“We lose, we’re going home.” Nick Castellanos, Bryce Harper, Rob Thomson, and Kyle Schwarber know what’s at stake after losing game three on Tuesday night.
NEW YORK – Well, Ollie, this is certainly a fine mess the Phillies find themselves in.
They don't find that old Laurel and Hardy line funny, of course. The vision of winning another World Series is fading like an old photo left out in the sun. Even making it as far as the National League Championship Series seems to be a bit of a reach after a 7-2 loss to the Mets in Game 3 of the NLDS Tuesday night.
They're down two games to one in the best-of-five series. One more loss and a season that began with such promise will be over.
The postgame visitor's clubhouse was suitably somber.
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"Well, as a group, this is the closest to death as we're ever gonna get," right fielder Nick Castellanos said philosophically. "So in a way, we should feel the most alive. We're only promised tomorrow and this is what we've worked since spring training for, to have this opportunity. It's just one more time to go out and leave everything on the field and however the dice is gonna land, it's gonna land."
The Phillies' mantra after tough losses has always been to flush it and move on. Castellanos sees the situation differently now.
"Instead of just flushing it and forgetting it, I think right now it's really important to embrace the situation we're in," he said. "If we lose, we're going home. Baseball's over for us. It's a great opportunity because if we're able to scrape out another win here, I know that they do not want to go back to Philly for a Game 5."
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Manager Rob Thomson addressed the team briefly after the game.
"Basically, it's just very simple," he said. "I told them it's the most resilient club I've ever been around. That's what they're all about. They're all about toughness and fighting and playing together. That's what we need to do and just focus on one game."
Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber picked up on the theme. "Our biggest thing is just that we have confidence in ourselves," he said. "We have confidence in this group, that this is a very talented club. We've been through a lot of things and this is just another challenge, right? For us to come together and find a way to win a game.
"There's no tightening up. Our job is to go out there and win a baseball game. Our goal is to find a way to make sure we can get it back to Philadelphia. That's our mindset. That's what it is. Everybody's going to do what they need to do. This is the postseason. There's no hidden key. We just have to find a way to win a game."
First baseman Bryce Harper kept it simple. "Just gotta win. We've done that all year," he said.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
One of the reasons the Phillies liked their chances in the NLDS was that they were able to set up their rotation so ace Zack Wheeler could pitch both the opener and the decisive Game 5 if needed.
That's still their best-case scenario. But it's also true that if they don't win Game 4 on Wednesday at Citi Field there will be no Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park on Friday.
So even though he'd be on short rest, Rob Thomson didn't rule out the possibility that Wheeler could be used in Game 4. "I would think everybody would be available," he said.
It's probably unlikely. It would mean having to jerry-rig Game 5 if the Phillies win Wednesday. But it beats Thomson spending all winter wondering what might have happened if he'd used his best pitcher in what is, to this point, the most important game of the year.
