I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is not what the Phillies and Gabe Kapler had in mind with the team's new slogan, "Be Bold."
It was not a sparkling debut for the new Phils' skipper.
He pulled his ace starter, who was cruising along with a 5-0 lead, in the sixth inning after throwing just six pitches.
He then saw that lead slowly slip away as he plowed through his seemingly bottomless bullpen, using five pitchers over the next three innings and change.
He pulled his best player, Rhys Hoskins, who was in the outfield, for defense, meaning he was unavailable after the Braves rallied to tie the game.
The pin got pulled from this grenade in the bottom of the ninth, when Hector Neris gave up a walkoff three-run bomb.
8-5, Braves win.
After the game, Kapler stuck to this plan.
“We believe in all our pitchers,” the manager said of the early hook for his starter Nola. “We believe in Hoby Milner’s ability to come in and get those two men out. All our guys, all our guys who pitched tonight, we have a tremendous level of confidence in."
Probably not the kind of bold the Phils were envisioning.
And that was not even the worst news of the day for Philly sports fans.
Not long after the Phillies' meltdown, the Sixers issued some sobering news of their own.
Not only did center Joel Embiid indeed suffer a concussion in that heat-butt collision with Markelle Fultz, he also suffered a fractured orbital bone in his eye. Embiid will undergo surgery and his availability for the first round of the playoffs is now in danger.
Hey, there's always Villanova!
We're all over the Wildcats today with a special preview of their Final Four matchup with Kansas.
And make sure you pick up a copy of today's print edition for a special keepsake color centerspread page honoring the 'Cats.
And it that is not enough, remember this:
The Eagles are still Super Bowl champions!
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