The Phillies are many things.
Resilient. Talented. Built for October.
But one thing they’ve also been — sometimes to a fault — is patient.
Especially with their bullpen.
That patience, though? It has to be gone now.
Because even Dave Dombrowski has a breaking point. And it probably looks a lot like what happened Tuesday night in San Francisco.
Bottom of the ninth. Phillies up 3-1. One out. Two on.
Enter Jordan Romano. Exit, hope.
Romano’s fastball to Patrick Bailey wasn’t crushed, but thanks to the Bermuda Triangle that is Triples Alley at Oracle Park, it became a pinball shot that bounced off the brick, ricocheted toward center, and rolled into the history books.
By the time the ball stopped spinning, Bailey was crossing home plate with the first walk-off, inside-the-park home run by a catcher in more than a hundred years.
Romano’s fastball to Patrick Bailey wasn’t crushed, but thanks to the Bermuda Triangle that is Triples Alley at Oracle Park, it became a pinball shot that bounced off the brick, ricocheted toward center, and rolled into the history books.
By the time the ball stopped spinning, Bailey was crossing home plate with the first walk-off, inside-the-park home run by a catcher in more than a hundred years.
Yes, a century.
And the Phillies were walking off the field with a soul-crushing 4-3 loss.
Want more? According to Baseball Savant, Bailey’s fly ball would’ve been a home run in 29 of 30 MLB ballparks. The only place it would’ve stayed in the yard?
Right. Oracle Park. Of course.
“I’m not pitching well,” Romano told reporters afterward, owning the moment. “Trying to figure this out. But right now, it’s not really working.”
That’s putting it mildly.
Romano now owns a 7.44 ERA — the worst among all relievers with at least 30 appearances this season. Tuesday’s meltdown was his third blown save and easily his most dramatic, turning what should have been a clean series-opening win into a late-night gut punch.
And yes, the Phillies believed in him.
They gave him $8.5 million back in December to be the right-handed replacement for Jeff Hoffman. The idea made sense at the time. The execution? Not so much.
Now here we are in July. The bullpen, once considered a strength, has become a nightly experiment in stress tolerance. And the trade deadline isn’t some distant talking point anymore — it’s a flashing clock. And it’s ticking.
The Phillies don’t need to think about bullpen help.
They don’t need to explore options.
They need to act.
Because no matter how patient this front office has been in the past, nights like this will test even the steadiest hand. And after Tuesday?
It’s hard to imagine Dave Dombrowski hasn’t had enough.
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