Phillies Foul Balls

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that the Phillies’ hopes this year depend on the Brett Myers we saw this afternoon showing up regularly throughout the year. When he got into trouble he didn’t revert to his old trick of trying to throw 100 mph, which usually resulted in very flat, straight fastballs, instead concentrating on making good pitches. The old line about pitching instead of throwing is very apt in the situation. He has enough command and raw stuff to be a highly effective pitcher if he keeps his head. He did today and a shutout was the result. At the start of the year I was saying that Myers and Ryan Madson could be pleasant surprises in the rotation. So far so good, although Madson’s strikeout rate is a little low, which is worrying.

On the other hand, I am still not impressed by Aaron Rowand.  On the one hand, comments of “Whaddya want, he’s got a .326/.380/.500 batting line” are perfectly valid. However he was touted as being a great defensive centerfielder and I haven’t seen that. Instead I’ve seen a lot of bad jumps and poor routes taken to balls. There have been several balls hit over his head which I thought should be playable, which either says he’s reading the ball very badly or else something is very wrong with his positioning. Also he has a tendency to be overly aggressive in ways that drive me nuts. The latest example of course was his getting picked off first today on the fake to third throw to first move. That really shouldn’t happen. As long as Rowand keeps his batting numbers up he’ll be useful to the team, but I’m not seeing anything that’s an improvement over the platoon they had out there last year.

That grumble aside, it’s still a 4-2 road trip which is what they needed. Now they come home and have a chance to take on the weaker members of the NL East.  Another week like this one will do a lot to put that 1-6 start in the rearview mirror.