Optimistic pitching reviews may not be that far off mark
PHILADELPHIA » The scores long having been irrelevant, even if the losses do invite scars, the Phillies have tumbled into an odd daily ritual.
Win or lose, and there has been more of one than the other, they will attempt to draw the positives from their pitchers. That will begin with Pete Mackanin identifying whatever made the night’s starter special, and it will likely extend into the clubhouse, where the rationalizations will continue to bubble.
Somebody will have shown a good curve ball, or better control, or a new level of toughness. That’s what they’ll all attempt to sell, anyway. And with little else to peddle, it often does work.
The Phillies are in the midst of an awful year, one of the worst in their history, one smeared by horrifying baserunning errors, a fluctuating batting order ever subject to the winds of panic and, mostly, defeats. Yet they are about to escape the ordeal with the makings of a useful major-league rotation that could provide comfort for years.
While they may not have an oversupply of valuable take-aways from this season, the Phils can start with one: Aaron Nola. When pain-free, he is an ace. Finally at full health, and with just enough big-league and major-college experience to make him more than a developmental project at age 24, Nola has added a jaw-dropping, bat-stopping change-up to his fastballcurve portfolio. With that, he has been as good a pitcher as there has been in the National League since the AllStar break.
“It’s a night and day difference,” Mackanin said. “It gives him an extra place to go when he gets into trouble. Instead of a fastball in and out and the curveball he’s always had, now he’s got that pitch. Let’s say on a given night he doesn’t have a good feel for his curve; he can go to his changeup even against right-handers and get outs. It’s always good to have that pitch there that’s working for you.”
Including seven innings of two-hit pitching the other night against the New York Mets, Nola has gone 10 starts without allowing more than two runs. Only Jon Lester, Michael Fulmer, Kyle Hendricks and Clayton Kershaw had been so successful in the past two seasons.
As the seventh overall pick in the 2014 draft, Nola could never have been projected as anything but a top-of-the-rotation starter. Early-career injuries, though, threw that into question. It’s not a question anymore.
From there, the Phils will attempt to assign excellence to, in no particular order, Nick Pivetta, Zach Eflin and Jerad Eickhoff. And they are given just enough reasons to think they might be right. After a 6-2 loss Sunday to the Mets in which he allowed four runs in 5.1 innings, Eflin was closer to celebrated than excused.
“He pitched pretty well,” Mackanin said. “He made a couple mistakes and got burnt on hanging curveballs. And then we had one made inning where they scored another two.”
Despite falling to 1-4, Eflin, 23, did retire 10 straight batters in his ninth consecutive start in which he’d walked two or fewer.
“I threw the ball really well, had command of all five of my pitches,” Eflin shrugged. “I had a good two-seam, a good four-seam. I threw some really good change-ups, a few good sliders and some really good curveballs. It’s unfortunate it’s one of those days that you get beat by two bad pitches.”
And that’s how it goes, nightly. The Phillies don’t necessarily win. But they keep squinting until they see brightness in their young starting pitchers.
Pivetta, in fact, has made something of a science of explaining his declining production. Last weekend, after not seeing the fifth inning of a 7-6 loss to the Mets, he all but took the trust-the-process route.
“I am fine-tuning myself and trying to get there,” the 24-year-old said. “That all comes from these experiences I am going through. There’s a lot of season left. It’s moving in the right direction. Keep working hard. Keep your head up. Keep believing in yourself. I know the team believes in me. It’s just a matter of going with the punches.”
The Phillies have absorbed more than they’ve landed this season, and long ago were in need of smelling salts. They’d expected 27-year-old Eickhoff to emerge as something better than a 3-7 starter by now, but he is on a five-start streak of allowing three or fewer runs.
The mystery that is Vince Velasquez continues, and may not be solved for at least another year. There will be public urging to shove him to the bullpen, but he has too much talent to try that yet. In the meantime, Mark Leiter Jr., who has been dominating in long relief and who Mackanin didn’t even know about on the day he was promoted to the major leagues, will have a chance to keep hitters off stride with his impressive changing of speeds.
“He’s been a pleasant surprise,” Mackanin said.
Nothing much about the Phillies season has been pleasant. But there have been enough glimpses of pitching talent to think that, well, maybe there is a workable foundation for success. Sometimes, all it takes is to ignore the scoreboard and just go with that routine.
To contact Jack McCaffery, email him at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery