GaryMrMets
06-01-2004, 03:10 PM
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/s053104c.htm
Now's the time for the starters to step up
Monday, May 31, 2004
By KEVIN ROBERTS
Courier-Post Staff
PHILADELPHIA
The pitch count will still be kept, still be watched closely. Once it clicks into triple digits, a red light will still go on in the back of Larry Bowa's head.
But the time has come to ease up on that. The Phillies' starting rotation - a big reason the dreams of postseason play danced around in the Phillies' heads all spring - has to take a big step forward now. And Bowa is leaning toward taking the leash off.
Eric Milton gave the Phillies exactly what they needed Sunday, and just about exactly what they'd been dreaming of all season - a rotation full of starters who could all pitch deep in the game and give the team a chance to win every day.
And they've been OK. Phillies starters rank third in the league in wins with 19. But they entered Sunday ranked a pedestrian eighth in innings and 10th in ERA (4.16). The bullpen has carried the load so far, and the bullpen needs some help now.
So the starters are going to have to go a little farther.
"We have to let them go a little bit," Bowa said. "We have some guys (in the bullpen) who've gone beyond the call of duty."
Sunday Bowa didn't want to use Rheal Cormier, who leads the staff and is tied for ninth in the NL in appearances. But Cormier talked his way into the mix, appeared in his third straight game and got the ball to Tim Worrell with the lead intact.
Bowa has babied the starters in the early going, in the interest of keeping a staff that faded in the second half last season fresh this time around. Pitch counts have been pretty strict. But Sunday Milton threw a season-high 115 pitches, and lasted through the seventh.
Milton's not a big pitch-count guy, anyway; most starters have little use for it. A good starting pitcher wants to leave the game when he's ready to leave it - usually with a comfortable lead and the closer coming - not because his pitch count is on the wrong side of 100.
"My last pitch to Chipper (Jones) was just as hard as any pitch I threw in the first inning," Milton said. "Going deeper in the game, I get stronger; just like deeper in the season I get stronger."
Milton has, in fact, held opposing hitters to a .209 average in his career after pitch No. 106. That stat is a little skewed - a pitcher is usually in the game that deep only when he has his real good stuff. Milton hasn't yet had that this season; opposing hitters were batting .417 against him after pitch No. 91. But Sunday he rose to the challenge and did indeed get stronger as the game went on.
That's what the Phillies are going to need. The offense won't be consistent until the Phillies solve their leadoff problem. Marlon Byrd is hitting .225 and held the job only because Jimmy Rollins came up lame Sunday. Byrd will hit eventually; he'll figure it out and come on strong like he always does. But Sunday, with Byrd going 0-for-4, the Phillies struggled to score two runs against a guy who had a losing record in the Korean League last year.
There is no help coming for the bullpen. GM Ed Wade said going to 12 pitchers isn't in the Phillies' immediate future, and, besides, it's not clear that a great crop of reinforcements is waiting in Triple A. Ryan Madson would have been the perfect guy to be waiting in the minors for an emergency call-up, but he's been busy saving the staff by pitching brilliantly in every role in the bullpen.
The Phillies are going to have to make do with what they have.
"We'd prefer - unless we have to do something else - to keep the people we have here right now," Wade said. "Twelve is a possibility at some point, and it's a possibility sooner rather than later. But it's not in the context of what we've discussed in terms of getting through the next three or four days."
Josh Hancock is set to join the Phillies today and will pitch in Vicente Padilla's spot while Padilla's elbow heals. Milton, Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf and Brett Myers - the starters the Phillies were counting on to be an elite group - have to pick up the slack.
"We're going to be really good," Milton said. "We'll get in the groove, we'll feed off each other and then it will go pitcher to pitcher. Brett's pitching (today) and you watch - he'll come out strong."
He'd better. The starters have been OK, but the Phillies had planned on them being more than that. Now's the time to show it.
Now's the time for the starters to step up
Monday, May 31, 2004
By KEVIN ROBERTS
Courier-Post Staff
PHILADELPHIA
The pitch count will still be kept, still be watched closely. Once it clicks into triple digits, a red light will still go on in the back of Larry Bowa's head.
But the time has come to ease up on that. The Phillies' starting rotation - a big reason the dreams of postseason play danced around in the Phillies' heads all spring - has to take a big step forward now. And Bowa is leaning toward taking the leash off.
Eric Milton gave the Phillies exactly what they needed Sunday, and just about exactly what they'd been dreaming of all season - a rotation full of starters who could all pitch deep in the game and give the team a chance to win every day.
And they've been OK. Phillies starters rank third in the league in wins with 19. But they entered Sunday ranked a pedestrian eighth in innings and 10th in ERA (4.16). The bullpen has carried the load so far, and the bullpen needs some help now.
So the starters are going to have to go a little farther.
"We have to let them go a little bit," Bowa said. "We have some guys (in the bullpen) who've gone beyond the call of duty."
Sunday Bowa didn't want to use Rheal Cormier, who leads the staff and is tied for ninth in the NL in appearances. But Cormier talked his way into the mix, appeared in his third straight game and got the ball to Tim Worrell with the lead intact.
Bowa has babied the starters in the early going, in the interest of keeping a staff that faded in the second half last season fresh this time around. Pitch counts have been pretty strict. But Sunday Milton threw a season-high 115 pitches, and lasted through the seventh.
Milton's not a big pitch-count guy, anyway; most starters have little use for it. A good starting pitcher wants to leave the game when he's ready to leave it - usually with a comfortable lead and the closer coming - not because his pitch count is on the wrong side of 100.
"My last pitch to Chipper (Jones) was just as hard as any pitch I threw in the first inning," Milton said. "Going deeper in the game, I get stronger; just like deeper in the season I get stronger."
Milton has, in fact, held opposing hitters to a .209 average in his career after pitch No. 106. That stat is a little skewed - a pitcher is usually in the game that deep only when he has his real good stuff. Milton hasn't yet had that this season; opposing hitters were batting .417 against him after pitch No. 91. But Sunday he rose to the challenge and did indeed get stronger as the game went on.
That's what the Phillies are going to need. The offense won't be consistent until the Phillies solve their leadoff problem. Marlon Byrd is hitting .225 and held the job only because Jimmy Rollins came up lame Sunday. Byrd will hit eventually; he'll figure it out and come on strong like he always does. But Sunday, with Byrd going 0-for-4, the Phillies struggled to score two runs against a guy who had a losing record in the Korean League last year.
There is no help coming for the bullpen. GM Ed Wade said going to 12 pitchers isn't in the Phillies' immediate future, and, besides, it's not clear that a great crop of reinforcements is waiting in Triple A. Ryan Madson would have been the perfect guy to be waiting in the minors for an emergency call-up, but he's been busy saving the staff by pitching brilliantly in every role in the bullpen.
The Phillies are going to have to make do with what they have.
"We'd prefer - unless we have to do something else - to keep the people we have here right now," Wade said. "Twelve is a possibility at some point, and it's a possibility sooner rather than later. But it's not in the context of what we've discussed in terms of getting through the next three or four days."
Josh Hancock is set to join the Phillies today and will pitch in Vicente Padilla's spot while Padilla's elbow heals. Milton, Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf and Brett Myers - the starters the Phillies were counting on to be an elite group - have to pick up the slack.
"We're going to be really good," Milton said. "We'll get in the groove, we'll feed off each other and then it will go pitcher to pitcher. Brett's pitching (today) and you watch - he'll come out strong."
He'd better. The starters have been OK, but the Phillies had planned on them being more than that. Now's the time to show it.