Phillies might have David Robertson back for NLCS against San Diego

SAN DIEGO — Phillies reliever David Robertson, who injured his right calf while celebrating Bryce Harper’s Game 2 home run in the National League wild-card playoffs, threw a bullpen session on Monday in San Diego. According to manager Rob Thomson, Robertson also did some agility work as well as some pitchers’ fielding practice.

Robertson was throwing his bullpen during Thomson’s media availability, so Thomson wasn’t able to share whether he was optimistic about his late-inning reliever rejoining the Phillies’ postseason roster ahead of the National League Championship Series against the Padres. But Thomson did say that if the Phillies were to add Robertson on the roster, he would have to be a “full go.” They would not add him on the roster if it meant waiting a day or two for him to be able to pitch.

“For me, I think he’s got to be full-go tomorrow,” Thomson said. “Because I think it’s a big question mark with that injury that you say, oh, in three days he’s going to be ready.

“I don’t know if anybody can answer that question. That’s a big roster spot to take up and sort of not be able to utilize it properly.”

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Thomson said the Phillies plan to reassess Robertson on Monday and make a decision from there. The addition of Robertson would provide a welcome boost for the Phillies’ late-inning relief corps, which as of now, includes José Alvarado, Seranthony Domínguez and Zach Eflin.

Those three were able to sustain the Phillies in innings 7, 8 and 9 in the best-of-five NL Division Series. But in a best-of-seven NLCS, the Phillies will have to rely on more of their bullpen in high-leverage spots. Alvarado, in particular, has been used quite a bit. Since the beginning of the Phillies’ postseason run, he’s thrown 6 2/3 innings (for comparison, Domínguez has thrown 3 2/3 and Eflin has thrown 4 1/3).

Robertson pitched an inning for the Phillies in Game 1 of the wild-card round. He posted a 2.40 ERA over 63 2/3 innings pitched this season.

The Phillies will start right-hander Zack Wheeler in Game 1 on Tuesday, and the Padres will start right-hander Yu Darvish. Darvish faced the Phillies’ twice this season, and had a 2.08 ERA in those two starts with 14 strikeouts. Wheeler faced the Padres once, on May 18 and held them to four hits in seven shutout innings.

“I’ve watched him pitch over the years for sure,” Wheeler said of Darvish. “Kind of the same repertoire, I guess you could say. He throws a little more offspeed than I do, but he’s also got a good fastball. And he attacks guys, whether it’s a different way than I do or not, but he attacks guys. Just watching him pitch, he’s done it for a long time now.

“And he’s been good for a long time. He’s very good at what he does, and he’s figured out his little niche, and it’s fun to watch him pitch.”

Phillies backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, a San Diego native, grew up going to Padres games at Petco Park. He would sit in the second level, behind home plate. On Tuesday night, his grandmother and a few other family members will be in those same seats.

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The second-to-last time the Padres were in the playoffs, during the NLDS against the Cardinals in 2006, Stubbs was in attendance, at Petco Park, with his family. Returning for the postseason in 2022, and playing against the team that helped him fall in love with baseball, has been a surreal experience.

“I was definitely pulling for the Padres [when they were playing the Dodgers in the NLDS],” he said. “I know my family was, too. And now we’re playing against them. We’ll try to knock them out.”