Phillies Notebook: NL East champs eager to finish the job at hand

PHILADELPHIA There was a sense of nervous anticipation around the Phillies Wednesday, seemingly an atmosphere of needing to finish the job at hand.

The immediate job was to win a series rubber game against the Chicago Cubs, and the urgency of taking one more step toward clinching a bye from the wild card round of the pending playoffs.

When you have an opportunity to keep playing meaningful baseball games, all the way to the end, knowing that you still have a challenge ahead of you, I think that can only be beneficial, Kyle Schwarber said.

For us, its just that we have to keep going.

This could be beneficial for us down the stretch, so we want to keep pushing, keep winning baseball games.

And if we do keep winning baseball games, there could be an opportunity where we dont have to play in the wild card round.

You dont want to play in that series.

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Anything can happen.

Whats happened the last two years for the Phillies has been pretty good.

A surprise team in 2022, they came back in the first wild card game for a win, and wound up sweeping the Cardinals in two straight.

After that they took down the Atlanta Braves in the divisional round, then the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series before bowing the Houston Astros that year in the World Series.

Thus established in 2023 but finishing 14 games behind the Braves in the NL East, the Phillies blew away the Miami Marlins in the wild card, then again upset the Braves in the divisional round.

They had the Arizona Diamondbacks on the ropes in the NLCS, but promptly lost back to back games at home to lose the series in seven.

Now in the final week of the regular season, theyre trying to hold off the Brewers while waiting for other playoff positions to be sorted out.

In the National League, some of the Phillies possible playoff opponents look familiar from the past couple of playoffs.

The Braves are still in it, chasing the Mets, even while Hurricane Whateveritis is chasing both of them.

Also prominent are the San Diego Padres, who went into Wednesday as baseballs hottest team, having won nine of their previous 10 games.

And there are the Diamondbacks, offering the Phils not only bad memories, but a chance for revenge one year later.

To manager Rob Thomson, however, the one day at a time approach is just as important in the last week as it was at the start of the season.

We need a win, he said before the Fan Appreciation Night game.

It would be great for our fanbase; 3.3 million (fans) came in here this year, so thats pretty strong.

As I said all along, and I know its a cliche, but I truly believe this is the best fanbase in all of sports.

The best way to put it is what an opposing coach told me after (the regular season in) 22.

I called him and were talking about a series and he said for his players here, its four hours of hell.

And it really is.

Our fans give our guys so much energy and its so helpful.

And it can be intimidating to the opponent.

While the long season is coming to a head for the Phillies, things are just beginning for pitcher Eiberson Castellano and outfielder Justin Crawford.

They were respectively named as recipients of the Paul Owens Award, given annually to the organizations top pitcher and position player.

Right-hander Castellano, 23, went 6-5 with a 3.99 ERA with Class A Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading this season.

His strikeout to walk ratio was especially impressive at 136-29.

Its something big for me, he said Wednesday of the award while paying what he said was his first visit to an MLB ballpark.

Its something new to me.

My first year as a starter in this organization, and being able to do that for the whole year was something special.

Crawford is used to accolades.

Only 20, he was the Phillies first-round draft pick (No.

17 overall) in 2022, and is the son of longtime major league player Carl Crawford.

The young outfielder also spent time at High-A Jersey Shore and Reading this season, being promoted to the Double-A ranks on July 12.

Over the course of the season he hit .313 with an .804 OPS with nine home runs, 25 doubles and 61 RBIs, along with 42 stolen bases.

He led off for the National League in the All-Star Futures Game.

Of receiving the top honor for a minor league position player here, he said, I was really excited.

That was one of my goals this year, to get up there and being able to do that; to have this success.

I want to be here next year, Crawford added.

Obviously I have to come out ready to play, ready to go, and get stronger.

And just try to get better at everything, because with everything theres room for improvement.

NOTES >> Alec Bohm wasnt in the starting lineup, one day after firing his bat into the ground after making an out in a 10-4 loss to Chicago.

Just giving him a day (off), Thomson said.

He looked a little frustrated last night.

Its just a combination of things, he probably wants to get to 100 RBIs (he has 95), thats a goal for him.

And hes probably not swinging as well as hed like to be right now.

So maybe a day off will help him a little bit.

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The hurricane barrelling down on the Florida panhandle is expected to still be strong by the time it rolls due north over Atlanta.

For that reason, the Mets and Braves postponed both Wednesday and Thursday games.

Theyll be made up on Monday in an afternoon doubleheader.

Until theyre decided, the National League playoff positioning will likely remain up in the air..

This article has been shared from the original article on delcotimes, here is the link to the original article.