Phillies Can't Escape Their Worst Nightmare, Even in Victory

Red October is here and it's time to celebrate. Phillies fans should be living it up care-free tonight. Except many across the city won't be sleeping easy. They'll be tossing and turning. Their biggest nightmare looming,

Even in an impressive Game 1 win, Philly couldn't escape it.

It's frustrating. It's painful. It's often inexplicable. It's inevitable. I almost don't even want to name it.

It's Josh Bell giving us headaches.

How many freakin' times can this happen? How many different teams can it happen for? How does it even happen in the first place!?

Zack Wheeler was virtually unhittable.

His first hit was cleaned up with a double play. Technically a hit on the scorecard, but not adding any additional batters faced.

Then Josh Bell changed that, getting on the board with a hit in the fourth. Wheeler recovered, and continued to look flawless until the seventh inning.

Not content to be the first runner Wheeler left on base, Bell then cracked a double to be the first one to get an extra-base hit against Wheeler for the game.

It wasn't a harmless hit, either. Jake Burger got on base later in the inning, moving Bell to third, and suddenly the tying run was at the plate.

Bryan De La Cruz got on base, and of course, the run that scored on Wheeler's watch was Josh freakin' Bell.

Jose Alvarado got us out of danger after that, but the Fish had no business making us sweat as much as they did.

And just in case fans weren't mad enough at Bell?

He got to Craig Kimbrel in the top of the ninth with a double. And something about having him on second did not sit right, so Kimbrel even intentionally balked to move Bell up to third. So Bell was the first Marlin to second base and first Marlin to third base in the game.

This guy is not that good. It's not like playing the Angels and having Mike Trout do all the damage. Bell was sixth on the Marlins in batting average and fourth in slugging during the season. He just saves his Trout impression for when he's up against the Phillies.

Is your memory fuzzy on when the Marlins brought in Bell? Not mine. I remember that clear as day. The Marlins had the absolute nerve to trade for Bell while we were in Miami for a series, and it's like they knew it would set off Phillies fans.

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