With high fives after their first victory for 2017, the leadoff man, the cleanup hitter, the starter and the closer will look forward to the rest of the schedule with hope for the Philadelphia Phillies.
April’s Time Capsule:
If you can exceed the expectations of your toughest critic – you – your future will be a clean slate to fill with new challenges.
During the first month of the campaign, most players are fresh and healthy. Jeremy Hellickson and Jerad Eickhoff will pick up where they left off in September: The skipper trusts both hurlers to pitch into the seventh inning, and they are reliable. On the bottom two rungs of the rotation, Vince Velasquez and Aaron Nola will have victories and growing pains, but both will again open the season with solid starts in April. And what is Clay Buchholz? A wild card!
As the game continues into the sixth frame, manager Pete Mackanin and pitching coach Bob McClure will closely monitor Eickhoff’s pitch count: The cutoff in the early contests is 100 max. And the brain trust will carefully consider their bullpen options and the stats of the upcoming batters versus their available relievers. Soon, McClure will ring the pen for Pat Neshek or Joaquin Benoit to warm up. Tell Neshek he’s got the seventh.
If a club doesn’t have a relief corps preserving their advantages, it demoralizes the starters and the offense, especially if they just made a comeback to tie or take a lead. In other words, Mackanin named Jeanmar Gomez the closer because he proved they could count on him. Both he and Hector Neris ran out of gas in September because the weekly stress of high-leverage innings and a heavy workload caught up to them. Therefore, because Gomez and Neris had realized the newly experienced demands of the roles they’ve earned, they prepared during the offseason.
WHAT TO EXPECT: 11/23/16: REVISITED
- The second slot in the rotation will be Eickhoff in April.
- The fifth starter in April will be Eflin.
- Appel will have an excellent April at Triple-A.
- (These expectations are barring injury, trade and/or any unforeseen events.)
Right:
On April 5, Eickhoff will be slotting second behind Hellickson at the front of the rotation.
Unforeseen event:
Both recovery from knee surgery and the Buchholz trade stopped Eflin from making the team.
WHAT TO EXPECT: 3/31/17
- Gomez will still be the closer on May 1.
- (This expectation is barring injury, trade and/or any unforeseen events.)