Despite a winning record to start the season, the Philadelphia Phillies have been under some pressure.
Facing what could be a final year to win with his current core of veteran stars, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was grilled about his offseason decisions as the team’s bullpen struggled mightily across the first 25 games.
After Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez departed for new deals and closer addition Jordan Romano looked out of sorts on the mound, Dombrowski was forced to address his thinking last week.
But a dramatic win against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday could mark a turnaround that lets Dombrowski off the hook.
Entering the bottom of the tenth inning with a two-run lead for the Phillies, Romano suddenly looked like the closer the Phillies had been hoping for as he forced a ground ball, flyball and logged a strikeout to shut the door.
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During the broadcast, ESPN’s David Cone noted that the Phillies thought Romano had been tipping his pitches up to that point.
“We talked to Rob Thomson, the manager of the Phillies, before the game who seemed to think Romano was tipping his pitches,” Cone said. “They feel like they’ve corrected it.”
Following an investigation into that announced last week, the Phillies seemed to have helped Romano make a change and might have solved his problem.
After losing two of their highest-leverage arms over the winter, and with World Series aspirations firmly entrenched, the Phillies can hope that whatever changed before Romano’s heroics against the Cubs can last through a deep playoff run.
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