ATLANTA — Everyone wished to speak about “The Play.”
Atlanta had runners on the corners with one out within the eighth inning Saturday night time in Recreation 1 of the Nationwide League Division Collection at Truist Park. Braves followers had been sleepy via seven innings, a minimum of by Phillies followers’ requirements, however they understood the significance of the second. They buzzed with anticipation. Then, Ozzie Albies smashed a 103.4 mph floor ball to Trea Turner‘s left. They roared.
Turner dove, stopped the ball and flipped it to second baseman Bryson Stott, who threw out Albies at first base to finish the double play and finish the inning.
“Huge-time gamers make big-time performs in big-time conditions, and that’s what [No.] 7 did,” Phillies left fielder Brandon Marsh mentioned, referencing Turner. “I’m glad he’s on our aspect.”
“I used to be like, ‘Whoa,’ and I used to be within the play,” Stott mentioned.
Turner mentioned afterward that he needs to be an entire participant. He needs to hit, play good protection and run the bases. He’s batting .455 (5-for-11) this postseason. He has stolen 4 bases, together with two in Recreation 1, when the Phillies had a franchise-record 5 steals. If Turner steals yet another base, he’ll set a franchise report for many stolen bases in a single postseason.
One in all them may assist ship the Phillies to the World Collection.
“You are taking your possibilities, you attempt to decide your spots,” Turner mentioned. “However you’ve got nonetheless obtained to be fairly good.”
Turner was 30-for-30 in stolen base makes an attempt within the common season, essentially the most steals in a season in AL/NL historical past with out being caught. He has additionally been profitable in 40 consecutive postseason steal makes an attempt, tied with Jimmy Rollins for the third-longest streak in MLB since a minimum of 1951. The report of fifty consecutive profitable steals is held by Vince Coleman.
Like each base stealer, Turner has taken benefit of baseball’s greater bases and new guidelines limiting pick-off makes an attempt and the quantity of instances pitchers can step off the rubber.
“I think about there will probably be extra stolen bases this postseason than ever,” Turner mentioned final week. “I feel it’s considerably simpler to steal.”
The truth is, Turner mentioned he wished to steal extra this 12 months, however he obtained the pink gentle greater than in previous seasons.
“With Bryce [Harper] hitting behind me, we’re making an attempt to let him hit,” Turner mentioned. “I positively may’ve stolen extra. Normally once I get the inexperienced gentle now, it’s an apparent one. It’s fairly easy. There’s not a lot threat on my half.”
Turner stole second and third base within the eighth inning in opposition to Braves left-hander A.J. Minter, who is straightforward to run on. Base stealers went 15-for-19 (78.9%) in opposition to him this season.
Turner stole second base within the fifth inning in opposition to Marlins pitcher A.J. Puk in Recreation 1 of the NL Wild Card Collection. Baserunners had been 8-for-9 (88.9%) in opposition to Puk. Turner stole second within the seventh inning in opposition to Huascar Brazoban. Opposing runners had been 11-for-11 in opposition to him.
He’s the primary Phillies participant with two multi-steal video games in a single postseason, and he is the primary participant from any staff to log multi-steal video games twice within the first three video games of a postseason since Rickey Henderson in 1999.
“Trea is an outlier,” mentioned first-base coach Paco Figueroa, who handles the staff’s baserunning. “Everybody within the league is aware of he’s going to run. Up to now, all people mentioned Trea may steal 100 bases if he needs. Some folks say he may steal extra. He likes to steal. He loves it. However he’ll run when he looks like he can get it. Each good base stealer does that. He’s not going to run together with his head reduce off.”
Admittedly, Turner was not on base a lot firstly of the season. The Phillies had been shedding, too. It made stealing harder.
“It’s like hitting and fielding,” Turner mentioned. “There’s a rhythm to it. Some pitchers are simpler [to steal against] than others. Generally I really feel I get caught there [at first base]. Generally I really feel like I can see every little thing clear. If you happen to’re on base so much, I really feel prefer it turns into simpler. If you happen to’re not, you’re feeling caught. I’m a giant rhythm man.”
Turner has stolen 260 bases within the common season. His stolen-base proportion of 86.1% is the fourth finest in AL/NL historical past (minimal 120 stolen base makes an attempt). Chase Utley is first at 87.5%. Jayson Werth is fifth at 85.2%. Shane Victorino is sixteenth at 83.4%.
Base-stealing guru Davey Lopes coached every of these gamers at numerous factors of their careers. He was the Phillies’ first-base coach from 2007-10. He coached Turner with the Nationals from 2015-17.
“He would all the time yell at me, ‘What are you doing nonetheless standing right here?’” Turner mentioned. “I by no means stole sufficient for him. I’d get again to first base and he would say, ‘You don’t see it?’”
Lopes was referring to the pitcher’s transfer to dwelling plate.
“I really feel like generally he’d nearly mislead me,” Turner mentioned. “Like, ‘There’s nothing there. What do you see?’ That’s most likely why he was so good. One factor I picked up from him was the boldness and the ‘Simply go’ sort of deal. The second factor is, I seemed in [to the catcher] one time and I obtained caught. He advised me to by no means look in. He mentioned whenever you’re stealing a base, that’s your job. Don’t look in. Simply hold working.”
That’s Turner’s plan for the remainder of October.