Rebuild needs more tangible results, and soon
PHILADELPHIA >> It’s 4 o’clock on a game day, so the regular crowd is going to shuffle in to Pete Mackanin’s office.
With the Phillies having just completed a 10-game road trip, most of which were best left forgotten, there are a lot of regulars ready to log their questioning requests on this manic Monday.
But Mackanin wants to limit the playlist somewhat.
“The only thing I would like to talk about is Nola,” Mackanin proclaimed about starter Aaron Nola, who made his long-awaited return from the disabled list the day before. “Let’s talk about him.”
Any other topic, the manager’s only too aware, likely wouldn’t be digested so easily.
Nola, who had missed four weeks with a back strain, looked free and easy in sailing through seven innings of work in a Sunday series finale in Pittsburgh. One of the few pitches that didn’t go exactly where he wanted came in the sixth, when with the bases loaded he nicked a pitch off the Pirates’ David Freese, good for a free pass to first and knocking in the only run of the game.
Nola would throw only 89 pitches over seven innings, which moved Mackanin to say, “If we had a big lead I could have left him out there for another inning. That’s the type of situation you want. It makes it easier to run your bullpen.”
But therein lies the problem. It is rare for these Phillies to ever have a big lead or any lead at all. That has led to odd shuffling in the bullpen and more than a trace of lost confidence everywhere else.
They might be scoring at better than a run-per-game over their offensive rate of this time last year, but they still usually don’t score enough.
And even when they’ve scored, some combination of stilted starting staff and stinky bullpen is going to be there to let them down.
Entering a seven-game homestand Monday night against Colorado, the cold reality was clear, that these Phillies either can’t hit well enough or can’t pitch well enough and certainly don’t provide near enough relief to make up for both of those other shortcomings.
They came in having gone 4-17 in their previous 21 games, taking up residence in the lower level of the worst of major league divisions. They were 11 games below .500 and had lost seven straight series and really ... what’s the talking point?
Mackanin wasn’t completely joking when he talked about only wanting to talk about Aaron Nola’s Sunday outing.
“That was so nice to see, to be honest with you,” Mackanin said. “He looked like he’s back to normal, so that was the one positive.”
As for the darker side of a Phillies mayday May, perhaps that was best left to Mackanin’s boss, Matt Klentak, to discuss. In trying to make heads or tails of his baseball team, Klentak certainly had to go where no baseball manager will ever go - the GM’s offseason signings that thus far have mostly blown up in the Phillies’ faces.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m getting frustrated, too,” Klentak said. “This team is better. There is more talent on this team than we’ve shown in terms of our record. We’ll pull out of it. We will. That’s what talented players will do. I’m not going to tell the fans they shouldn’t be frustrated.”
In another unspoken message on this day, Mackanin demoted alleged-powerhitting outfielder and key offseason Klentak signee Michael Saunders to the No. 8 spot in the order Monday night. Previously, the manager mostly used shortstop Freddy Galvis there, and used to put a hack-worthy pitcher in that lineup spot.
The reason for this new move was simple ... “He’s not hitting,” Mackanin said flatly.
As for another key offensive addition, Howie Kendrick’s anticipated two-week stay on the DL with an oblique problem is now into its fifth week.
“He’s getting close,” Mackanin promised yet again Monday about Howie Who?
Of course, the nothingness from the newbies is only part of the team-wide shortcomings.
“I think there’s been a lack of consistency on our team in general, some players more than others,” Klentak added. “But especially for young players, two months is a relatively small sample size to categorize it as regression. But I do think building a team that performs consistently is very important.”
It may be inconsistent. More often than not it simply looks anemic. But at least the Phillies offense has shown general improvement this season.
No, really it has.
Of course, Saunders keeps slipping, Maikel Franco keeps flailing and Odubel Herrera looks completely lost, but hey we need positive vibes here!
Well, after slow starts, Cameron Rupp and Tommy Joseph have lately looked like capable middle of the lineup guys. And although he had a bad road trip, Aaron Altherr is still ready at any time to rope a ball, as he did off the right field wall Monday night for the feeble Phillies’ first hit of the game ... in the fourth inning.
While hitting or the lack thereof is a major issue, the pitching woes are an even tougher swallow.
Out of the 15 National League teams, the Phillies came into this series ranked next-to last in wins (15), ERA (4.78), strikeouts (286), homers allowed (62) and saves (6). They were dead last in innings pitched (361.2).
That’s a numerical indictment of what has gone wrong with this club that was supposed to be on so much of an upswing.
It also goes a long way in explaining why no one in the bullpen seems to know how to act like a closer, or why Jerad Eickhoff — who gave up four runs in a sixinning outing against the Rocks Monday, good for his ninth start of the season without a win — has been a bit of a disaster.
Meanwhile, neither the manager nor the GM could offer a scientific theory as to why their starting rotation finds it so physically taxing to make it at least into a seventh pitching inning on any and every given night.
Ah, but then that’s what Nola had done Sunday, right on the heels of Jeremy Hellickson leaving in the seventh inning of a gem only because of a possible injury the night before in Pittsburgh . ... OK, the Pirates are ranked last in the National League in hits and next-to last in batting average, home runs and RBIs. But hey, who’s counting? Positive fibs ... VIBES ... that’s what rebuilding campaigns are all about.