NEW YORK – When you lose, it’s always the manager’s fault. If you don’t score, it’s always the batsmen’s fault. If you don’t stop the bleeding, it’s always the bullpen’s fault.

If your team loses, it’s always someone’s fault, right? When your team has had the best record in baseball for months, winning 95 games and the division and heading into the postseason with the No. 2 seed and the bye, with a massive home-field advantage against a rookie manager and his luxury-taxed team is in a semi-rebuild firmly – well, damn, it has to be someone’s fault, right?

When Sean Manaea crushes you in Game 3 on a Tuesday and Jose Quintana buries you in Game 4 on a beautiful Wednesday night, you have to find someone to blame.

The Phillies’ goals are simple.

And deserved.

Rob Thomson received criticism when the Phillies lost Game 6 and the World Series after he brought up ace Zack Wheeler and the game turned. He suffered again last year when lineup errors and bullpen collapses cost the Phillies a second straight pennant.

He will spend this winter persecuted again. It’s part of the job description.

This time, Thomson couldn’t find his bullpen against a balanced, disciplined Mets lineup. He also couldn’t put together an effective lineup: He started left-handers Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh against Quintana, a left-handed pitcher that Stott and Marsh’s sophomores Johan Rojas and Edmundo Sosa had enjoyed.

The Phillies sent two relief pitchers to the All-Star Game, Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm. They were miserable.

” READ MORE: The Phillies’ $800 million Big Four disappear again with loss in Game 3

In the bottom of the sixth inning in Game 4 on Wednesday, Hoffman, the goat from Game 1, repeated his performance. He walked two Mets batters, struck out another and threw two wild pitches in passing before finally getting an out, after which he was lifted for presumed closer Carlos Estevez.

Francisco Lindor fired a 99 mph fastball 398 feet to center field to give New York a 4-1 lead.

Hoffman also had a 1-0 lead in Game 1 when he singled in the eighth inning. He gave up a single, a walk and an RBI single. Strahm entered Game 1 and allowed two hits, scoring two more runs. Orion Kerkering kicked in and two others scored. Kerkering also allowed two of three inherited runners to score in a loss in Game 3.

But the manager is a Cinderella story — a life coach whose interim job in 2022 made him a sudden star — and Hoffman, Strahm and Kerkering aren’t exactly Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera.

The batters, on the other hand, are exactly Flash and the Sandman.

The Phillies’ 1-2-3-4 hitters Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos are under contract for nearly $800 million. Unlike well-paid catcher JT Realmuto, these four are not on the roster because of their leather; They get paid for their wood. They are hitters.

The Phillies are now 1-5 in their last six playoff games, including home collapses in Games 6 and 7 of the NLCS against the Diamondbacks last season. Thomson and the bullpen were also involved in these failures.

But the Big Four-leading offense scored eight runs in those five losses.

That’s about $100 million per loss.

This dog doesn’t hunt.

The Hitters wasted shutout starts by Zack Wheeler in Game 1 and Ranger Suárez in Game 4. Wheeler has been the best pitcher in baseball over the last five seasons and was a postseason revelation, so his dominance was to be expected.

Suárez, not so much.

Suárez made it to his first All-Star Game and likely a huge contract with a 10-2 record and a 1.83 ERA in his first 16 starts. He was, in many ways, the best pitcher in baseball.

Then his back began to move. First the right side, then the left.

Suárez went 2-6 with a 6.54 ERA in his last 11 starts. Opponents’ OPS against him was .885; For comparison, only 11 players had a season OPS better than .885. He was in many ways the worst pitcher in baseball, aside from his teammate Taijuan Walker.

After searching for three months, Suarez found himself just in time.

He gave the Phillies 4⅓ innings of a scoreless start that came out of nowhere. Suarez loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, and when he struck out Hoffman with one out in the fifth inning, he left two runners left, but Suarez got out of trouble early and Hoffman struck out Pete Alonso, then Jose Iglesias too weak to make honed.

” READ MORE: Rob Thomson, Nick Castellanos, Ranger Suárez: The Phillies with the most losses and wins in the playoffs

Suarez delivered 97 pitches, of which only 58 were strikes, but considering he hadn’t thrown that many pitches in more than three weeks, and considering he had behaved terribly since his back broke in late June started to cramp, he managed what he did in Game 4 was a miracle.

He gave up five hits and walked four, but his eight strikeouts were the most he had since May 26, 17 starts ago.

He lowered his postseason ERA to 1.43, which remains the best in Phillies history among pitchers with at least 20 innings.

He got almost no support. The lineup managed an ugly run in the fourth inning. It was only the second attempt at support the Phillies’ starters received while pitching in the four NLDS games.

Blame Thomson for that Wednesday night. He said he wanted Marsh and Stott to play offense, but Marsh and Stott, lefties, were both 0-2 against Quintana, who, as you know, is a lefty.

Rojas, the Phillies’ defensive ace in center field and right-hander, beat Quintana 5-9; He is the only pitcher Rojas has faced in more than three plate appearances against whom Rojas has an on-base percentage above .500. Quintana is literally the only major league pitcher that Rojas dominates. Sosa, meanwhile, was 3 of 9.

Even stranger: Left fielder Austin Hays, a righty, was 1-1. Weston Wilson replaced him on Wednesday evening. Wilson was 0-6 against Quintana and had never made a postseason plate appearance.

Stott, Marsh and Wilson combined to score 0-6 against Quintana.

They really weren’t the problem on Wednesday. Neither was Harper, who walked in the fourth and then led off the sixth with a double that chased Quintana. Right-hander Reed Garrett came in and struck out Castellanos, walked to Alec Bohm and then struck out Realmuto. Left-back David Peterson came in and Stott ended up on the ground.

So yeah, bury Topper and rip off the pin, but when you pay four batters nearly a billion dollars and they score two runs or less in five out of six games, then that’s not really Topper and the ‘pin.

Is it?