HOUSTON — Zack Wheeler had more to give.
Let that sink in. Let it wash over you. Who knows what would have happened if the Phillies allowed their best pitcher to face Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez in the sixth inning Saturday night? Maybe the result winds up being the same. Maybe it doesn’t.
But this much we do know: Wheeler’s 70th pitch in the sixth game of the 118th World Series was a 96 mph sinker. And when Jeremy Pena grounded a single up the middle to put runners on the corners and threaten the Phillies’ one-run lead, the only reason to replace Wheeler was that reliever Jose Alvarado throws with his left hand and Alvarez bats from the left side of the plate.
It was also the move that Rob Thomson made all throughout this magical postseason. Never mind, then, that Wheeler was pitching the game of his life in precisely the situation that called for it and against all evidence to the contrary that he had strength left in his right arm to do it. When Thomson walked to the mound, he was taking the ball from Wheeler and giving it to Alvarado.
All good things must end, including a manager’s five-month hot streak. Alvarez crushed Alvarado’s fourth pitch, a 99 mph heater, over the batter’s eye in center field, and the Astros seized the lead en route to a 4-1 victory that closed out the Phillies’ wild-carpet ride two victories shy of the franchise’s third World Series championship.
So, there won’t be a parade down Broad Street this week. There won’t be ticker tape or light-pole climbers. “Dancing On My Own” won’t play on an endless loop through the street of South Philly.
But there will be a residue from this wonderfully unexpected postseason run. After years of coming up short of even reaching the tournament in the first place, the Phillies of Bryce Harper — co-starring J.T. Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber, and of course, Wheeler and Aaron Nola — burst on to the national stage. And now that they have broken through, it’s likely they will stay for a while.
Over the last 30 days, the Phillies also recaptured their share of Philadelphia’s sporting conscious. It’s a football town now. Has been for a while. But if there was any doubt that another generation of players and a calm, cool manager could restoke the city’s passion for baseball, the last month erased it.
There’s a cruel irony in how it all ended. The Phillies turned around their season on June 3, after Thomson was elevated to replace deposed manager Joe Girardi. They were 22-29 then and went 65-46 thereafter. Then, they went 11-6 in the playoffs, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals, ousting the 101-win Atlanta Braves, and defeating the San Diego Padres before running into the juggernaut Astros.
The Phillies took on Thomson’s personality. A five-run deficit in Game 1 of the World Series against future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander? No big deal. They shrugged it off and won 6-5.
Thomson’s decision to go to Alvarado may have led to a Game 6 loss. It didn’t define the series. The Phillies lost because, after tying a World Series record with five homers in Game 3, their bats went quiet. They got no-hit in Game 4 and couldn’t come up with enough big hits with runners in scoring position in Games 5 and 6.
The top five batters in the lineup — Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins, Realmuto, Harper, and Nick Castellanos — combined to go 19-for-113 (.168) with five homers and 46 strikeouts in the series. They were shut down in Game 6 by Astros lefty Framber Valdez, who reprised his curveball artistry from the second game of the series.
This time, the Phillies’ strategy against Valdez seemed to be to lay off curveball and hammer sinkers. But he mixed his pitches like a blender, causing the Phillies to take several fastballs down the middle. Schwarber jumped on a sinker and hit a homer to open a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning, but otherwise, the Phillies had no answers.
Every bit of the pregame intrigue centered on Wheeler — and for good reason.
After dominating the National League playoffs, Wheeler threw a dud in Game 2 in Houston. Couple that with the Phillies’ insistence on giving him a sixth day of rest and manager Rob Thomson’s concession that the ace was feeling “fatigued” at the end of a long season, and by all appearances, Wheeler seemed to have little left to give in an elimination game.
Wheeler come out throwing the kind of smoke that he lacked seven nights earlier. His first eight fastballs all topped 98 mph. (He didn’t get above 96.4 mph in Game 2). He threw a 99.1 mph fastball to Trey Mancini in the third inning and struck out Alex Bregman on a nasty curveball in the fourth.
But Wheeler also leaned on his heater for 51/3 innings and was still reaching back for 97 mph in the sixth
Until Thomson came to get him.
And the magic ended.
