Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto was caught on camera at an awkward moment during Friday's game against the New York Mets. For those who missed it, take a look below. Realmuto is seen rolling his eyes as reliever Jared Hughes sprints in from the bullpen and manager Gabe Kapler offers instruction or inspiration to his gathered infielders:
Realmuto hates this bullpen with a passion pic.twitter.com/4ajfswT23U
— Wentzylvania 🅦 (@Folesylvania) August 31, 2019
The clip went viral, with the original tweet being viewed more than four million times as of Sunday morning. Naturally, Realmuto was asked about the incident on Saturday, and offered an explanation that makes sense -- even if it isn't as funny or dramatic as the imagined reasons. Here's part of what Realmuto said, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com:
"It was very bad timing," Realmuto said before Saturday afternoon's game against the Mets. "Nothing was really going on. I was mad that we had just given up the lead, and [Amed] Rosario's soft, two-run single. Like, that's what I was frustrated about."
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"I even look out in that direction, but it was not that," Realmuto said, laughing again. "I promise. When I saw that video, I was like, 'Oh, God, that was the worst timing.' It couldn't have been any worse. I had so many friends send me the video clip, like, dying laughing. I'm like, 'It's funny, but I don't want him to think it had anything to do with him.'"
Permit us to say that if Realmuto were frustrated with the Phillies bullpen then he would be justified in that position.
Entering Sunday, Philadelphia's bullpen ranks 20th in baseball in ERA. What's more is that the Phillies are tied for the ninth-most meltdowns -- that is to say outings wherein the bullpen changes the win probability by at least six percentage points, as computed by FanGraphs -- over the last 30 days, a crucial stretch for a team that is 3 1/2 games back in the wild card race.
To put things another way, relievers have been charged with the loss in five of Philadelphia's last seven defeats. Yes, that's a crude measure; but it also supports what other metrics say is true: The Phillies bullpen has performed at an eye-roll-worthy level recently.
Realmuto, by the way, has been doing his part. He entered Sunday a home run away from matching his career-high and equipped with a 104 OPS+ (his career mark is 109). He's been particularly effective as of late, posting a .941 OPS over his last 107 plate appearances.
