Phillies Play NLDS Game 3 Today

Hope everyone took it easy on Monday to recover from Game 2. The Phillies are back in action tonight as the series shifts to New York. Aaron Nola gets the start.

In other news, the Sixers kicked off their preseason schedule. And we check in on #4 Penn State… to talk airports? Yup, to talk airports.

Let’s dive in.

Rob Thomson made the bold decision to start Cristopher Sanchez in NLDS game two instead of Aaron Nola, and it paid off. Sanchez threw five strong innings on Sunday, keeping the ballgame within reach until the Phillies’ bats woke up late.

Starting Sanchez in game two at the Bank made sense for a number of reasons: Sanchez had dramatic home/road splits in the regular season, the move split up righthanders Wheeler and Nola with a lefty, and the bullpen—expected to cover more innings in a Sanchez start—was worked more before an off day instead of the day before game four.

On Tuesday, we’ll see if the other half of Thomson’s decision pays off: the skipper trusted the veteran Nola to handle game three in Citi Field’s hostile environment.

Nola is certainly no stranger to the ballpark. He has started 14 games there in his career (and 28 games against the Mets overall).

Nola also has loads of postseason experience, though he of course hasn’t pitched at Citi Field in a playoff setting.

Here are some numbers that may shed insight into what we should expect from Noles:

• Against the Mets in his career, Nola is 10-9 with a 3.46 ERA and two complete games (one shutout). He has struck out 205 batters, walked 50, and surrendered 20 home runs in 164 innings.

• Nola made two starts against the Mets in 2024.

  • On May 14 at Citi Field he threw the aforementioned shutout, allowing four hits, walking none and striking out eight.

  • On September 13 at Citizens Bank Park, he shut out the Mets for four more innings before they finally got revenge in the fifth. Nola served up two three-run home runs and didn’t get through the inning.

• Among current Mets players with at least 20 career plate appearances vs. Nola:

  • Pete Alonso has the best numbers against him: 54 PA, 50 AB, .320/.370/.680 (1.050 OPS), 5 HR, 11 RBI.

  • J.D. Martinez has the worst numbers against him: 21 PA, 19 AB, .158/.238/.158 (.396 OPS), 0 HR, 1 RBI.

• In his postseason career, Nola is 5-3 with one no-decision in nine starts. He has a 3.70 ERA and 1.15 WHIP over 48.2 innings.

It’s unclear whether any of this history will mean anything in Tuesday’s game when Citi Field starts rocking. If there’s one rule in the postseason, it’s to expect the unexpected.

But the Phils could certainly do a lot worse than Aaron Nola as their number three starter in a playoff game.

Your team, your town, your 76ers opened the preseason slate with a game at the Wells Fargo Center against something called the New Zealand Breakers.

This game was the equivalent of a pre-opening meal served by a restaurant that isn’t ready to charge paying customers but wants to serve meals to “customers” and make sure things are generally in working order. To this end, tickets to this game were going on StubHub for $3.

Don’t ask us how the Sixers put Tyrese Maxey at even marginal risk by playing him in this game. Just know that they did.

Maxey finished with those 15 points in a 139-84 Sixers win that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. First round pick Jared McCain also finished with 15 points, going 4-9 from three-point range (but 5-14 overall).

It’s difficult to discern what the point of this game was. If we asked you to guess how many players took the court for the Sixers last night, we think it’d take you a while to guess right (20!).

There were a couple of familiar names on the Breakers roster. Jonah Bolden, who played 26 minutes last night, played 44 games for the Sixers in 2018-2019. Chris Arcidiacono, who played for Villanova’s most recent Final Four team, also got some run for the Breakers.

Thankfully, Joel Embiid and Paul George both got DNP-CD’s.

The Sixers have the third-best odds in the Eastern Conference to win the NBA title. The best you can say for last night is that no one (especially Maxey) got hurt.

The biggest game of the upcoming weekend slate in college football has to be #2 Ohio State visiting #3 Oregon. Don’t get us started on how it’s a Big Ten conference game. We know all about it.

Staying in the conference, the second-biggest game of the weekend is arguably #4 Penn State’s tilt against USC at (checks notes) United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

It’d be nice if the focus was on the Trojans and the unique challenges they will present to the Nittany Lions on Saturday. But it’s never quite simple with Penn State, is it?

Forgive us for being provincial, but until today we didn’t have a firm grasp on a story that has apparently been a thing for a while now.

• Franklin has been advocating for improvements at State College Regional Airport to support Penn State athletics; these efforts intensified on the recent significant geographic extension of the Big Ten Conference.

• Proposed airport renovation includes a 1,600-foot extension of the current 6,701-foot runway for larger aircraft.

• Strengthening the runway for heavier aircraft is another potential project.

• Penn State faces significant travel challenges with upcoming West Coast games; in this and coming seasons, the Nittany Lions will travel to USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon.

• Franklin emphasized the impact of travel time on team preparation, which led this week to the decision to travel a day early instead of practicing.

Seems to us there are only two problems with Franklin’s wishes: Land and money. Here’s a (hypothetical of course) solution we found in a quick search:

Franklin’s current 10-year contract is worth, minimally, $70 million. Seems like the ball coach could be the change he wants to see….

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On October 8, 2022, Aaron Nola threw 6.2 scoreless innings and Bryce Harper homered as the Phillies beat the Cardinals, 2-0. They advanced to the NLDS against the Braves.

📊 Poll

Results from Monday:

Looks like Phils in five.

🔗 Links

• 🗑️ Dodgers fans threw trash at Padres players during Sunday night’s loss.

• ⬅️ ➡️ After the Tigers’ shutout of the Indians and the Royals’ win over the Yankees, all four MLB Divisional series are tied at one game apiece.

• 💰️ Barstool founder Dave Portnoy will win $1.2 million if the Phillies win the World Series.

• ⚾️ Phillies pitching prospect Andrew Painter is headed to the Arizona Fall League.

• 🍎 It’s looking like Keith Hernandez will throw out the first pitch at Game 3.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

October 8, 2024

• Phillies at Mets, NLDS Game 3 (series tied 1-1), 5:08 p.m. (FS1)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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