I still have no idea why Ricky Bottalico was so heated about why ‘White Flag’ Weston Wilson pitching in Saturday’s blowout at The Bank

Ricky Bottalico was really fired up after Saturday’s 17-7 Phillies loss to the Brewers — specifically about the Phillies sending Weston Wilson to the mound to pitch the ninth inning of a game that was already long out of reach.

Here’s what Ricky Bottalico said on the postgame show:

Ricky Bo didn’t love the Phillies putting Weston Wilson on the mound pic.twitter.com/TtnCRUYREp
— John Foley (@2008Philz) May 31, 2025

“To me, those last couple of innings, that’s embarrassing. To have Weston Wilson going out there, and basically, I know he didn’t give anything up, but he’s lobbing the ball up there. What is the use? When are you gonna start throwing the white flag? When you could just quit? Because this is the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in my life.”

Ricky Bottalico also ranted about the strike zone during Wilson’s inning — which, yes, got pretty loose with some pitches being called that probably shouldn’t have been.

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What is Ricky Bottalico talking about with the white flag?

I honestly don’t understand it. Does Ricky Bottalico not realize that Weston Wilson is in fact, THE WHITE FLAG?

I’m pretty sure that was the whole point. The Phillies were getting their doors blown off and didn’t want to burn another arm in a hopeless game and was over already.

Would Bottalico rather they ran Jordan Romano or Orion Kerkering out there to eat the ninth inning of a 17-2 game? Obviously, everyone knows, including Ricky Bottalico, that would be bad bullpen management which makes Ricky Bo’s cute little rant even more ridiculous.

Apparently Ricky Bottalico forgot that you save the real arms for a game that matters — like Sunday’s finale — and send a position player out there when you’re down 15 runs to waive the white flag and get the disaster-of-a-game over with.

Sure, it’s not pretty. Yes, it’s hard to watch. But it’s also completely standard practice across MLB these days when you’re getting smoked. And honestly, Wilson did fine — didn’t give up a run, kept the inning moving, and got the game over with.

If anything, the bigger conversation is about how the Phillies got into that spot in the first place — not that they tried to preserve their bullpen with Wilson in mop-up duty.

Look, I get that Ricky Bottalico comes from the old-school pitcher mentality, but this wasn’t some moment of organizational weakness. It was smart triage in a blowout loss.

If we’re getting mad about the optics of a position player pitching in a 17-7 game, I think we’re aiming at the wrong target. Let’s focus on the real issue: the Phillies giving up 40 runs in three games and suddenly looking very vulnerable after one of the best starts in baseball.

That’s what should have everyone fired up. Not Weston Wilson doing exactly what he was asked to do in garbage time.