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Halfway through this game, you wouldn't have guessed that it was going to end 8-5 with the Jays on top.
The Phillies had this game sewn up. And that was despite Aaron Nola having command issues, partially due to the umpire's tiny strike zone, and only lasting five innings. The offense didn't fail him, though. Jeff Francoeur started things off by hitting an absolute bomb to center in the second. The rest of the Phillies started hitting Blue Jays' starter RA Dickey their second time through the order (the third inning), and by the fifth inning Dickey was getting hit pretty hard. He'd given up two runs and the lead in the fourth inning, which included a Freddy Galvis triple. Before he was pulled in the fifth, Dickey had loaded the bases on three straight singles. That's when the Jays' stellar bullpen took over. From that point on -- technically five whole innings since Dickey failed to record an out -- the Phillies had just two hits. That wouldn't have been such a big deal if Jeanmar Gomez hadn't happened.
Jeanmar Gomez, one of the Phillies' most reliable relievers, had an outing I bet he'd like to take back, or even just forget. Before tonight, Gomez had allowed just one home run all season. During the final 2/3 of the sixth inning, Gomez allowed two home runs. Back to back. One of which was a three-run home run hit by Josh Donaldson, who hit a monster homer off Aaron Nola back in the first inning. Needless to say, that's when the Phillies lost the game.
On the upside, the Phillies broke the Blue Jays record of 20 straight games of 3 earned runs or less, which was a franchise best. So the Phils are hitting at least. On the downside, this was the Phillies' fourth straight loss, and their sixth loss in seven games. Seems appropriate on Larry Bowa bobblehead night.
get in the spirit of the larry bowa bobblehead by badmouthing it to all your other bobbleheads while its not around
— H Jawn Benjamin (@OhWowHmm) August 19, 2015
But I don't want to end this recap on Larry Bowa. I want to end on a note of love! Namely, ballpark proposals. Aren't they great? Oh wait, I'm sorry, I actually mean the opposite of great. Terrible. They're terrible. And tonight, Citizens Bank Park almost saw a woman say no to a ballpark proposal.
Just felt so awkward watching scoreboard proposal at CBP. Lady had WTF look on her face & hesitantly said yes after asking if he was serious
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) August 19, 2015
So! Awkward! Bu wait, there's more!
@FranzkeLA I think we got close to that on this one. She was basically frowning the whole time.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) August 19, 2015
Let this be a lesson to anyone out there who wants to propose: do not do it in a ballpark in front of 20,000 people or more. YOU might be the poor schmuck who gets the first "no" to a ballpark proposal in recent memory. Why risk it?