The Phillies lost yesterday; an outcome to which we became quite accustomed last season. This year, there have been two major differences from the 2018 offense:
- The Philies had yet to lose entering yesterday’s game
- The Phillies didn’t deserve to lose
I don’t have to describe for you the feeling of knowing a one-run deficit is an insurmountable challenge. We’ve had that feeling many times for most of a decade, watching 0-0 contests teeter on the verge of a loss with opposing runners simply in scoring position.
The reason the Phillies lost yesterday was that—and this is, like most losses, several reasons mashed into one—their first three errors of the season all happened in one game, Aaron Nola had a rough start riddled with command issues, and David Robertson walked in the winning run, during which a Nationals player scored before being immediately sent back to AAA.