"What's more, you'll be a man..."

Thinking about how the Phillies game ended the night so disastrously, as relief pitcher Orion Kerkering made the wrong throw and a bad throw at that, throwing the ball away as the winning run scored for the Dodgers, my first thought was that most everyone has been in that situation at one time, feeling like you made a huge mistake as the entire world looked on.

Kerkering deals with it.

But then a thousand what-ifs come to mind...what if the ballpark was not so raucous and Kerkering had been able to hear the catcher telling him to go to first with the ball?

 what if the Phillies batters had gotten some hits and runs so that the game didn't come down to one man's error in the 11th inning?

what if he had fielded the ball cleanly and made a good throw to first, but the batter beat the play?

We all know the value of ifs and buts. The fact is, the game is over, and at age 24, Orion Kerkering is now one of those footnotes in baseball history.

People are blaming him, but not so fast, please. We all see the people online who write and the people who call the sports talk radio shows and the people who talk the loudest in the line at the delicatessen department at the Try 'N' Save...they are not the ballplayers. They don't know the years of dedication and hard work and sacrifice it takes to become a professional baseball player, let alone a major-leaguer. They just know it's easier to sit on the Barca-lounger at home and knock a big leaguer.

And again, if the Phillies' hitters had done as they were supposed to be able to, the matter new would have come down to a freaky play in the 11th inning. Like many things in life, baseball is a group effort, and it takes all the team to win or lose. 

The other Phillies understand. Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto were two who made sure to have Kerkering's back, walking off the field and into the clubhouse with him.

And Kerkering was man enough to face the world after the game, disappointed but not vanquished. That's the way to face bad times.

Rudyard Kipling said it well: 

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same...