NEW YORK (AP) — Six months of success for the Philadelphia Phillies could be wiped out before the leaves start to turn.
With one more loss to the New York Mets, a 95-win regular season would become an afterthought.
“As a group this is the closest to death we’re ever going to get, so in a way, we should feel the most alive,” Nick Castellanos said after Tuesday night’s 7-2 loss dropped the Phillies into a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-five NL Division Series. “It’s just one more time to chill out and leave everything on the field and however the dice is going to land, it’s going to land.”
Philadelphia is one defeat from taking another step backward. Seeking their third World Series title after 1980 and 2008, the Phillies reached Game 6 of the World Series in 2022 before losing to Houston. They took a 3-2 lead over Arizona in last year’s NL Championship Series, and then dropped Games 6 and 7 at home.
Castellanos spoke in a clubhouse so quiet the showers trickling in the next room sounded like waterfalls.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson addressed the team after the final out.
“I told them it’s the most resilient club I’ve ever been around,” he recounted. “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.”
Philadelphia fell behind 2-0 in Game 3 in New York on home runs by Pete Alonso in the second and Jesse Winker in the fourth off Aaron Nola.
Sean Manaea breezed through five innings for the Mets, but he lost his control momentarily and started the sixth with walks to Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner.
Bryce Harper struck out on three pitches.
“First pitch, changeup. I thought it was a really good pitch to hit, and then he threw me two banger sliders,” Harper said.
Thomson saw it this way: “Just the situation, when he’s trying to do too much, trying to get the club — put the club on his shoulders,” the manager said.
Castellanos lined to second baseman Jose Iglesias, who flipped to shortstop Francisco Lindor to double up Schwarber for an inning-ending double play.
“He threw me a good changeup away. I stayed on and I barreled it,” Castellanos said. “A little bit to the left, a little bit to the right, first and third, run scores.”
That started a stretch in which the Phillies made six outs in 13 pitches, part of an offense hitting .204 through three playoff games against New York.
Philadelphia’s evening began with promise: While Schwarber, Turner and Harper were retired in order, they all hit balls more than 106 mph.
Nola left with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth, and Starling Marte’s two-run, two-out single off Orion Kerkering opened a four-run lead. The Phillies trailed 6-0 before Harper and Castellanos hit RBI singles in the eighth.
Attention turned to Game 4 on Wednesday, when Philadelphia’s Ranger Suárez starts against Jose Quintana. While Suárez is 3-1 with a 1.62 ERA in seven postseason starts and two relief appearances, he was 0-2 with an 8.25 ERA in his last three regular-season outings.
“We’re in October now so it’s a different atmosphere, a different vibe,” he said.
A leadoff homer by Schwarber in the opener is the only run in the series for Philadelphia in the first five innings. He said Thomson’s message resonated.
“We have confidence in ourselves and we have confidence in this group, that this is a very talented club and that we’ve been through a lot of different things,” Schwarber said. “This is just another challenge, right? And for us, it’s to come together and find a way to win a game and get back to Philadelphia.”
Game 5 would be Friday at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies’ 54-27 home record topped the big leagues.
“If we’re able to come in and scrape out a win here, I know that they do not want to go back to Philly for a Game 5,” Castellanos said.
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This story makes a correction in the 13th paragraph to note that Castellanos lined out to second base, not shortstop.
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