Quick takeaways from Rob Thomson’s World Series getaway day press conference

Phillies manager Rob Thomson addressed the media on Wednesday morning. Immediately following an informal team workout at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies will head on a plane to Houston ahead of Game 1 of the World Series, which begins Friday.

Here are some quick takeaways from Thomson’s press conference.

• Aaron Nola will start Game 1 for the Phillies on Friday. Zack Wheeler gets the ball for Game 2. The Phillies just want to give Wheeler an extra day of rest. Wheeler did take a liner to the back of the leg in Game 5, but Thomson believes he’s going to be OK.
• Thomson did say there will be changes to the postseason roster. Those will be revealed on Friday.
• Thomson did notice that Wheeler’s fastball velocity went down as he neared the end of his outing on Sunday. Part of that can be explained by the lack of buildup as he returned from forearm tendinitis in September. “I think we’ve seen it in most of his starts since he’s been back. I think it’s just, you know, fatigue. He’s not really built back up that much and he’s only been in the seventh inning once since he’s been back.”
• Thomson has kept a pretty consistent lineup throughout the postseason, but he did say he’s thought about changing the lineup because the Astros do not have a left hander in the bullpen. Perhaps Harper moves up to the No. 3 spot, which is where he was when the Phillies clinched a postseason spot in their first game of the final regular season series against the Astros.
• This doesn’t necessarily mean the Phillies’ left handed sluggers will have their way against the back of the Astros bullpen. Guys like Ryan Pressley, Ryne Stanek and Héctor Neris all have excellent numbers against left-handed batters this season.
• The Padres were on Nola’s fastball in his last start. Thomson was asked if he believed Nola was tipping his pitches and he says no. “I think there were some bad execution in there as well as they were hunting fastballs,” Thomson said.
• Thomson ruled out the idea of running a three-man rotation. We’ll likely see another bullpen game in Game 4.
• Finally, Thomson said he did not have a moment to reflect on just how far the Phillies have gotten in these playoffs. We’ll likely get some perspective from him following the end of the tournament, where he can take a moment to breath and process what the last month has been like: “I think that will all come at the end. There’s just so much to do right now. You got to plan workouts, you got to plan travel, you got to plan all the stuff that comes in game scenarios … I think once this is all over. I’ll kind of reflect and figure out what just happened.”

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