Phillies’ Rob Thomson defends Dusty Wathan’s third-base coaching in Game 1
Wathan drew criticism for three plays in the opener against the Marlins, but his manager, who knows something about coaching third, had his back.
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If there was a nitpick from the Phillies’ playoff-opening victory Tuesday night, it centered on third-base coach Dusty Wathan.
Rob Thomson’s reaction: a stop sign.
”I coached third base for a long time — and I was pretty good,” Thomson deadpanned. “I’m not as good as him.”
Wathan, who has coached third base for the Phillies since 2018, drew criticism for three plays, including a conservative call in the first inning to hold Kyle Schwarber from tagging up on Alec Bohm’s medium-depth line drive to right fielder Jesús Sánchez.
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”[Bryce] Harper’s coming to the plate,” Thomson said. “You better be damn sure that [Schwarber] scores.”
In the fourth inning, Wathan made an aggressive move to wave trail runner Nick Castellanos to the plate on a single to center field. Castellanos got thrown out by Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.
The Phillies’ scouting reports indicated that Sánchez and Chisholm have strong arms, with Sánchez being more accurate.
”It just so happens that Sánchez throws the ball offline, Chisholm throws a strike to the plate,” Thomson said. “Sometimes those things happen, and you kind of feel silly. But to me, both those decisions were the right decisions.”
Wathan’s eventful night continued in the eighth inning when Harper blew through a stop sign and slid safely across home plate with the game’s final run.
”I don’t think [Harper] even saw him,” Thomson said.