SAN DIEGO – Padres catcher Austin Nola pulled up a chair Wednesday afternoon, grabbed a cold one, leaned back, stared at the ceiling, exhaled.
He wanted to feel euphoria, but couldn’t.
He wanted to immediately reach out to his parents, but it felt awkward.
“I’ve got to get ahold of my brother,’’ he said quietly. “I hope he’s in good spirits. I want to make sure he’s all right. None of us are good after losses, right?’’
Nola, with one swing of the bat, turned Wednesday’s game upside down, igniting a zany rally leading San Diego to an 8-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, and evening the National League Championship Series at 1-game apiece.
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It was the most glorious moment of Nola’s career, but the most gut-wrenching too.
The hit, you see, was off his little brother, Phillies ace Aaron Nola.
“That was very difficult to watch,’’ said A.J. Nola, their dad, who watched the game wearing a Padres cap, a Phillies jersey, and a Padres jersey underneath. “Words can’t describe it.’’
A.J. Nola, while trying to gather his emotions, grabbed his cell phone. He called up the picture sent to him early in the day.
It was the entire baseball team from Catholic High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his two sons attended, sitting in front of their lockers before the start of practice, staring at the TV set in the middle of the room.
It was showing Game 2 of the NLCS with the Nola brothers facing one…
