The Phils came back from a 5-1 deficit Sunday afternoon to beat the Marlins 7-5 , taking two out of three from the Marlins to take over 1st place by a 1/2 game. During this offensive explosion the Phils have been on, more times then not the Fightins' fall behind early. The real question is how long can they keep this up? Will the offense always be there to bail the starting pitching out?
Everyone is saying that Brett Myers last start was promising and he showed a lot of poise and promise, hoping to get out of the current funk he's started the season in. After letting the Marlins put three on the board before recording two outs in the top of the first the wheels were really beginning to come off for Brett. The Phils even had Rudy Seanez warming up in the bullpen just in case things got out of hand. Myers was able to get a couple young "aggressive" Marlins to pop up for the last two outs, getting out of the inning only giving up three runs. Then the Phils bats exploded giving him a huge lead to work with. So the question about Myers is, was it really him pitching better the rest of the way? Or was it the situation pitching for him? Either way you can pull some positives out of it I guess. If Myers had finally come around and was pitching well the rest of the way then great. If the big lead had allowed him to calmly pitch under less pressure then that also can be good. However, the latter suggests that Myers still can't be totally depended on especially as the Phils number one pitcher.
The very next night Cole got tagged for the second straight start. Cole has remarkable stuff, still young he doesn't seem to know how to use it. Not many pitchers survive throwing only two pitches. Cole "technically" throws three, but he seems to only use two. His great stuff usually allows him to breeze through the opposing teams line-up the first time through. After that they realize he's only really throwing a fast ball and a change-up. And we all know that Cole gives up the long ball quite often, and once hitters begin to decipher the locations of his change and his fast ball they start tailing off on him. You can't be an ace when you fall in love with two pitches. You can't be an ace when you don't show consistency. In Cole's case he needs to start living up to his expectations a little bit. Coming out and throwing a complete game shut out then giving up 6 and then 7 runs in your next two starts is not what ace's do. You would love to think that no matter how bad a run your team may be on at any given time you can always depend on your "ace" or your "stopper" to take the mound ever 5th day. In some people's minds Cole has the ability to be that kind of guy, but he's still yet to show it.
That brings us to Sunday, when veteran Jamie Moyer fell behind 5-1 early to the Marlins. Once again he was bailed out by the offense and once again another pitcher was given credit for pitching so well the rest of the way. Like the Myers situation two nights before, I ask the same question about Sunday afternoons game. Was it Moyer pitching better, or was it just the lead pitching for him?
I've just gone over the top of the rotation, your 1, 2, and 3 pitchers. All with the same scenario, all pitching against a team that has been front running in the NL East nearly all season long. We all know that the end of the rotation can't really and isn't expected to be relied on. However, looking around the league, you look at all the good teams and in almost every case you can look at the top of each teams rotation and it's solid. It can be relied on, you know pretty much what your going to get out of them. Then you look at the Phils rotation and your not quite sure. Moyer is solid but you can bet with the utmost certainty that he'll get whacked every third start or so. Myers somehow has gotten some sort of "reputation," the idea that he's a solid 1 or 2 pitcher in the Majors. When the numbers just don't back up that "rep." And Cole has looked like the best lefty in the league some nights and others looks as over matched as any young inexperienced pitcher.

So can the Phils offense keep this up? They better, because looking at the starting rotation realistically, they just can't be relied on.


Mike Santa Barbara