quote:
DoctorBobble-

Austin Riley has hit 5 HRs (10 XBH)
Ronald Acuña has hit 4 HRs (9 XBH)
Marcell Ozuna has hit 4 HRs (5 XBH)
Travis d'Arnaud has hit 2 HRs (5 XBH)
Michael Harris II has hit 2 HRs (3 XBH)
Matt Olson has hit 1 HR (3 XBH)
Ozzie Albies has hit 4 XBH

...off Aaron Nola

Yeah, it seems we hit Nola pretty good. And he’s having one of the worst seasons of his career. But he’s Nola, and is certainly capable of being great on any given day and shoving for 6 or 7.

But I will continue to preach my velocity plays in the postseason mantra. Not that Nola throws “slow” or anything, but the Phillies have a seemingly endless supply of bullpen arms that they run out there who all throw 98. I actually like our chances against Nola more than their pen guys. And I would have thought that even without all those gaudy numbers you posted. If he’s not on, or even if he is, all it takes is for him
to miss over the plate a couple times and we can make him pay.

The flip side to that is Elder. Nola still sits 94/95 (is that right?) while Elder sits 91/92. And he has 2 potentials for mistakes to get punished. He runs a 92 mph 4-seemer over the middle of the plate, and it’s probably not coming back. Or if he throws a sinker down the middle that doesn’t sink and stays up, that has even less of a chance of staying in the yard. He just can’t walk anybody. You just can’t throw 91-92 and walk people. His mistakes have to be solo shots and not 2 or 3-runners.

But maybe he’s got the sinker going and is painting corners with his fastball. Maybe he steps up and has one of those legendary playoff performances that make October baseball so much fun. But regardless, like has already been mentioned, he’s got to have a super short leash either way. If he could give us 4 or 5 only giving up 2 runs to hand it to AJSS, I think I’d take it. If he only gives us 3 giving up 1, I think I’d take that, too.

We talked a lot about the change in pressure after the comeback win Monday. Imagine how much “looser” Elder and AJSS should feel today knowing it’s not an elimination game. “Loose” being relative, of course. It’s still the playoffs, it’s still the Phillies’ lineup, and it’s still gonna be in front of a very hostile crowd. But sometimes guys step
up and do something special. Let’s hope 1–or both—of those guys do tonight.