Never in doubt: Phillies 6, Padres 4

There is something that I constantly need to remind myself: baseball is not football.

Baseball is not football.

Watching games like this, I have to think about how I need to remember there is another game tonight, another game tomorrow, and so on. There is certainly enough time to get back into things should it go south, that there isn’t any reason to overreact to each little disturbance in the rhythm.

But after last night and through most of this game, boy is it difficult to remember.

Baseball is not football.

The first inning had maybe the defensive highlight of the game when Ha-Seong Kim led off with a single, but mistook the capabilities of Johan Rojas.

You’d think the bottom of the first would be able to carry over that kind of electricity by hitting with runners in scoring position, but alas, with runners on first and third with two outs, J.T. Realmuto struck out to end the threat. The second inning, the Padres’ bottom of the order came to bite them again when two men got on thanks to some kind of brain cramp by Trea Turner to allow them on, letting Trent Grisham come to the plate and wreck a baseball.

Blake Snell was able to buzz through the lineup with relative ease for a while, bringing the angst level up quite a bit among the fanbase. There was a flicker of hope with the lineup in the fifth when they loaded the bases with two outs, but once again, no one was able to deliver, this time Nick Castellanos grounding back to the pitcher to end it.

Another reminder: baseball is not football.

In the sixth, Alec Bohm singled to start the inning, then went to second on a one out walk by Bryson Stott (pinch hitting for Drew Ellis), but when Darick Hall struck out, things looked bleak again. Enter Brandon Marsh.

In the seventh, Kyle Schwarber tied it with one swing of the bat, reminding me again to just let the entire game play out.

It’s the kind of stuff that this team can do if we’re just a little bit patient. They’ve shown resiliency, coming back from deficits and letting their bullpen take ove—

Well....

The eighth inning, with the game still tied, the Phillies decided to put on a clinic of baseball. Stott reached on an error, then almost ran himself into a TOOTBLAN with some ultra aggressive baserunning on a Marsh single, but made it safely. Hall struck out again, bringing up pinch hitter Bryce Harper. Harper chopped a ball off the plate, putting his hustle on display and beating out the throw from Xander Bogaerts to tie the game at four. Schwarber came to the plate against a lefty and untied with some solid two strike hitting, lacing a single up the middle to put the Phillies ahead, 5-4.

Turner would single in another run, putting the Phillies up 6-4 and allowing Craig Kimbrel to lock the win down. It ended with a bit of a miscommunication where Stott and Castellanos collided for the third out, but the game was secured and the Phillies had won.

Glance around social media during the game and you’ll notice the flow of the fanbase. It was a definite rollercoaster as the team had ups and downs, but that’s where I have to remind myself again: baseball is not football. Overreactions about the end of the season, the “poverty franchise” (I actually saw this), etc. when they start losing are thanks to thinking the whole season hinges on that play. Even if they did lose this one, there would still be a lot of season left, but alas, they did not lose.

They’ll always be frustrating to watch because we’re so involved with them, but for today, for this first game of the doubleheader, let’s just bask in the victory they just had.