Categories: Phillies Nuggets with Tim Kelly

Despite ‘really bad miss,’ Matt Strahm prepared for more high-leverage spots

Matt Strahm has struggled so far in the NLDS. (Grace Del Pizzo/Phillies Nation)

Whether you were rooting for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets or neither, you had the same response when Mark Vientos hit a game-tying two-run home run off of Matt Strahm in the top of the ninth inning of NLDS Game 2.

“Are you kidding me?”

Not only was it the second home run of the day for the emerging star third baseman, but it was yet another game-changing moment on a night where it felt like the 45,679 fans at Citizens Bank Park were all riding on some weird collective seesaw.

When you saw the replay of the Vientos home run, it was even harder to fathom. It’s not like Strahm left a meatball over the center of the plate.

However, Strahm said after the game that the pitch wasn’t where he wanted it.

“It was a bad miss,” Strahm acknowledged. “It was up out of the zone. I was trying to go down and away and freeze him. He’s really good. He keeps his bat flat across the top of the zone. So if you’re gonna go up, you have to go up, up. So, I mean, it was a bad miss — a really bad miss.”

It was the second consecutive rough outing for Strahm, who wasn’t able to stop the bleeding he inherited from Jeff Hoffman in the eighth inning of Game 1, allowing two hits and two earned runs in just 1/3 of an inning.

Still, Strahm was one of two All-Stars out of the bullpen for the Phillies in 2024. He posted a minuscule 1.87 ERA across 66 games during the regular season. As soon as Tuesday, the Phillies could need him in another high-leverage situation.

So how does Strahm not let a pair of uncharacteristic outings turn into a rough postseason?

“I mean, I’ve been a reliever a long time,” Strahm said. “You gotta forget it as quickly as you can.”

There’s some relievers who talk about having a short memory, but you can tell when they are struggling that they are trying to convince themselves as much as the media when giving answers like that. Strahm doesn’t fall into that category, he believes every word he says 100%. We’ll see if that translates to him getting his postseason back on track as what’s turned into a chaotic series goes on.