Phillies are eliminated from the playoffs and there's plenty of blame to go around

NEW YORK – When you lose, it's always the manager's fault. If you don't score, it's always the batsmen's fault. If you don't stop the bleeding, it's always the bullpen's fault.

If your team loses, it's always someone's fault, right? When your team has had the best record in baseball for months, winning 95 games and the division and heading into the postseason with the No. 2 seed and the bye, with a massive home-field advantage over a rookie manager and his luxury-loaded team that's half in Rebuilding is stuck – well, it has to be someone’s fault, right?

Like the 2022 Phillies, Team Totem is real – the Mets have a Rally Pumpkin, an “OMG,” a pop star second baseman, and have been the best team in baseball since McDonald's milkshake monster Grimace threw out a first pitch in June ( why there are purple people in Queens). But when Sean Manaea crushes you in Game 3 on a Tuesday and Jose Quintana buries you in Game 4 on a beautiful Wednesday night, you have to find someone to blame.

The Phillies' goals are simple.

And deserved.

Rob Thomson drew criticism when the Phillies lost Game 6 and the 2022 World Series after he brought up ace Zack Wheeler and the game turned. He suffered again last year when lineup errors and bullpen collapses cost the Phillies a second straight pennant.

He will spend this winter persecuted again. It's part of the job description.

The Phillies have won more games in each of the last three seasons, but have been eliminated from the playoffs more quickly in each of the last three seasons. Topper?

“I don’t think we’re going backwards, no,” Thomson said.

This is controversial.

Can this $247 million squad ever win it all?

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Thomson said. “There are ups and downs in the season when you get in trouble. That happens in the postseason too. Unfortunately, it happened at the end of the Arizona series last year. And then this one too year again.”

Pause.

“That doesn’t mean nothing will change next year.”

OK.

This time, Thomson couldn't figure out his bullpen against a balanced, disciplined Mets lineup; Maybe he let Jeff Hoffman down for too long. He also couldn't put together an effective lineup: He started left-handers Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh against Quintana, a left-handed pitcher that Stott and Marsh's sophomores Johan Rojas and Edmundo Sosa had enjoyed.

The Phillies sent two relief pitchers to the All-Star Game, Hoffman and Matt Strahm. They were miserable.

” READ MORE: The Phillies' $800 million Big Four disappear again with loss in Game 3

In the sixth inning of Game 4 on Wednesday, Hoffman, the goat from Game 1, repeated his performance. He walked two Mets batters, struck out another and threw two wild pitches in passing before finally getting an out, after which he was lifted for presumed closer Carlos Estévez.

Francisco Lindor fired a 99 mph fastball 398 feet to center field to give New York a 4-1 lead and a 4-1 win.

Hoffman also had a 1-0 lead in Game 1 when he singled in the eighth inning. He gave up a single, a walk and an RBI single. Strahm entered Game 1 and allowed two hits, scoring two more runs. Orion Kerkering kicked in and two others scored. Kerkering also allowed two of three inherited runners to score in a loss in Game 3.

But the manager is a Cinderella story — a life coach whose interim job in 2022 made him a sudden star — and Hoffman, Strahm and Kerkering aren't exactly Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera.

The batters, on the other hand, are exactly Flash and the Sandman.

The Phillies' 1-2-3-4 hitters — Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos — are under contract for nearly $800 million. Unlike well-paid JT Realmuto, the 33-year-old catcher who had knee surgery and went 0-11 against the Mets, the other four guys aren't on the roster because of their leather. They are hitters. Allegedly.

“I felt like the big inning kind of got away from us,” said Schwarber, who went hitless in his next 14 at-bats after the third inning of Game 1.

“Insults come and go,” Thomson said.

” READ MORE: Murphy: Phillies' devastating NLDS loss raises questions about the long-term futures of Bohm, Marsh and even Thomson

“We just have to get better. We have to finish the job,” said Harper, whose postseason OPS of 1.279 was an outlier in an otherwise run-of-the-mill offense. “We have a great team and a really good core. We just weren’t able to get the job done.”

Again.

The Phillies are now 1-5 in their last six playoff games, including home collapses in Games 6 and 7 of the NLCS against the Diamondbacks last season. Thomson and the bullpen were also involved in these failures.

But the Big Four-leading offense scored eight runs in those five losses.

That's about $100 million per loss.

This dog doesn't hunt.

The Hitters wasted shutout starts against Wheeler in Game 1 and against Ranger Suárez in Game 4. Wheeler has been the best pitcher in baseball over the past five seasons and was a postseason revelation, so his dominance was to be expected.

Suárez, not so much.

Suárez made it to his first All-Star Game and likely a huge contract with a 10-2 record and a 1.83 ERA in his first 16 starts. He was, in many ways, the best pitcher in baseball.

Then his back began to move. First the right side, then the left.

Suárez went 2-6 with a 6.54 ERA in his last 11 starts. Opponents' OPS against him was .885; For comparison, only 11 players had a season OPS better than .885. He was in many ways the worst pitcher in baseball, aside from his teammate Taijuan Walker.

After three months of searching, Suárez found himself just in time.

He gave the Phillies 4⅓ innings of a scoreless start that came out of nowhere. Suárez loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, and when he struck out Hoffman with one out in the fifth inning, he left two runners left, but Suárez got out of trouble early and Hoffman struck out Pete Alonso and then grounded out Jose Iglesias was too weak.

” READ MORE: Rob Thomson, Nick Castellanos, Ranger Suárez: The Phillies with the most losses and wins in the playoffs

Suárez delivered 97 pitches, of which only 58 were strikes, but considering he hadn't thrown that many pitches in more than three weeks and considering he had behaved terribly since his back broke at the end of June started to cramp, he managed what he did in Game 4 was a miracle. He lowered his postseason ERA to 1.43, which remains the best in Phillies history among pitchers with at least 20 innings. He got almost no support.

The lineup managed an ugly run in the fourth inning. It was only the second attempt at support the Phillies' starters received while pitching in the four NLDS games.

Blame Thomson for that Wednesday night. He said he wanted Marsh and Stott to play offense, but Marsh and Stott, lefties, were both 0-2 against Quintana, who, as you know, is a lefty.

Rojas, the Phillies' defensive ace in center field and right-hander, beat Quintana 5-9; He is the only pitcher Rojas has faced in more than three plate appearances against whom Rojas has an on-base percentage above .500. Quintana is literally the only major league pitcher that Rojas dominates. Sosa, meanwhile, was 3 of 9.

Even stranger: Left fielder Austin Hays, a righty, was 1-1. Weston Wilson replaced him on Wednesday evening. Wilson was 0-6 against Quintana and had never made a postseason plate appearance.

Stott, Marsh and Wilson combined to score 0-6 against Quintana.

They really weren't the problem on Wednesday. Neither was Harper, who walked in the fourth and then led off the sixth with a double that chased Quintana. Right-hander Reed Garrett came in and struck out Castellanos, walked to Alec Bohm and then struck out Realmuto. Left-back David Peterson came in and Stott ended up on the ground.

So yeah, bury Topper and rip off the pin, but if you really pay Trea “3 for 15,” Turner and four other hitters are making nearly $1 billion, and they're scoring two runs or fewer in five of six games. Well yeah, it's not really Topper and the Pen, is it?

Well, maybe it is, a little.