By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Even prior to a doubleheader on Mother's Day, it was hard for many involved with the Philadelphia Phillies to move past yesterday evening's game. The Phillies opened up an early 4-0 lead Saturday, only to see it evaporate in the fifth inning and eventually turn into a loss on Bryce Harper's second walk-off home run against them this season.
On Sunday's pregame show, Phillies pitching coach Bob McClure reflected on the final at-bat of the game, suggesting that he wasn't happy with how catcher Cameron Rupp handled the at-bat:
Bob McClure on Phils pregame show "I might have to start calling pitches." Couldn't believe the "catcher" called for fastball on Harper
— Leslie Gudel (@lesliegudel) May 14, 2017
An argument can be made that the team shouldn't have even pitched to Harper, although Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy were hitting behind Harper, so it really was a pick-your-poison scenario. An argument can also be made that Rupp shouldn't have called for a fastball, but as the screenshot below shows, he didn't call for a fastball down the middle:
Rupp set up low-and-away, which is probably Harper's most vulnerable spot as a hitter. Instead, Ramos' pitch ran right back over the middle of the plate, where Harper rarely does anything except deposit balls into the stands:
There seems to be some misplaced anger from McClure here. It's especially strange that he would say this publicly, even if he isn't thrilled with how Rupp has handled the pitching staff.
The Phillies not seeming thrilled with how Rupp calls games isn't new, however. Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last winter that the Phillies weren't high on the idea of pairing Rupp with a young backup catcher, which is what they eventually did.
Rupp was in the lineup for the first game this afternoon, with Harper ironically hitting a first inning home run. The guess here is that a year from now Rupp won't be paired with Jorge Alfaro as the team's two catchers. Whether that means Andrew Knapp or an external A.J. Ellis type (or both) is backing Alfaro up remains to be seen.
