Phillies quash tired pitching cliché

The importance of a bona fide ace is a cliché I once bought hook, line and sinker.

Sure, having Pedro Martinez wouldn’t hurt any team’s chances, but missing a stud starter is hardly the main reason for the Phils inconsistency this season.

No, that would be an offense that automatically shuts down against good pitching like Ben Sheets (Friday), or randomly sputters against journeymen like Tomo Ohka (Sunday).

Only a handful of major league starters never get bombed, but when the Phils throw out a rotation as lackluster as Jon Lieber, Cory Lidle, Brett Myers, Vicente Padilla and Rob Tejeda, one braces for occasional disaster.

Except that hasn’t been necessary most nights.

Phils pitchers posted a very good 3.71 ERA in July, and they're doing it without the benefit of a left-hander or a "lights-out" ace. They're also investing millions of dollars less in starting pitching in hopes the high-priced bats will carry the load. This is a team built for offense, with Jim Thome, Bobby Abreu, Mike Lieberthal and Pat Burrell all earning more than their most expensive starter, Randy Wolf, who's out for the season.

Three of those starters have been steady lately: Myers, Padilla and Tejeda, and the other two, Lieber and Lidle, appear headed that direction.

Here’s a summary of the starting five:

Myers: He’s the best overall starter this season, but hasn’t been as crisp as he was in April. As the summer wears on, he’s battled some long innings and deep counts. As a result, he’s been a six-inning guy for about a month, but hasn’t allowed more than four runs since June 26. Not bad.

Lidle: They say his personal problems are behind him, and it certainly looked that way Friday night (8 innings, 9 strikeouts, 1 run). Besides a tough patch of four starts that skewed his ERA toward 5.00, he’s given the Phils a chance to win nearly every game he’s pitched this season.

Lieber: Rich Dubee should call Larry Andersen with updates whenever Lieber pitches. Andersen has a knack for spotting the moment Lieber dips his arm, and once it happens, he gets bombed like he did July 28 in Colorado. Other than that, he’s worked deep, efficient games lately and appears headed in the right direction.

Padilla: Very good since July 1, showing a nice steady progression since flirting with bullpen duty. Yesterday’s seven-inning gem was squandered once again by the limp noodles on offense. Padilla’s been more focused and is throwing a harder, nastier fastball, in addition to a good change-up. He certainly looks healthy.

Tejeda: Wolf who? In my opinion, Robinson represents the biggest reason why the Phillies are just 2.5 out of the wild card lead. His 2.80 ERA is unbelievable for a guy who went 8-12 with a 5.15 ERA last season in Reading. The Phillies couldn’t buy results that good. Tejeda represents an admirable philosophy of fixing problems with available resources. The only reason he hasn’t gone longer than six innings is Charlie Manuel.

On the subject of pitching and related clichés, for those that missed Friday’s Daily News Live, you missed a stimulating, informative discussion between Marcus Hayes of the Daily News and John Marzano of Phillies Post Game Live.

Marzano, who I’ve admired all season for his stance on player accountability, fell into a trap and blamed inconsistent starting pitching for the Phils failure to get on track.

Hayes, the Phils beat writer for the DN, went the opposite way and blamed the bats and their tentative approach against good pitching.

With the weekend series that followed, Hayes hit the bullseye.

I’ve never been a great fan of Hayes’ print coverage, but on DNL, he commands attention and I’m glued. I’ve become a fan of his ability to block out conventional wisdom, and I’ve never heard him utter a blanket statement like "Consistency starts with starting pitching."

With Eagles’ training camp getting under way, the contract disputes, and key injuries, it was good to see so much attention still given to baseball.

After all, The Phils are within striking distance of the playoffs.

Comments

[Tom Goodman]

I saw the same broadcast and agree Hayes was unusually concise and insightful. Marzano, on the other hand, was not particularly bright nor insightful. That said, they are both right. The Phillies can hardly be said to offer up consistent hitting or pitching. They might string together a few games with one or the other but they rarely combine them for any length of time. The series with Milwaukee was pitiful on the front and back ends from a "hitting" standpoint, but it wasn't so long ago their pitchers were bombed. They do not have a few players who can step up when needed, produce in their own right and make everyone else around them better. The Phillies offer an interesting variation on the old cliche "every night a different guy steps up". With this bunch, every game a different guy takes the night off.

[Tom G]

I've enjoyed Marzano as well. He doesn't come off as sounding very sharp, but I think that is just a superficial thing, I think he really knows his way around the diamond.

[Tom Goodman]

Let me clarify one thing I said: I don't think Marzano is stupid by any means, but he sounded unsure of himself Friday and befuddled a bit by Marcus Hayes, who has been known to fail the test of logic or coherence himself on more than one occasion. Marzano just didn't come off well on this particular broadcast. That said, generally he isn't afraid to speak bluntly about certain deficiencies he sees and to name names when appropriate.

[That Dude from Philly]

I like Tejeda, but we should becareful b4 we pencil him in for next year. He walks WAY too many batters and somehow so far it hasn't hurt him. If it continues, he's bound to pay the price.

[George S]

Jason, here's the key statement you made above when you talk about the Phillies starting pitching: "he’s given the Phils a chance to win nearly every game he’s pitched this season."

This is the essence of a good rotation. Keep your team in the game so that they have a chance to win, regardless of the actual score. Stats like ERA and Quality Starts do not convey that. How many runs you allow does not matter. How many runs you allow vs how many your team scores is what matters.

How about the Phillies pitching? Consistent or inconsistent in keeping games close?

Since July 1 (33 games), the Phillies have been 'blown out' 5 times. What is a blow out? I'm defining it here as losing by more than 2 runs.
So in 28 of the 33 games, the Phillies have been ahead or within 2 runs. I think that is 'giving your team a chance to win almost every game'. And I would consider that a consistent effort by your pitching staff.
(The Phillies lost 10 games by 1 or 2 runs in this span, won 9 and went 18-15 overall).