BOHM ANSWERS BACK
Fed-up Alec Bohm gets personal, makes Yankees pay in Phillies win
Delaware County Daily Times: https://tinyurl.com/bde59vx9
Originally published July 26, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — LeBron James, miraculously the 76ers’ newest acquisition, idolized Michael Jordan growing up and has worn his No. 23 since high school and through most of his pro career. Jordan, with a thirst for the jugular unsurpassed by any athlete in history, famously used any real or perceived slight as motivation.
Sometimes he even invented one just to give himself the competitive fuel he needed.
“It became personal with me,” Jordan often said of any snub, actual or imagined, while recalling dismantling an opponent. He uttered similar phrases frequently enough in his 2020 retrospective documentary series, “The Last Dance,” for them to become internet memes.
As LeBron finalized his signing here, there was no doubt about the slight against the Phillies’ Alec Bohm Sunday night, when the New York Yankees intentionally walked Brandon Marsh — loading the bases with two outs in the third — to pitch to Bohm instead.
Asking Bohm postgame (paraphrasing Jordan) if he “took that personally” drew the following response:
“It’s happened a lot to me in my career, but yeah, that time it kind of pissed me off,” Bohm said firmly. “I feel like I’m the type of player that, through most of my career, you haven’t really wanted to come up in those situations (if you’re the team at bat). So I’m just kind of, I guess, tired of people thinking that.
“I’m tired of people thinking that I’m the easy out.”
Bohm, on an 84-mph sweeper on the lower outside corner from Yankees righty Will Warren, delivered a looping, bases-clearing double to the alley in left-center to cap a brilliant, nine-pitch at-bat and extend the Phillies’ lead to 5-0.
Philadelphia ended up pounding the Yankees 11-4 to snap a four-game skid before leaving on a week-long road trip to Miami and Baltimore.
Shortly before Bohm spoke about the at-bat, Phillies manager Don Mattingly talked about “taking it personally.”
“I think you always do when they walk the guy in front of you,” Mattingly said. “It’s always a little tricky because you know you’re getting the best of that guy.
“So it was really good to see (Bohm) come through there. Obviously, we needed to score tonight. But to battle in that at-bat, foul some balls off and get that knock, that was huge.”
After a dreadful first two months, Bohm is hitting .221 with 13 homers, 57 RBIs and a .650 OPS this season. He has grounded into 14 double plays — tied for fifth-most in baseball. Yet he’s slashing an impressive .306/.370/.506 with runners in scoring position, which is among the best.
“Just as competitors, we’re always believing that we’re going to get the hit and come through in the big spot,” Bohm said. “It was a big situation. … It was a chance for us to create some separation there. So, yeah, I think I was just really trying to give my best at-bat right there so we could cash in.
“It’s not like I’m mad at (the Yankees) for (intentionally walking Marsh) or mad at anybody in particular. … I know what the numbers say, but I don’t feel like I’m an out going up there. And I think obviously in those situations, you want to make them feel like they made a mistake.
“I ground into some double plays, but, you know, I’ll take my chances putting the ball in play and moving the ball and making the other team make a play.”
Bryson Stott went 3-for-4 with a double, home run and five RBIs Sunday. Trea Turner was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored. Kyle Schwarber drove in a run and crossed the plate twice. Bryan De La Cruz was 2-for-2, and the Phillies racked up 13 hits after generating next to no offense in all but two games since the All-Star break.
The question is, can they sustain such offense over long stretches and make it the norm rather than the exception?
After Mattingly took over for Rob Thomson, it seemed that way until recently. But Bohm still feels confident.
“I think just the fact that we can do it one through nine,” Bohm said. “You know the guys can chip in everywhere throughout the lineup.”
By the way, 6s are running wild as the Phillies embark on a six-game road swing. LeBron’s only other NBA jersey number has been No. 6, a nod to his son Bronny’s Oct. 6 birthday — and to Sixers legend Julius Erving, who wore No. 6 with the, um, Sixers.
Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X and Threads at @the_defranc.