Phillies Jump on Gallen Early, Hang on for 1–0 NLCS Lead

The FanGraphs Newsletter, October 17, 2023 [READ IN BROWSER]( October 17, 2023 The last time the Arizona Diamondbacks won a game in the NLCS, Randy Johnson took the win and Erubiel Durazo hit the game-winning home run off Tom Glavine. It’s been a minute. When Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen took the mound in Philadelphia, he was hoping to make a dent in that history; the Phillies have been red hot all October, but so has Arizona, and Gallen’s arm is one of the best weapons the D-backs have. But Kyle Schwarber hit the first pitch Gallen threw off the video board on the facing of the second deck at Citizens Bank Park. A minute? The Phillies took the lead in seconds. Two batters later, Bryce Harper crushed another fastball out to right center. It wasn’t quite over before it began, but the Phillies took the lead on the first pitch they saw and never gave it up. “The reality is we were probably going to lose a game at some point,” Evan Longoria offered after the game, attempting to put the defeat in perspective. But the Phillies roughed Gallen up early and held off a series of late rallies to win 5-3. Surely it was not the manner of defeat anyone from the Diamondbacks had in mind. [READ MORE]( [Jay Jaffe FanGraphs Chat - 10/17/23]( Suffering from a bout of playoff fever! [You Can't Stop the Astros... But Texas Contained Them in 5–4 Game 2 Win]( Nathan Eovaldi and the Rangers did juuuust enough to win the kind of game that Houston has been improbably pulling out for years. | by Ben Clemens [Clarke Schmidt Addresses His Cutter and the Slider/Sweeper Conundrum]( The New York Yankees right-hander has added a new pitch and pondered the name of another. | by David Laurila [NLDS Managerial Report Card: Dave Roberts]( This exercise feels silly when a team's starters throw fewer than five innings across three games. It feels even sillier when its high-powered offense only scores six runs in those games. | by Ben Clemens 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2073: Veeck As in Discotheque]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [Ever seen a hit-by-pitch turn into a cartwheel?]( by via MLB [Why Diamondbacks are most unlikely LCS team in MLB history]( by Bradford Doolittle, ESPN ($) [Bryce Harper’s NLCS birthday bash: Phillies celebrate with homer and home-field marks to behold]( by Jayson Stark, The Athletic ($) [Four-Seam Fastball Whiff Leaders Across MiLB In 2023]( by Geoff Pontes, Baseball America ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2023 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](