The Philadelphia Phillies lost 2-1 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night as their recent spiral continued. While it's unwise to panic too much, this Phillies team does present a very clear weakness: the bullpen.
Appropriately, it was the bullpen that failed them in Toronto, with Jordan Romano taking the fall. The former Blue Jay turned Philadelphia powder keg gave up the game-winning hit to Alejandro Kirk in the bottom of the ninth inning.
These things happen. It's pretty much impossible for fans to keep a calm head for an entire 162-game regular season, but generally it's best to avoid sweeping takeaways and definitive proclamations of doom in early June. But, we are talking about Philly fans, so all that is out the window, because you just know the Romano takes will be flying tonight — especially with Jeff Hoffman picking up the W on the other side.
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Phillies fans melt down after Jordan Romano throws away game against Blue Jays
The 'Jordan Romano' search tab on Twitter is a rich text right now. Of course there are angry fans — Philadelphia has been extremely aggravating in its insistence on blown leads and shaky bullpen outings of late — but we shouldn't really put Romano in the doghouse based on a single performance.
He has, on the whole, been pretty bad this season, with a ghastly 7.36 ERA and 1.59 WHIP going into Wednesday's affair, but context is important. Romano was hurt most of last season and came to Philadelphia with palpable rust. After a horrific start to the season and a brief demotion to low-leverage work, Romano has been lights out since the calendar flipped to May, with a 3.09 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 11.2 innings over that stretch.
Jeff Hoffman isn't playing well either
Hoffman has been trending in the opposite direction for Toronto on a much more burdensome contract, to claiming the Blue Jays "won" the trade probably isn't even accurate. Alas, this loss stings extra for Romano, who received a warm standing ovation from his former hometown crowd and clearly felt the weight of seven years spent in a Blue Jays uniform.
This was Hoffman's fifth run allowed in his last 12.2 innings, only getting nicked in three of 13 appearances since May. Even so, given his overarching failures this season, Philadelphia's current downward slide in the standings, and the extra spotlight of facing his former team, this is a loss that will stick with Romano for a while and reignite the discourse around arguably the Phillies' best reliever (I'll stand on this... time will tell.)