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Phillies news and rumors 6/2: Was this Rob Thomson’s worst in-game move?

Rob Thomson is in his first full season as Phillies manager. (Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire)

In the ninth inning of Thursday’s loss to the Mets, the Phillies had the tying run at the plate and arguably their best hitter so far this season — Brandon Marsh — due up.

The lefty was set to face was Brooks Raley. He’s been super tough on left-handed batters over the past two seasons, but this year’s platoon splits tell a different story through 42 batters faced.

Brooks Raley’s slash lines against lefties

2021: .195/.262/.221
2022: .155/.200/.282
2023: .297/.357/.541

Marsh’s numbers against lefties have improved this year thanks to a scorching hot April where he was hitting everything. He went 2-for-17 with 10 strikeouts in May against lefties, but he played through a shoulder issue that was cutting off his swing for an undisclosed amount of time.

With Marsh representing the tying run, it was shocking to see him not at the plate. Instead, Thomson used a recent right-handed hitting call up in Drew Ellis to hit for Marsh.

Mets manager Buck Showalter countered the move by calling in right-handed pitcher Drew Smith to pitch to Ellis. Ellis swung at the first pitch and hit a fly ball to center to end the game.

As far as in-game decisions that backfired, taking out Zack Wheeler and putting in José Alvarado in Game 6 of the World Series will go down as the worst in his career, but it at least made some sense to put in your most dominate left-handed reliever to face Yordan Alvarez with runners on base.

Wheeler was pitching well, but managers tend to go to the bullpen when their starter looks vulnerable in the sixth inning of the World Series. Wheeler was flat out terrible in his last outing and struggled to hold his velocity later in the playoffs.

Anyway, the Phillies liked the way Ellis has been swinging the bat in the minor leagues, but there are a few things about this decision that are frankly inexcusable:

Ellis’ first major league at-bat since June 26, 2022 shouldn’t have been in the ninth inning of a two-run game.
We’re beyond the point of playing matchups with a guy like Marsh. He deserved the chance to tie the game in that spot and Thomson took it away from him.
Thomson should have been more aware of Showalter canceling out the move by putting a righty in.
I was at the game Thursday and I did not ask Thomson about it. You would be surprised at the amount of details you can forget between the ten minutes when the game ends and the manager’s postgame meeting with the media begins. I have to be better next time.

This is a weird time in the Philly sports calendar. The Sixers, a team that breeds indifference, just hired a new coach. Yawn. Eagles training camp is still weeks away, so the Phillies and their disappointing start to this season is at the forefront of sports talk radio.

A very select group of fans are already calling for Thomson’s firing. After all, it worked last year, right?

To that I say, please get a clue for once. The Phillies are not firing the manager who everyone fell in love with last year on the way to a National League pennant victory. There is something seriously wrong with you if you believe firing the manager will solve everything again.

On the other end, Thomson deserves criticism for when he makes a terrible in-game move and I can’t think of anything more nonsensical than what he did in the ninth inning on Thursday.

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