ATLANTA — The Phillies slid into the playoffs like mice into a hole, but now that they’re there, they’re roaring like lions.
These playoffs seemed like a bonus. They took the sixth seed, the first time a third wild-card existed in a normal season. They won, yawn, 87 games. They were clearly inferior to the real NL East powers; the Mets owned them all season and the Braves battered them late, and both teams won 101 games.
Or were they? Were they really inferior?
Their ace won the wild-card opener. Their No. 2 pitched like a No. 1 in the wild-card clincher. Meanwhile, those mighty Mets lost their wild-card series to the Padres.
And then, on a perfect Tuesday afternoon in northwest Atlanta, the Phillies stole a game from the Braves, 7-6.
Next up: Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, the best starting tandem they’ve had since Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee in 2012. This is the Phillies’ best-case scenario. It’s all they could’ve asked for.
They’ve got to hit, and Kyle Wright, the Braves’ starter on Wednesday, allowed just six runs in his three starts against the Phillies this season, and they might need a Gold Glove play like the one Nick Castellanos made in right field with one out in the ninth, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson had to admit:
“I always feel good when those two guys are pitching, I’ll tell you that.”
Who wouldn’t?
“We’re super confident, but that’s a great team over there,” Bryce Harper said. “We’ve got to go out there, play our game, score the runs that we can against them. And, hopefully ‘Wheels’ and ‘Noles’ can shut the door.”
The Phillies shut the door part of the way Tuesday, but not the way you’d expect.
They scored runs in four of the first five innings but they scored with no home runs. They got 4 2/3 innings of two-run relief from their bullpen after starter Ranger Suárez, who gave up one run, needed 86 pitches to get 10 outs. Zach Eflin gave up two singles and a three-run homer in the ninth, but, well, it’s his fourth outing as a closer. He got the last two outs with nobody warming up in the bullpen.
Consider it a learning experience.
“The win today was huge for us,” Suarez said.
That’s because, if they get a win from either Wheeler in Game 2 here tomorrow or from No. 2 starter Nola in Game 3 in Philadelphia on Friday, they will be one victory way from the National League Championship Series. That’s a playoff level they haven’t reached since 2010.
Put it another way: It would be their first NLCS since two years before Harper, the Phillies regular with the most service time, made his major league debut.
The Phils haven’t popped champagne corks at Citizens Bank Park in a dozen years. That could happen Friday or Saturday night, when they play Game 3 and, now, a Game 4 that is either guaranteed, or better, unnecessary.
This is an astonishing possibility for a team that fired its manager on June 3 when it sat seven games below .500, and had lost eight of its last 12 regular-season games.
Yes, the Braves sat and rusted for six days, and no, they hadn’t played a meaningful game in a week. But they’re the defending World Series champions, and they won the NL East. Cry me a river.
The Phillies beat them eight times in 2022. Can they beat them three times in October?
It is a possibility that looked more realistic with every at-bat Tuesday.
Offseason splurge Nick Castellanos started earning his money. He entered on a 2-for-26 slide, he got hits in his first three at-bats, and had three RBIs before the end of the fourth inning. He hadn’t had a three-RBI game in more than three months.
Deposed closer Seranthony Domínguez looked dominant in his perfect sixth and seventh innings. He needed just 18 pitches to retire the Braves’ top six hitters in order. Jose Alvarado got his three with a perfect eighth, which sent thousands of the 42,641 sellout to their cars to beat the worst of the beltway rush hour.
It was the perfect tonic for bad news. Late-innings veteran David Robertson strained a calf muscle celebrating Harper’s home run when the Phillies finished their two-game wild-card sweep in St. Louis.
The sluggers slugged, a bit. Harper cranked an opposite-field double in the sixth inning against the Braves, his third extra-base hit in four games after hitting zero in his previous eight games. Hoskins broke an 0-for-20 slump with a third-inning double that began a two-run rally.
They got a double, a walk, and a sacrifice fly from No. 9 hitter Edmundo Sosa.
That’s how they stole one in Game 1.
Their ace starts Game 2 on Wednesday. Wheeler shut out the Cardinals through 6 2/3 innings Friday in his postseason debut Friday. Harper can’t wait to finally see a frenzied crowd at the Bank.
“If we go home 2-0, it’s a big advantage for us, especially going into the postseason in Philadelphia,” Harper said. “Gotta enjoy this one today and get ready for tomorrow — and finish the job.”
