Relive the Entire Bottom of the 9th and Nick Castellanos’ Walk-Off

You’re mailing it in today. Might as well watch the last inning again for the 10th time. There isn’t much better than the dramatics of postseason baseball:

Enjoy the entire bottom of the 9th again

(via @2009philieseag1) pic.twitter.com/VChV7vee0w

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) October 7, 2024

Here are some thoughts as I watch it back.

1) A.J. Pierzynski mentioned this, but the Mets scoring 12 runs off the bullpen in six innings in only two games this series is insane. Also where has Jose Alvarado been?

2) Not going to lie when I saw all these guys with “deer in the headlights” looks on their faces I thought there was no shot they were winning it in the bottom of the 9th:

3) J.T. Realmuto mentioned it after the game and you could see it as it was happening, but guys were pressing at the plate before Harper and Casty went back to back. Now you have another unfathomable comeback from the Mets and the wind looked like it was completely taken out of their sails.

4) I thought for sure this was going to be our #LOLMets moment of the game:

5) I saw some Mets fans trying to run with the bad Phillies fan narrative when we booed Nimmo after he got the wind knocked out of him. My counterpoint: He’s a dork and it’s the playoffs. Next bullet point!

6) What a disciplined at bat from Turner. Megill was trying to get him to chase and it landed him down 3-0 early. Megill battles back to 3-2 and Turner just missed that cutter. A couple inches higher and that ball might be out on the left field concourse with Harry Kalas. This is how you know Trea was locked in last night. I’ve seen him strike out chasing this same pitch in this same spot more times than I can count:

7) Terrible situational pitching from Megill. You gotta throw that ball in the zone on 3-2. You can live with Trea Turner beating you. There’s no one in that Mets organization that wanted to see Bryce Harper in the batters box in the bottom of the 9th.

8) Is it too late to get this ticket on the ballot?

9) I’ll never understand how this ball didn’t stay fair. Off the bat it immediately looked like a double down the line:

10) “Put the bat on the ball.”

11) “I got you.” – Nick Castellanos:

NICK CASTELLANOS WINS IT FOR THE @PHILLIES!!! #NLDS pic.twitter.com/vM14etkamy

— MLB (@MLB) October 6, 2024

12) I thought Megill was throwing his splitter down and away effectively the entire inning. Don’t know why he threw a slider inside to Casty, whose Achilles heel has always been swinging at pitches out of the zone and away.

13) To do all of this with two outs is amazing. Equally amazing Casty did it with two strikes. Nails.

14) The cameraman did an amazing job following this moment between Nick and his son Liam, which produced photos and videos like these:

When you call him dad, it means a little more. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/Pbr03XAJmY

— MLB (@MLB) October 6, 2024

 

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15) Rob Thomson deserves a lot of credit for not being afraid to shake the lineup up before the game. That’s something a lot of Phillies fans got on him about over the last two years. Rhys Hoskins was a black hole in the two-spot during the World Series and Alec Bohm in the NLCS couldn’t protect Bryce batting 4th. He went to Kody Clemens rather early for Johan Rojas and Austin Hays as a defensive replacement. He even pinch-hit Alec Bohm and the combined measurement of the two balls he hit wouldn’t have even left the park. I definitely wouldn’t say Edmundo Sosa was an upgrade and the guys got their energy from those gigantic home runs and Bryson Stott’s triple, but who knows, maybe the lineup re-tooling got them to focus more.

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