Phillies complete SWEEP of Rays to get 30 games above .500 for first time this year | Phillies PGL

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is it me or have they picked up the pace looks like they picked up the pace oh by the way magic numbers now nine according to Bryce Harper we can talk about the division and the magic number Ricky balico Ben Davis I'm Michael Baran John Crook in a moment we welcome you to Phillies postgame live presented by Cure auto insurance 3 to2 Phillies by bottom line is they got enough win they got enough runs to Win It 3 to2 Jose Alvarado pitch great Zach wheeler pitch great Nick castiano avenge last night hit by pitch got hit by a pitch again Ricky B this this was amazing is it me or have they picked up the pace oh no I don't know about picking up the pace but they're winning baseball games that's all that you should care about and I know look every game is not going to look pretty this is September certain games you're just trying to you know get your way through navigate your way through get on the map make sure you could you you could pick up a win but I mean in a game like this you look at it this way Zack Wheeler pitched well that that's step one 18 swings and misses in his game you brought up the whole point what is the best way to punch somebody back how about a big home run in your first at bat to take a two nothing lead in this one for Nick castios uh why he gets hit again is beyond me cuz that looked like he was throwing at again I'm I'm just going to leave it at that but the rest of the the game what I look at is the bull Matt strm outstanding um Jose alado wow somebody woke up the Beast man cuz this guy's going again in a good direction and then estevis was outstanding in the ninth MH Benny well they play got very good defense as well you saw that play there in the ninth inning great throw by catch and throw by romis Garcia to to trade Turner Short Stop great pick and tag and you going to have to do those things throughout the course of the Year especially to get in the playoffs and win in the playoffs let's go across the street the Citizens Bank Park check in with John krook who called tonight's game with Tom McCarthy in this 3-2 Phillies win John we asked your pregame we asked all the guys who do you think is the most important player going into the postseason and you said Jose Alvarado and Jose Alvar seven pitches man he where has he found rediscovered his pitching style well you know it was always there it's just his command got a little off but uh his velocity seems like it's jumped up a tick he's consistently now 98 99 of course the cutter is uh lethal when you're throwing strikes with the fast ball uh or the Sinker they call it but uh yeah it's and look you know moving forward they're you're going to need Bullpen guys that that are that are hot and right now Matt str's he's been pitching great all season and Alvarado you know and you go with that with with Hoffman and EST stez uh and kiring the way he's been pitching lately you know you got you got a big five-headed monster down there uh that can shut teams down and especially with Jose and and you know it doesn't matter if it's Lefty on Lefty Lefty on righty or a Kirk ring Hoffman or stz because they can get both sides of the plate out and that that's huge for Rob Thompson uh you know further you know moving into the last uh few weeks of the season and then in into the postseason uh it's going to be huge for uh Rob Thompson to be able to to mix and match his Bullpen pieces Johnny Zack Zack wheer tonight 103 pitches didn't have great command of his fast ball but still had 18 swings and misses nine strikeouts it's against a team that had 13 hits last night shows you just how good he really is yeah yeah it's just amazing every time he goes out there that uh you know you know that more than likely you should win that game and was Zach you know he gave up the couple runs but uh you know he his two seam fast ball tonight with the uh to the left-handed hitters to get get uh uh called strikes I mean that that that was as good as you're going to see one uh the way he was hitting that inside corner with that pitch to The lefties uh if if you notice the first couple Innings it was mainly just you know four seam sinkers and then as the game went on he started mixing in some of his all speed pitches but uh you know it the pitch count got up because he did lose some command there in the middle Innings but you know it's it's typical another typical outing for Zack Wheeler six Innings two runs and and ho hum another win and another win for the fightings John the thing that's most impressive to me and it's just not tonight that there are different guys kind of stepping up for this team a a as each day goes by right now obviously there's some guys that are banged up you look at Garcia behind the plate uh you look as far as Cody Clemens Weston Wilson I mean is this the mark of of something better to happen because these guys could actually maybe get some rest down the stretch and you could hand it over to these guys oh absolutely and and and you know you know back when we played it was a 25man roster and you always say if you're going to win you need all 25 guys to contribute well with the injuries and everything the Phillies it's taken about 35 uh to do what they're doing and and the great thing is and it's it's it's the thing I think that makes this team special when they call up someone or a young player has to get some playing time uh these veteran guys are great with them uh you know it's