| Armed and Dangerous - Tuesday, May 13, 2008
125 Views :: 0 Comments ::  :: Michael Bradley It is a fundamental truth of modern-day pitching that the complete game is a rarity, sort of like an honest answer about steroid use or a line single to left by Ryan Howard. At the end of every season, few teams have as many as 10 complete games, and most hover around five. The days of the nine-inning man are gone, so much so that the "quality start" was invented to give today's noodle-armed sprinters some validation when they last only six frames. The Phillies are proof that a contender had better get its bullpen together or risk an ugly campaign. Were it not for the combined strong efforts of Mssrs. Lidge, Romero (Sunday afternoon excepted), Gordon, Durbin and Seanez, the hometown nine would be wallowing in the NL East basement with Washington. Their majors-best ERA of 2.72 has kept this team in contention while the bats snooze and the starters stagger. That doesn't include Cole Hamels, the one starter on the team who actually thinks about going nine full. He's averaging seven innings per start and could threaten 250 frames by year's end. Kudos to him for his endurance. And let's not make any bones about who next year's Opening Day starter should be. Barring any collapse, Hamels is the ace. As for the rest of them, well, that's another story. Only Brett Myers is averaging six innings per start, and he's barely there. The others -- Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick and Adam Eaton -- can't be counted on to get out of the fifth, much less the sixth. So far, it hasn't been a huge problem, because the bullpen has delivered. But needing five pitchers to finish every game is ridiculous. The trouble is, there's no reason to think they'll come around. Eaton has been rotten this year -- again. Moyer is showing his age more and more and might need a prolonged break come summer. Kendrick has had his moments but is averaging nearly 1.3 hits per inning and has struck out a whopping 18 hitters in seven starts. As for Myers, who was supposed to team with Hamels in a potent one-two punch atop the rotation, well, place your bets. He has a 5.33 ERA , has lasted 17 innings in his last three starts and has surrendered 23 hits during that time. He had better get it together quickly, or this team has no chance, even if the bats start to crackle. The Phillies have shown they have the talent to win the East again this year, and thanks to the bullpen, Chase Utley and Pat Burrell they are in the hunt. But this rotation had better start eating up some more quality innings, or those of us who criticized GM Pat Gillick for not doing more to improve the rotation are going to look pretty smart. |
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