How to watch NLCS Game 2 Diamondbacks and Phillies after rough defeat. 'The bat died happy'

The Arizona Diamondbacks were never behind against the Los Angeles Dodgers in their 3-0 sweep in the National League Division Series.

So much for that.

Arizona was behind from the start against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series and couldn’t catch up, losing Game 1 of the best-of-seven series 5-3. It was ugly early, with the Phillies hitting two home runs in the first inning. Arizona made a game of it, and actually had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but couldn’t pull off the comeback.

If you jumped on the Diamondbacks bandwagon after watching the series against the Dodgers, Monday might have made you want to jump right off. But the effort was enough to draw praise from Ron Darling, an analyst for TBS, the network broadcasting the game.

“An outstanding job by the Diamondbacks, who fought and clawed their way back into it till one swing of the bat could have tied this ballgame,” Darling said afterward.

In other words, tune in Tuesday night.

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What channel are the Diamondbacks on?

Game 2 is scheduled for 5:07 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17 on TBS. Once again, Brian Anderson will handle play-by-play, with Jeff Francoeur and Darling serving as analysts. It’s a good crew, pretty straightforward with their calls. Anderson's command of the booth and delivery is reminiscent of the great Sean McDonough, high praise indeed. It’s difficult to imagine Diamondbacks fans thinking that this bunch is rooting for the Phillies, the way they thought Bob Costas was rooting for the Dodgers in the NLDS. (Pro tip: He wasn’t.)

Of course, they did have to heap praise on Philadelphia, particularly early on. How could they not? They were still clearing their throats when Kyle Schwarber hit the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning to the moon, or at least somewhere in that neighborhood.

Bryce Harper, so good and so annoying to everyone on earth (except Phillies fans), celebrated his 31st birthday with another first-inning, first-pitch home run.

Brian Anderson on TBS had the best call of the game

But it wasn’t all-Phillies, all the time. Corbin Carroll, the Diamondbacks’ all-everything rookie, led off the game with a broken-bat single, leading to the best call of the game from Anderson: “The bat died happy.”

So great.

Who was Charles Barkley rooting for?

Before the game, the TBS pregame show visited with noted non-baseball player Charles Barkley. Of course he is an NBA Hall-of-Famer who starred with the Phoenix Suns — but before that, he was with the Philadelphia 76ers. So who was he pulling for?

“I’m in a win-win situation, I’m not going to lie,” Barkley said, incidentally from a golf course in Scottsdale. “I can’t.”

Luckily the panel wouldn’t allow such wishy-washy avoidance, and pressed him.

“I’m a diehard Phillies fan, man,” he said. “I love Arizona, but every time they show me on the jumbotron (scoreboard) in Philly, people send it to me, so I gotta roll with the Phillies.”

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Kelce brothers were at the Phillies game. But where was Taylor Swift?

TBS didn’t overdo it with showing famous people in the stands, though they noted that there were plenty of players from Philadelphia teams in attendance.

But they couldn’t avoid the obvious.

The Kelce brothers showed up, because of course they did.

Travis and Jason were shown in the stands, pounding Bud Lights — understandable attendance, since Jason plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. “I mean, is there anything better than that?” Darling said.

Yes, actually — if Taylor Swift, who at this point I suppose we are saying is dating Travis Kelce, showed up, too.

Alas, no.

“Looks like a seat’s available in between?” Anderson said. “I don’t know, Swifties, looks like it might be a bro night tonight.”

A Phillies bro night, at that.

How can I watch NLCS 2023?

Tuesday, Oct. 17: Arizona at Philadelphia, Game 2, 5:07 p.m on TBS.

Thursday, Oct. 19: Philadelphia at Arizona, Game 3, 2:07 p.m. on TBS.

Friday, Oct. 20: Philadelphia at Arizona, Game 4, 5:07 p.m. on TBS.

Saturday, Oct. 21: Philadelphia at Arizona, Game 5 (if necessary), 5:07 p.m. on TBS.

Monday, Oct. 23: Arizona at Philadelphia, Game 6 (if necessary), 2:07 p.m. on TBS.

Tuesday, Oct. 24: Arizona at Philadelphia, Game 7 (if necessary), 5:07 p.m.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How to watch DBacks and Phillies in Game 2 NLCS tonight