his left inner thigh area, which, to be honest with you, sounds exactly where a groin is. But nonetheless, he hopes to be ready to play tomorrow. I respect the gutsiness from Edmundo Sosa, and I would have him dress ready to play, but I do not think that you can, in good faith, put this guy back in the lineup. Frankly, as much as it is admirable to watch him gut it down the line, to give everything that he has, to push off those legs, and make sure that you run out an infield hit, as was the case yesterday with Sosa before he was taken out of that matchup, there is still the downside to it. If there's a ball that is hit a little bit, that is a difficult play, where you gotta move a good bit, and he can't get there, the Phillies are going to feel that. The baseball guys always find a way of punishing that kind of thing. So, I appreciate where Edmundo Sosa's head is at, and again, I would have him in mind as maybe a spark plug pinch hitter late in the game, depending on how the matchup is playing out, but I do not think that you can roll with Sosa being up on the field for this actual matchup. With that, what that means is, you're playing Bryce Harper at first base, that you're doing the Alec Bowman at third, Bryce Harper at first, Bryson Stott at second, and Trey Turner at short, how he started this entire season. It is such a bummer that Luis Ariza is not here to be a part of the equation. I do think there's a lot of good that he brought to the team, even though he certainly has his flaws as a baseball player as well, but ultimately, the guys that you started this war with several years ago, those are the same guys that you were riding through. So that means you're counting on Derrick Hill, Justin Crawford, Brandon Marsh, and Brian De La Cruz. They are starting a lefty as an opener, but Grant Holmes is expected to take the bulk of the innings from the Braves' perspective today, so you're going to have to pick your choices. To be completely blunt here, these are all guys that are largely platoon names. Even Brandon Marsh, it has been a pretty notable fall-off from his all-star breakout in the first half of the season. I think a lot of us sort of have the sense that to some extent that was coming, but now it is just about one game. Can you recoup that identity that you showed in the first half, Brandon Marsh? Derrick Hill, you've had a ton of major moments. We're all still a little bit annoyed about that ball bouncing off your wrist in game one, which would have made a major difference, but nonetheless, it was a tough play. I do not want to rag on you. Brian De La Cruz, you've had some big hits, some clutch moments for this team. Justin Crawford, for the large bulk of the season, had led this team in batting average and with runners in scoring position. Can you guys do enough today in the outfield, both offensively and defensively, to get this team to the finish line? We will see what all goes down. It is going to be the biggest moment of the season for the Phillies by a significant margin. We'll see if we're still dancing this time tomorrow. Regardless, we're going to be breaking things down right here on the channel on Phillies Digest. My honest opinion right now, it was always Phillies in three. They had a tough path given the way that they stacked the cards against them, closing the regular season in really unsatisfactory and frustrating fashion, but now it is about winning one baseball game. This team can beat anyone on any given night, and I think tonight is one of those nights. I love that it's prime time. We'll see how things do break down, and we're going to be hopping on chat about it after. So I appreciate you guys for tuning into this video here. If you have not already, make sure to smash subscribe to us on the channel right here on Phillies Digest. Drop a like on this video, give me your thoughts in the comments, and I'll be back to talk to you next time.