Monday, April 18, 2005
How to get to Triple-A (When you are already a Major Leaguer)
- Step 1: Occupy a returning veteran’s slot.
- Step 2: Already be pitching well, so as to make the decision to return you to the minors a difficult one.
- Step 3: Want desperately to make a good impression on your team.
- Step 4: Want desperately to make a good impression on your team so much so that you are nervous and pitch really, really badly.
Not quite a 12-step program, but Gavin Floyd ran through steps 1-4 with ease Friday night. Assuming Floyd is the next Robin Roberts or Steve Carlton, he’ll look back on Friday’s 11-4 loss to the Braves and laugh. For now I bet he’ll spend the next few months ruefully replaying the whole thing in his mind.
Floyd’s line:
3 1/3 innings pitched / 8 earned runs allowed / 5 walks allowed / 1 strikeout / 2 home runs.
I think the first inning captures Floyd’s performance quite nicely: walk, walk, groundout, strikeout, walk, wild-pitch (one run scored), walk, double (scoring three).
It’s really hard to walk four guys in one inning. Jon Lieber sometimes goes an entire game without walking someone.
The loss moves Gavin Floyd’s record on the season to 1-1 with a 7.84 ERA. With Padilla’s return, I think Floyd’s trip back to Scranton is virtually guaranteed. As well as he pitched against the Cards, I think the Phillies believe that Floyd needs a little seasoning before he can play with the big boys in the majors. I think Floyd will be back this season, and I think he’ll be a starter in the rotation in 2006, but the time just isn’t right for him to make the leap. Certainly if he had pitched a good game the Phillies probably would have tried to do some wheeling and dealing to keep him in the majors, but for now, Scranton is waiting.
Anyway ... I'm happy to see that the Phillies took 2 out of 3 from the Braves. Puts a little pressure on Atlanta to keep with the pack ... What I'm happiest about was how the Phillies pitchers, particularly Brett Myers and Jon Lieber, performed against the Braves.
Lieber: 8 innings / 1 earned run, 7 hits, 0 walks, 2 K's
Myers: 8 innings / 1 earned run, 4 hits, 0 walks, 5 K's
These were two fantastic performances and proof to the team that good pitching can succeed at Citizens' Bank Ballpark. I think the team has to be thrilled with the way this weekend went. For the first time ever, I think we can actually say that the Phillies have a staff every bit as good as the Braves.
On the minus side the Polanco / Utley platoon is getting old in a hurry and the fans suggested they were irritated as well when a few booed Polanco early in the game. But 2 outa 3 ain't bad. Now the Phillies need to snap the red-hot Mets streak and start to lay claim to first.
Meet the Mess ... I mean Mets!
