Joe DeCamara made it clear that he believes Rob Thomson's decision to use Craig Kimbrel with a 5-3 lead in Game 4 was the turning point in the series.
"I think it is amongst the worst coaching or managerial decisions I've ever seen by a Philadelphia coach," DeCamara said on Wednesday's 94WIP Morning Show. "I thought it was the premiere moment, the moment of the series where I thought the Phillies lost series.
"I'm a big Rob Thomson fan," he continued. "I mean the guy is a very steady dude, he is a very quality dude that's obvious. I feel like I have seen a tremendous opportunity to win a championship in Philadelphia sports primarily, not exclusively, but primarily squandered because the coach or the manager made a series of mistakes with too much trust in the wrong players for the wrong reasons."
After Kimbrel allowed two hits and two talks in the bottom of the 9th in a walkoff Game 3 loss, Thomson went back to Kimbrel the next night with a 5-3 lead. In Game 4, holding a two-run lead in the 8th inning, Kimbrel devastatingly allowed three hits and three earned runs—including a two-run game-tying home run—in what resulted in a 6-5 loss.
Jon Ritchie gave his thoughts as well, turning the attention to the team's core hitters.
"The other stars let them down and we lost to a worse team," Ritchie said. "Our offense scored three runs in Games 6 and 7, in the last 18 innings of the biggest games of their lives, it was three runs. Schwarber, Turner, Harper, Casty, in Games 6 and 7 they were 1-28. No hits with runners in scoring position, Turner, Harper, Casty they were all 0-4 in the game for all the marbles. Casty was 0 for his last 23 plate appearances."