How about that start to the NLCS? The Phillies were off and running in the first with a lead-off homer from Kyle Schwarber, followed up by a birthday bomb for Bryce Harper four pitches later. Zack Wheeler was electric as well, striking out eight and only allowing three hits over six innings.
It's hard to lose when you never trail.
The Phillies picked up right where they left off in Game 1 of the NLCS, taking Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen deep twice in the first five pitches of the bottom of the first inning en route to a 5-3 win.
The Phils have played 54 innings this postseason. They've ended just two of those innings behind.
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Kyle Schwarber homered 420 feet to right field on Gallen's first pitch. Bryce Harper homered 420 feet to right-center four pitches later.
Why teams continue to give Harper this much to hit is a mystery. Gallen threw him a 93 mph fastball high and over the middle of the plate and Harper, in his first-ever plate appearance on his birthday, hit his 10th postseason home run as a Phillie, one shy of Jayson Werth's franchise record. Harper made a 3-1 with his fingers (his age) and pretended to blow out candles as he crossed home plate.
Two innings later, Harper drilled another first pitch for a line-drive single to right field to score Trea Turner. In 101 postseason plate appearances as a Phillie, Harper has hit .365/.465/.800 with 10 homers, seven doubles and 20 RBI in 24 games.
Nick Castellanos, who became the first major-leaguer ever with consecutive multi-homer playoff games in the final two nights of the NLDS, homered again in his first at-bat Monday. Castellanos had just one home run in his first 108 postseason plate appearances, then hit five in the span of nine trips to the dish.
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The Phillies were all over Gallen. They scored in four of his five innings, had multiple baserunners in four of them and either homered or had a runner in scoring position in all five.
Zack Wheeler delivered another top-notch performance and is building a Madison Bumgarner-esque postseason resume. He has started Game 1 in four of the Phillies' seven playoff series over the last two years and allowed three runs and 13 baserunners in 26 innings.
Wheeler has a 2.63 ERA in nine playoff starts, and his 0.70 WHIP is the lowest in major-league history for a pitcher with at least 50 innings. That top-five is Wheeler, Mariano Rivera, Kenley Jansen, Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson. Decent company.
Wheeler is in line to start Game 5 of the NLCS in Arizona unless the Phillies sweep. Manager Rob Thomson has to feel great knowing the Phils need three more wins and would have Wheeler and Aaron Nola starting three of the next five games (if necessary) with all three at home.
Corbin Carroll led off the game with a broken-bat single to center, then Wheeler retired 15 in a row with eight strikeouts and only one ball leaving the infield for a harmless flyout. In his last start, Game 2 of the NLDS in Atlanta, Wheeler didn't allow a ball to leave the infield until the fifth inning.
He was greeted in the sixth by an Evan Longoria single and a two-run homer from nine-hole hitter Geraldo Perdomo, but he rebounded to retire Carroll, Ketel Marte and Tommy Pham in order.
Under the most intense of circumstances, Wheeler has been at his sharpest. He has put multiple men on base in just three of his 19 playoff innings.
Thomson went to Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel in the final three innings to close out the win. Dominguez made things difficult on himself with a throwing error on a double-play ball back to the mound that put runners on the corners with nobody out in the seventh but escaped by allowing just one run.
Alvarado was especially important, recording four outs on just 15 pitches — all with the tying run either at the plate or on deck — to get the Phillies from the seventh inning to the ninth. He's become such a weapon and has been scoreless in 15 of his 19 playoff outings.
The Phillies have out-homered their opponents 16-3 this postseason. They're also 9-for-10 stealing bases while the opposition is just 2-for-4. They're keeping pressure on teams from start to finish and winning in a multitude of ways.
"Last two years in the postseason, they've done everything right," Braves center fielder Michael Harris II told reporters after the Phillies sent them home in the NLDS. "They've gotten their fans into it early, put pressure on the other team so the fans can stay in it. They put pressure on the other team and that kind of helps throughout the whole nine innings."
It's quite the recipe for success. Citizens Bank Park was ready to explode Monday night before the first inning ended.
