Phillies can salvage a late collapse and take final NL wild card in season finale

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Through all the final-week hardships for the Phillies — a four-game losing streak, a catcher in an 0-for-34 funk, a punchless offense, a desperate gamble on Aaron Nola on short notice — they are taking solace through their collapse in one certainty about the final game of the regular season.

They beat Tampa Bay on Sunday, and the Phillies are in the playoffs.

For an extra confidence boost, they'll go for the clincher with ace Zack Wheeler on the mound.

What else can the Phillies do except try and stay positive through a final week of futility that conjured up the franchise ghosts of the 1964 season and the 2023 playoffs?

Phillies fans that turned Citizens Bank Park into one of the top home-field advantages in baseball instead this week unleashed lusty boos on the slumping stars and some even wore brown paper bags on their heads And, no, not to protect themselves from the rain that drizzled all game on a gloomy night in Philadelphia. But in the embarrassment of pulling for a team perhaps poised for another fall swoon that needed an unearned run to snap a 21-inning scoreless streak during a stretch when the games matter the most.

In a win they had to have, the Phillies instead trailed 10-0 at home, about emptied the bullpen and now must burn their ace ahead of a potential playoff series in the wake of a 12-1 blowout by the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.

The good news comes from this: San Diego beat a hard-charging Arizona team 10-7 to keep the Diamondbacks one game back of the Phillies for the final NL wild-card spot. The Phillies will clinch their fifth straight trip to the playoffs with a win in the season finale or an Arizona loss to the Padres.

“This isn't the time of year to go cold," said catcher J.T. Realmuto, hitless in his last 34 at-bats.

Nola gamely did his best and said yes on the spot this week when interim manager Don Mattingly offered the veteran right-hander a start on short rest for the first time in his career.

Nola's bid to steady the Phillies on two days' rest did not go well, and he was pulled after being rocked for three runs in the first inning. With the Phillies' attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic collapse, Nola was hit hard Saturday night on just about every ball in play and left trailing 3-0.

The Phillies hoped Nola could make it at least once through the order. He instead lasted only 21 pitches, and Tampa Bay had no swings-and-misses against him.

Nola's outing was about the best of a putrid bunch.

The Phillies used six relievers. Jose Alvarado was voraciously booed off the mound after the beleaguered lefty gave up three runs in the fifth inning. Jose Urquidy allowed three runs in the sixth to make it 10-0 and most Phillies fans — who stuck around through a rain delay — fled for the exits.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that now includes four straight losses.

The Phillies are 9-14 in September. The Padres and Chicago Cubs have clinched wild-card spots.

“Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have guessed we'd be in this situation,” Realmuto said. “But that's this game. It knows how to humble you. Hopefully, we can come out of this better tomorrow, get in the postseason and get hot then.”

The Phillies are forced to throw Wheeler at the Rays, which would burn him for a potential Game 1 or 2 start in the NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta, if not rule him out for the entire series.

“We're always confident when that guy's on the mound,” Realmuto said.

Mattingly said the Phillies only briefly flirted with the idea of bumping up Wheeler a day.

The Phillies are in a bind with All-Star lefty Jesus Luzardo still on the injured list because of left shoulder inflammation. Luzardo can be activated Sunday and would be available to pitch if the Phillies need him.

NL batting leader and starting second baseman Luis Arraez is out indefinitely with a severely sprained left ankle. His absence sparked some lineup shuffling the last two games, with Bryce Harper back at first base and Bryan De La Cruz starting in right field. Bryson Stott was again at second base.

Trea Turner was moved to the leadoff spot while Kyle Schwarber was dropped to second in the order.

None of the shuffling mattered. The Phillies have just 11 hits and one run in the first two games of the series. They have homered only once in their last 64 innings.

The Phillies could have clinched a wild card as early as Wednesday. They started Saturday suddenly in the conversation on the Philly sports scene as a team potentially poised to join the short list of worst collapses in franchise history.

“I just think there's pressure all the time,” Mattingly said. “I've always felt if you put pressure on yourself all the time to perform and hold yourself to a standard, this game is really no different than any other game. Obviously, we know there's a lot at stake. That's the beauty of kind of playing at a level all the time.”

The clubhouse celebration is still within reach. With the bats in a deep freeze, it's pretty much on Wheeler to pitch them into October.

“We've got to come out and play our best baseball tomorrow,” Realmuto said. “That's really all there is.”

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