Pat Neshek may be a puzzling reliever with a controversial history in Philadelphia dating back to the Pete Mackanin-Bob McClure era. Criticism towards him is certainly valid. But, the Phillies up and down week in Chicago only falls slightly on him, if at all. Simply put, Gabe Kapler had a bad series.
Related (Counterpoint): Through 50 games, Gabe Kapler has done a remarkable job
Monday's 5-4 Win: After Jake Arrieta gutted out six intense innings against the Cubs, Kapler went to Seranthony Dominguez in the seventh with a 3-1 lead. Dominguez was lights out, which led to Kapler sending him back out for the eighth. The problem was, Dominguez was no longer dominant--walking Victor Caratini on four pitches and then Jason Heyward. Neshek was up in the bullpen, and according to Philly.com's Matt Breen, the Phils wanted to use him for Albert Almora Jr, who was up after Heyward. The problem was, Neshek told Breen that he just started warming up, only throwing two pitches.
Kapler, in his postgame press conference that aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia, told the media afterwards, "The goal was if we were to get to (Addison) Russell and the game was still in the balance, that would've been a lot of work for Seranthony, and we would've used (Neshek) for that situation."
After Daniel Descalso's little league home run that put the Cubs ahead 4-3, Russell came to the plate against Dominguez, not Neshek. Dominguez got out Russell and the following batter, David Bote, but last time I checked 4-3 is still a game that's "in balance."
Neshek told Breen that he was ready for Descalso.
The next day, Kapler admitted to Scott Franzke on the "Phillies On Deck" pregame show that if Neshek needs more time, it's the manager's job to make that happen.
"No matter what," Kapler said, "when I find something out about our players, which is that they need a little something, a little different kind of support, I need to step up and give it to them."
The Phils ultimately forced extras and won the game in the 10th inning, but it didn't need to get to that point. Dominguez should've been pulled after the second walk in the eighth. It's on Kapler to make sure Neshek is ready, and if that means giving him more time, then that's what needs to happen.
Tuesday's 3-2 Loss: Due to the way Kapler used his relievers leading up to this game,he and the Phils were left with their top four bullpen guys--Hector Neris, Adam Morgan, Neshek and Dominguez--not available.
So, after Zach Eflin also gutted out six innings of one-run ball, Kapler went to a bullpen of Edgar Garcia, Jose Alvarez, Juan Nicasio and Enyel De Los Santos. Garcia and Alvarez did a great job getting through the seventh and eighth, leaving Nicasio for the ninth to seal the deal on a 2-1 lead. In fairness, Nicasio got the save the night before in extras, but that was after Morgan threw four pitches to get Heyward out in the 10th.
Four, in addition to how ever many he needed to warm up.
Maybe if Morgan wasn't used for Heyward, the chances of him being available would've been stronger. Maybe if Morgan was left for the final two outs Monday, Nicasio would've been sharper Tuesday. These are all maybe's, but the bottom line is Kapler's managing led to none, if not most, of his high leverage guys being unavailable in the second games of this series.
"I think I've been pretty consistent with the approach of aggressively going after wins when we can lock them down," Kapler said after Tuesday's loss during his postgame session with the media that also aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia. "I think you always want to balance winning tonight's baseball game with winning series and winning the long game, so I understand the question.
"We were strict going to give those guys a blow. They've all been working really hard, both in the pen and getting up and also in getting into games consistently and, again, definitely believed that Nicasio could get the job done."
He didn't. The Phils should've taken three out of four in the series instead of leaving Wrigley field with a split.
Wednesday's 8-4 Loss: Cole Irvin is a pitcher that relies on location, and he admittedly didn't have it. So, after the Phils jumped out to a 3-0 lead through 2 1/2 innings, Irvin gave up a moonshot three-run home run to Anthony Rizzo in the third and a grand slam to Almora Jr with two outs in the fifth.
Because of what happened Tuesday, common sense says Kapler's main relievers were back to being available. It made no sense why he didn't deploy at least one for the bases loaded situation in thefifth.
Since the Phils offense was 4-15 with runners in scoring position Wednesday, the game was essentially over after Almora Jr's grand slam, which put the Cubs up 7-3.
Thursday's 9-7 Win: The Phillies jumped out to 7-0 lead through 3 1/2 innings, but Aaron Nola wasn't his sharpest, allowing the Cubs to inch away, leaving the score at 8-3 going to the bottom of the sixth. Despite only throwing 93 pitches, Kapler pulled Nola for Morgan with one out. After Morgan threw 11 pitches on two batters, he sent in Dominguez to get the final out of the frame. He threw nine pitches against two batters. Neshek came in the seventh with the Phillies still holding a five run lead, and subsequently gave up three runs while facing five batters, getting only two outs and throwing 19 pitches. Jose Alvarez got out of that inning and then got two outs in the eighth. Neris came in for a four-out save, and allowed a run in the process.
The Phillies held on, but used five relievers to get 11 outs heading into a big weekend series at the Milwaukee Brewers, who are obviously no joke offensively, as we saw a week ago at Citizens Bank Park.
"You always want it to be a piece of cake," Kapler told reporters during his postgame session that aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia, "but that would be a pie in the sky fantasy. It doesn't work like that. Players are too good. You have to be prepared for things to go sideways."
It didn't have to be "sideways." He should've left Nola in a little longer.
"I don't think Noles had his best command," Kapler said. "He had walked four batters and there is some hard contact even in that inning and a near miss. It just felt like the right time to get Morgan in there."
On Thursday in Chicago, Kapler should've used the same philosophy that he had five days earlier when Nola faced the Rockies in South Philadelphia. It was only a 2-0 game, Nola was dominant and Kapler sent him back out for the seventh even though he threw 99 pitches. The Phils ace was unable to record any more outs, giving up a run.
"The first thing we look at is does he still have his stuff," Kapler told The WIP Morning Show Thursday morning when asked about Nola's outing from Saturday. "So the stuff that he had in the first and second inning of the game, in the case of a starting pitcher, does he still have that in the fifth, sixth and the seventh? Second thing we ask ourselves is, 'is this our best option to get the next three, four, five batters out?' If the answer to that question is 'yes,' and especially in the case of a guy like Aaron Nola, you give him as much rope as possible, because, quite frankly, he's earned it."
Nola earned the chance to stay in Thursday's game at least another two outs. It could've possibly spelled their bullpen some more heading into Milwaukee. Based on the way Kapler and his staff managed their pen this week, if he runs into a situation this weekend where he's without some of his high leverage guys again, that falls on him, just like the Phils split in Chicago did.