not like well I'm going to wait and see if he can play first before I acknowledge that he's even on the team these guys welcome these guys with open arms and just tell them look you know you you got to help us and and these guys are doing it Stevenson last night uh buddy Kennedy man that that was one of the most impressive things that base hit love buddy and uh and and then tonight you know Weston Wilson gets a hit to drive in Nick and uh yeah it's it's it's every man when when you the great thing is is when they come here these young kids and they have to start playing you're expected to produce and and thank goodness that uh these these young players are producing for them they sure are as you are producing in the boat Booth Mister I'll tell you what yes I know you're more excited about it than you let on I can tell I can tell all right maybe maybe not hey do you have on a teal jacket I didn't see it today it's mint thank you it's mint yeah yeah do you like it no I can't see it I can't see anything well I'll you know what I'll send you a photo you you please no you don't want to see this it's not a good can't wait I can't wait to get home to take a peek at it we must cut we must cut you short all right well we'll see you tomorrow all right see see you later see great John krook joining us from the booth as he does every night I feel like he's got a cleansed mind right now and he's just throwing the baseball you know you know what I'd love to see them do is take the pictures get the pictures put a helmet on them put them at home plate crank the the pitching machine up to 98 to 100 and have them stand in the box and just watch track the balls and then they can get a sense of how how hard it is to hit and then they can realize I don't have to be so perfect I'm throwing 99 98 I don't have to be perfect with it I don't have to just try and miss by a little bit or try and make the perfect pitch I can get away with stuff because I'm throwing 98 to 100 if they saw how fast that was coming in there they would realize that themselves like maybe I don't have to be so great I I think I've said this before to you I think I've said I wish I could have seen what I threw like or what it looked like from home plate cuz I'll never forget I was sitting in the bullpen and I was sitting next to Toby Borland one night we got a guy named Russ Springer through hard through you know mid to Upper 90s and he was letting it go and I was like w this guy throws gas and Toby B looks at me goes you should see what yours looks like and but you never know you never know that so you don't know in all honesty you don't know exactly what you're throwing up there because you never see it so get Alvarado in the Box get them all in going to do it get them all in oh it's a great idea you know topper watches this program in fact you know he's going he's going to speak to us in just a few moment that's right you just never know exactly what you do I used to call that a little Houdini mov cuz that doesn't happen all the time no it doesn't what did you think of making a move like that going home with the ball Asos I thought that's a great move in a game like this I mean you it didn't seem like it was going to be very high scoring you got to take your chances uh when when you can I think as a matter of fact if if the runner wasn't going uh stot has time to throw to first base anyway so I think that's a fantastic the infield we were over at the Ballpark the infield was at four depth so there's four different depths one two three and four fours you're all the way in you're trying to cut down that Runner at home they were all all them were in on the grass that's how far in if the balls hit to you that Runner goes you are determined to get that out at home plate that's why you're in that far and runs like Ricky said runs were at a premium tonight they eliminated that run and obviously it was big in the ball and and the only way you really get burned on that is if wheeler makes a really good pitch in on the hands and a little bleeder you know Falls in just on the infield uh but I I I think that was the right move in a game like this so in a big way that is a game saver by Bryson and Aramis Garcia what's Rob Thompson think about the night here he is postgame in the clubhouse um I don't I didn't think he was as sharp as normal uh I thought the Sinker was good velocity was good touch 98 in the first uh he threw some effective Splitters but it didn't seem like he could land his breaking ball whether the slider or the or the curveball I'd have to look at the tape but um but he was grinding you know he worked out of trouble in a couple Innings lead off triple and the was the third um and then punches out the side and lead off double in the fourth I think and and gets out of it so um you know you got it done how difficult is that to call your own game you don't usually do that um shouldn't be all that difficult at all tell you the truth I mean if you do the work should be all right what you like most about this series um I think the way we grinded you know we we were missing a couple of hitters tonight and uh we scratched across three runs against a really good starter I mean that kid's going to be in this league for a long time um you know Cassy gets just he's swinging the back good he it's two- run home in the first inning then he he leads off or two out walk in the six to get get us going Marsh base hit and uh Wes Wilson gets a game-winning RBI on his birthday they it's kind of cool um yeah I I think we we were grinding that's a good team