PHILADELPHIA – Try as they might, the Philadelphia Phillies can’t simply run it back.
Oh, they’d love to recreate last autumn’s “Red October” almost to a T, just with two more victories that would ensure a World Series championship. Yet the glorious moments of spontaneity, the cavalcade of clutch hitting, the roars from their adoring throng – it doesn’t come in a bottle.
“Last year was last year. It was a great run,” manager Rob Thomson said before Tuesday’s Game 1 of the National League wild card series at Citizens Bank Park. “We had a lot of fun. We’ve got to get back after it this year, and it’s a different team.
“I believe it’s a better team, to be honest with you.”
And then the Phillies went out and proved that different can be better.
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With quiet contributions from new faces and raucous ones from their pennant-winning holdovers, the Phillies subdued the Miami Marlins, 4-1, and can advance to the NL Division Series against Atlanta with another victory Wednesday night.
Phillies starter Zack Wheeler, continuing a narrative of October reliability, struck out eight and walked none and took a shutout into the seventh inning, before ace reliever José Alvarado stranded the potential tying runs on base.
And perhaps of greater import, a club that featured six 20-home run guys cranked out a playoff win without the longball – yet replete with their adolescent hijinks that endear this club so strongly to Philly.
A game-deciding two-run, fourth inning rally was keyed by the first of two Nick Castellanos doubles – after which he appeared to flip the bird to his hollering and hooting teammates as the crowd of 45,662 at Citizens Bank Park roared.
Never mind. It was just the ring finger – appropriately enough for a bunch obsessed with a World Series win.
The rally was capped by an RBI single from Cristian Pache, in the lineup only because lefty Jesús Luzardo was on the mound for Miami. But the Phillies squeezed Luzardo for 90 pitches in just four innings, and after Pache’s hit got through a drawn-in infield, he turned and pointed at his pals in the dugout like he’d been here for years.
He’s only been a Phillie since March 29, with 84 at-bats and 11 RBI coming in. But these Phillies are ready to celebrate heroes new and old – and already crafting a different chapter.
