Let’s get the obvious out of the way: the bullpen right now for the Phillies is bad. Very bad.
This statistic right there is reason enough to desire that the team’s ace, Aaron Nola, at 89 pitches be able to finish a game in which he was cruising. It’s understandable since the leaky bullpen, the no doubt biggest concern headed into the 2020 season, has shown how bad it can actually be.
Yet once Girardi made the decision to pull Nola from the game last night and insert Nick Pivetta into the game, the reaction on social media was swift and critical.