Thursday, March 28

The Fall and…Rise of Alec Bohm?


I didn’t cover the game tonight. I wasn’t in the press box, so I can’t give you the professional sports journalist perspective on this one, but what a night it was for Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm.

Really, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I can recall a night quite like the one Bohm had against the Mets on Monday. Just wild.

You probably know by now the third baseman (who is not a third baseman) began his night on pace to make 10+ errors.

The lowlight came on this play:

Or maybe it came on this one:

Either way, Bohm was understandably crushed by many of the 22,317 fans assembled at Citizens Bank Park, prompting a three-hour lip reading exercise on Twitter:

Fucking hate this place? Couldn’t be.

Fucking hate these plays? Maybe? Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but, let’s give the guy the benefit of the doubt, right? No way he would lash out at the fans in a city who haven’t seen their team play a postseason baseball game in 3,839 days for being upset about his inability to make a routine throw. No way…

Actually, yes way. He admitted as much after the game, which, somehow, may have been the best thing he could’ve done. Following a wild 5-4 comeback victory over the Mets in which Bohm reached base three times, including a leadoff walk in the eighth inning that kickstarted an improbable five-run rally, Bohm owned his in-game frustration.

Truly, this might be the weirdest single-day character arc from a local athlete I’ve ever seen. In the matter of three hours, Bohm:

  • played historically horrible defense
  • said he hates Philadelphia
  • reached base three times
  • owned his comments (rare for a pro athlete)
  • emerged looking…good?

It’s going to be a rough morning for Angelo Cataldi, assuming he went to bed during the third inning, all geeked up to do four hours of Bohm talk. Can picture it now:

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“They won? He owned it? We’re not doing four hours of Bohm?”

(It’s still going to be four hours of Bohm talk.)

A wild comeback win and some rare athlete accountability? Worth discussing, sure, but Bohm’s candid comments just don’t hit the same now.

The struggling third baseman somewhat redeemed himself at the plate — and postgame — but the Phillies have some difficult decisions to face in the coming days.

At some point, it’s not on the player when the expected result is the result.

Bohm simply isn’t going stick at third base in the long run, but his bat remains intriguing enough that it can help the Phillies in the short term while also potentially generating trade interest, which I suspect are both reasons he will continue to see at-bats this month.



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