Rookie Adam Moore rightfully got a lot of credit Thursday for catching all 14 innings, 213 pitches and eight Mariner pitchers who worked the marathon victory over the White Sox.
Moore wasn’t the only guy with tired legs. Jason Phillips, the Mariners’ bullpen catcher, felt like a man who’d been in a day-long crouch, which basically he was. Moore may have caught all those pitchers, but Phillips warmed them up (exept starter Brandon Morrow), along with the left fielder before every inning.
“They talk about us having the least amount of relief appearances in the league, but it felt like we were trying to make up for it all in one day,” Phillips said. “I was thinking, ‘Well, the bullpen phone works.’ It never rang that much all season.”
Phillips wasn’t complaining by any means. This has been a rewarding season for the former big-league catcher, who went to spring training hoping to win a job with the team. He did, although it wasn’t quite what he had in mind when he went to camp.
The Mariners told Phillips there wasn’t room for him in the organization as a player, but they’d like him to stay as their bullpen catcher. It forced him to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to end his playing career, but he did it without regret then and he has none now. It has been a pleasant transition, although an adjustment as well.
“I’m not that far removed from playing, and sometimes I’ll see a guy throw a pitch and think I wouldn’t have called for that,” Phillips said. “You’re definitely looking at things from a coaching perspective. I understand what a coach goes through now, hearing them talk and understanding how evaluations are processed. There are things you can and can’t do from a coaching side and a front-office side, whether it’s money or whatever, that players don’t understand. I’m getting a real crash course in why decisions and moves are made.”
Put it this way: He likes this job so much he hopes to do it again with the Mariners next year. Well, maybe without the 14-inning games.
Despite the workload Thursday, Phillips said he didn’t look toward the field and feel thankful that Moore caught every inning.
“I didn’t have time to think,” Phillips said. “I was warming somebody up every half-inning.”
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