that you know they're they play hard they're Scrappy they can do a lot of things to follow up on that and the grinding what what do you make of the way that your team has performed lately you're missing some regulars Aramis Garcia has a huge throwout tonight you mentioned Wes Wilson with the with the bun single like swinging bun single like what what do you make of the way your team continues to win even though you're missing key guys well I think we've been doing that for a couple years now and I think it's a ATT Testament to uh like I said front office uh signing guys six-year free agents and and our Player Development system developing guys making them comfortable to come here um you know yeah you mentioned Garcia also had a great tag at the plate start with a great throw with the infield end um they just come up here and they they tend to perform and that's you need that because it it takes a village to get this thing done and and we've been fortunate to be able to do that in the last couple years what do you think the big difference has been for Alvarado since he came back I think he's just he's just pitching free there's you know he's just nothing's on his mind he's good whatever the problem was he took care of it and uh he's relaxed he's just getting after and he looks like the real Alvi what made you want to go to him any e tonight just the the match you know we had Hoffman down kiring was down um and we had strong up in the sixth to in case Wills ran out of pitches so since he was hot we'd use him in the seventh and and U and then it was Alvi in the eth everything okay with oh yeah yeah he he threw 22 pitches two nights ago and then last night he was up twice because he could have been uh going in in the 10th inning and uh he's just a little fatigued today when alberado is throwing like that how does it add to the bullpen or what does it mean to the bu uh it's you know it's just another piece to to a really good Bullpen you know and now Ruiz is throwing the ball really well um you know there's there's a lot of depth there we just got to keep them healthy and and fresh and keep them pitching well would have been available tonight so you have a you have eight game lead over the Mets with the magic number nine seven coming up against the Mets starting with three this weekend what what do you think about these upcoming games against the division opponent that's chasing you well they're important I mean nothing is done yet I mean until they put that whatever they put next year your Club the e or the be or whatever it is uh until they put that there nothing's done so we got to keep going they they had some decent bats I know you wouldn't say the nine strikeouts would would really say that but they made this guy work deep counts tonight I I tip my captain him they they had a good idea last night obviously with the 13 hits and then going into the attack Zack Wheeler tonight but Zach had the best of them yeah every time you looked up there were Runners on base weird flashes of bril he has it's very odd like he he'll walk a couple guys and then boom boom boom he strikes out two guys and all right I'm out of the inning and then he gives up a leadoff triple what does he do he strikes everybody else out I mean that's something he's he's got a blessed arm when when you could do that that's not that easy to do and to to have a leadoff triple and a lead off double at one point you know you're going to have to work through that but once you get through that I think it's a big sigh of relief and I I mean when you could do that that's why is the so low cuz he could battle himself through Innings and he stays out of these four run Innings actually it went up Ricky from 2.59 to 2.60 he's in trouble let's hear from Zach wheeler right now in the clubhouse you get a game like this one especially late in the year uh able to fight through this how much more are these starts a little more satisfying for you because you're able to kind of rely on other things that when other things aren going very well for you can not really I mean it's it's just is what it is and just move on to the next one what do you think of the role that the team's on right now wining series after Series yeah it's good that's what we need to be doing this time of year um and uh hopefully we can continue that how different is it calling your own I didn't call home pitches no I wasn't no you the recently really good really good and um you know anytime we can come out of the game and uh just hand it to those guys and they just go out there and do their thing it's uh it's cool to watch and um you know those guys they work their butts off and they take a lot of pride in what they do so it's it's really cool to see them um doing well out there was Alvarado look specifically the last four or five since he came back himself yeah maybe a little reset I don't know um you know you have to ask him but um just from the visual I mean it looks fantastic and looks like Alvarado you guys had a little bit of a leehigh valley Look Tonight sping lineup yeah what's that like that's it's cool to see um you know that's what's good about a good organization is you know guys have to step up um when guys go down up here uh you know we need uh guys to step up and uh just continue to play like guys were up here or at least close to it and um you know Garcia made a heck of a throw there at the end to get that guy called a great game for me tonight and um you know Cal last night I think it was getting the base hit and body out there so um it's pretty cool to see