They say fact sometimes is stranger than fiction. I don’t know who they are, but I believe them.
Take last night’s Game 3 of the National League Championship Series as a case in point. That the Dodgers managed to use nine pitchers is noteworthy itself, even in this day of “one and done” usage of relief pitchers.
But No. 7 in the parade, Evan Phillips, drew particular interest in this quarter. It’s doubtful if anyone on the national scale had a clue, but those locally who pay close attention might have recognized Phillips as one of the players the Orioles received (along with Bruce Zimmermann) in the 2018 trade/salary dump that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to the Atlanta Braves.
With two exceptions, the numbers posted by Phillips since that deal have been underwhelming to say the least. But the two exceptions are hits allowed and strikeouts recorded per innings pitched — the two most vital statistics used in evaluating pitchers these days.
To say Phillips took a roundabout way of getting into postseason play against his original organization is more than a slight understatement, but only a few days before TV analyst Ron Darling had noted that the right-hander was probably on the Dodgers’ post-season roster as a potential “extra-inning man.”
Yet only two months ago Phillips’ career seemed to be in limbo at best, jeopardy at worst. His time in the O’s organization had been uneven at best and on Aug. 2 Phillips was given his outright release from the team’s Triple-A Norfolk affiliate.
His stay in limbo turned out to be two days before he was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays and reassigned to their Triple-A team in Durham. In less than 48 hours he went from fifth place to first — and that was only the start of a meteroic rise.
When the Rays needed space on the 40-man roster two weeks later, Phillips went on the waiver wire — from where he was rescued by the Dodgers. If this wasn’t the unlikeliest journey to playoff baseball 2021 style it’ll at least do for now.
From the Triple-A team of the organization with one of if not the worst pitching staff in the game Phillips went to the team with the best pitching in the American League — and then on to the staff of the defending World Series champion, without even a suspect passed along in return.
Go figure.
And, as if we needed one, there is a kicker. Phillips isn’t the only former Orioles’ pitcher to wear Dodgers blue this year. The other, Conner Greene, made it a round-trip, going and coming, to and from the Dodgers via the infamous waiver wire.
If the Dodgers somehow managed to repeat as champions, one former and one current Oriole will qualify for a World Series ring. Where else could you find so much bizarreness? Is this a great game or what?
Jim Henneman can be reached at JimH@pressboxonline.com
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen and Colin Murphy/PressBox