Categories: Phillies Nuggets with Tim Kelly

Wheeler, Alvarado and Thomson revisit decision that ended magical 2022 season

Zack Wheeler was pulled in controversial fashion in World Series Game 6. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire)

HOUSTON –– In the moment, virtually everyone questioned the decision. Some cooler heads will prevail, but until the Philadelphia Phillies hoist the World Series trophy up again, a debate about whether Rob Thomson should have pulled Zack Wheeler in favor of José Alvarado will be an evergreen topic.

Let’s set the stage.

Wheeler – who had experienced a dip in velocity in a disappointing Game 2 start – was excellent through the first five innings, allowing just two hits. With an extra day of rest, the 32-year-old’s velocity bounced back and he shoved for five innings.

But he opened the bottom of the sixth inning by hitting Martín Maldonado, who didn’t make much of an attempt to get out of the way of a 97 MPH sinker. Wheeler then induced a slow-hit groundball to shortstop off the bat of Jose Altuve, which ended up as a fielder’s choice. Eventual World Series MVP Jeremy Peña followed with a single back up the middle, allowing Altuve to advance to third base.

With a 1-0 lead, Thomson was very aggressive in turning to Alvarado, his best reliever for much of 2022, to face Yordan Alvarez.

“I thought Wheels still had really good stuff. It wasn’t about that,” Thomson said after the loss. “It was just I thought the matchup was better with Alvarado on Alvarez at that time.”

And it backfired spectacularly, as Alvarez, arguably the best left-handed hitter in baseball, hit a 98 mph sinker 450 feet in what may go down as the most important swing in Astros’ history:

Wheeler admitted after the game that he was indeed surprised to be taken out with only 70 pitches, but deferred to Thomson.

“Yeah, I would have,” Wheeler acknowledged when asked if he would have liked a shot to clean up the inning himself. “It’s win-or-go-home right there. I mean, that’s a tough pill to swallow. But it’s ultimately Thom’s call, and that’s the call he made.”

Even if Wheeler didn’t agree with the decision, was there part of him that wasn’t surprised by it?

“No, honestly it caught me off guard,” the righty said.

Thomson didn’t take offense to Wheeler’s postgame honesty.

“I’m sure he was,” Thomson said when asked about Wheeler saying he was caught off guard. “Yeah, I’m sure he was. I mean, he still had his good stuff. I just thought that that was a key moment in the game and that was a momentum swing that I thought Alvarado had a chance to strike him out.”

The visiting bullpen at Minute Maid Park is like a dungeon located between left field and center field. Unlike most stadiums, it’s entirely possible that Wheeler had no idea that Alvarado was warming.

Alvarado, who came on in the fifth inning of an eventual Game 1 win, was not surprised to pitch so early in the game that the team’s best starting pitcher got the ball for.

“No, I said early in the series, I’m ready for everything,” Alvarado said postgame.

There’s a large element of credit here that needs to go to Alvarez. Alvarado has nasty stuff, but his pitch location, frankly, was not good. Still, there’s plenty of hitters who would have swung and missed at the pitch, either because they guessed wrong or they just couldn’t catch up to it.

Alvarez wasn’t one of them, though.

“You know, man, sometimes I win it, sometimes I take my hat off for the hitter,” Alvarado said. “That’s the game.”

It is true that Alvarez isn’t the typical left-handed power hitter in that he hits really well off of left-handed pitches, with a slash line of .303/.381/.582, 33 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .963 OPS in 557 career plate appearances off of lefties.

It’s also true that right-handed pitchers haven’t fared well against Alvarez either, as he’s slashed .292/.386/.594 with 65 home runs, 183 RBIs and a .980 OPS in 980 career plate appearances against righties.

This is a Hall of Fame-caliber young hitter who just had a career-defining moment.

After shouldering an unsustainable workload for much of the postseason, Alvarado ran out of gas in the World Series, allowing four earned runs in 3 ⅓ innings. It’s fair to say that he wasn’t the right person for the situation.

Perhaps Wheeler was the only right person for the situation. He did allow a double to Alvarez and walked him in Game 2 of the World Series, but he clearly had better stuff Saturday night.

But despite what you’ll hear on the airwaves over the next week, there would have been quite a bit of criticism for Thomson if he left Wheeler in to sink or swim in the sixth and the latter occurred. Frankly, five shutout innings was more than anyone expected from Wheeler coming into the outing given that he was dealing with arm fatigue.

The real story here – or at least a big part of it – is that after taking a 2-1 lead in the World Series, the Phillies lost three consecutive games where they scored just three total runs. They were never going to win Game 6 1-0. And after Alvarez’s home run, the offense wasn’t able to muster a rally of their own.

Make no mistake, this was a magical run for the Phillies, perhaps the most shocking playoff run in the history of the city. And that’s how it will be remembered over the long run. If the Joe Carter walk-off home run wasn’t enough for Phillies fans to sour on the 1993 season, they’ll move past the unfortunate ending to a special playoff run in 2022.

But for the next few days or weeks, Thomson’s decision to pull Wheeler in favor of Alvarado — and the postgame reactions of all three — will be dissected ad nauseam.

And then one day, the discussion will pivot to whether the Phillies would be better off signing Trea Turner or Carlos Correa, as they look to unseat the Astros in 2023.