PHILADELPHIA — A comically thick fog filled the Phillies clubhouse Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Fog is nothing new after a home win. A few years ago, Aaron Nola bought a smoke machine, which sat next to Zack Wheeler’s locker. But Nola recently upgraded to a bigger, better and more powerful model. Its smoke covered the locker room in an incredibly thick white cloud after a 5-1 win over the Dodgers, who completed a three-game sweep.
“The other one was leaking,” Nola said. “I was out of (fog) fluid, so I bought another fluid and it was low. The roller locker was getting sticky and stuff because it was leaking.”
Nola looked at the new machine.
“This stuff is cool,” he said.
The Phillies (61-32) played well this week, taking a 6 1/2 game lead over Los Angeles (55-39) for the best record in the National League.
“Coming off the Braves series and the Dodgers, it’s a big test for us to see where we’re at right now,” outfielder Brandon Marsh said. “I think we held our own. Yeah, I’d be lying if I said we don’t wake up a little bit differently for games like this. That’s why we play this game. Dodgers-Phillies. That’s what it’s all about.”
Is there a series of statements in early July? Maybe. The Phillies already thought they were among baseball’s elite because they already had the best record in the major leagues.
They already believed they could win the World Series.
This operation only confirmed these convictions.
“We don’t care who comes,” Johan Rojas said through the team’s interpreter. “We don’t care who we play. We’re just going to beat them. Anybody can come here and end up losing the game or the series. Same goal for the World Series. We’re going to go out there and win it. We’re hungry to win.”
It was also a harsh reality check for the Dodgers, who were short-handed without Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and others.
“They’re clearly a better team than us right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We haven’t really done a whole lot of good in this series. Starting pitching, defense, we made a mistake tonight on the bases. Hits, base hits, all that kind of stuff, we’ve been outplayed. It’s definitely … I know where we’re at right now.”
Trea Turner continued to hit hard. He hit a solo home run to right-center field in the first inning to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. It was his sixth home run in his last nine games and his second in the series.
Marsh hit a home run in the second inning to make it 2-0. He also hit two home runs in the series.
Nola (11-4, 3.38 ERA) allowed four hits and one run in six innings while striking out nine and walking two. He held Shohei Ohtani hitless in three at-bats. He struck out Ohtani on a 1-2 curveball with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning.
The previous pitch was a 95.5 mph fastball inside. It tied for Nola’s hardest pitch of the season.
“I wanted to either hit the corner there or miss the ball inside to set up that curveball,” Nola said. “It worked. He’s fast there, too. I didn’t want to let the ball over the plate. It was my first time facing him. He’s a big man. He’s a big guy in the box. I tried to lock him down as best I could.”
There were plenty of fun at-bats this week involving Ohtani, who hit 3 for 10 with an RBI, a walk and four strikeouts. He didn’t have a multi-base hit.
Wheeler struck out Ohtani on a 97.6 mph fastball in the first inning Tuesday night to open the series. It was his sixth hardest pitch of the season. Matt Strahm struck out Ohtani on a 1-2 slider with runners on the corners and one out in the seventh inning Wednesday night.
“Keeping those guys in the ballpark is key,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I just think our guys executed their shots at the right time.”
Rojas singled to left field with a tight infield in the sixth inning to score a run. He then raced 100 feet to make an incredible catch to left-center field in the seventh inning.
With a 50% catch probability, according to Statcast, it was the sixth-lowest catch probability of any play Rojas made this season.
“It’s like I’ve always said,” Rojas said. “Every hitter that hits the ball toward me, if he wants it to be a hit, he’s going to have to hit it to the outside. The ball they hit, that’s the ball I catch. If it’s not to the outside, it’s in my glove.”
The Phillies and Dodgers will meet again from August 5-7 at Dodger Stadium. This will be an opportunity for Los Angeles to strike back.
“There’s still a lot of baseball left,” Nola said.
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