Duel, Interrupted: Phillies Come Back to Beat Braves Late, Even Series

Tyler Mahle squares off with the Phillies on October 6th and then again on September 12th. Each time he left frustrated and harassed. he allowed three shutout innings in two Atlanta victories. In each of those games, Mahle leaned a little on his schism, which happened more often than not when he joined the Braves in a trade deadline. That put an interesting mind game in Wednesday’s game 2. Seeing the same opponent for the third time in a month, would Mahle change his ways? Should they change their approach? Could they overcome the Braves, who had been their nemesis for a year, and prolong the season into another day with the Kryptonites on the mound?

Mahle’s streak was a waste of a last outing, so clearly the Phillies would have to sit on it. But wait! Mahle knows that the Phillies know that they can’t beat the split unless they have a key in it. So clearly, he should throw out fewer dialectics. But wait! The Phillies know Mahle knows he’s probably sitting out the draft. So clearly, dialecticians cannot ask. But wait! Mahle knows the Phillies know that… Well, you get the idea. There are steps to this paraphrase of Kendrick Lamar.

Whole or not. The Phillies either went up too many levels, or they didn’t even go into the infinite loop of Joaquin powder that he just described. Because Mahle came out based on the split, as you can imagine, and there were absolutely no solutions for the Phillies. As Arthur C. Clarke said, any sufficiently advanced technology can be distinguished from magic. And to Philadelphia, Mahle’s splitter might as well have been Power Word: Wiff. Of course they knew it was coming – it just doesn’t matter.