Philadelphia Phillies pitching, despite flashes, seems iffy

The Philadelphia Phillies pitching, both the starters and relievers, seem to be determined to take the team and their fans on a roller coaster ride.

OK, this Philadelphia Phillies pitching “thing” is going to be a mystery for a little bit longer.

After managing to lose 9-8, 10-6, 15-1 and 10-3 in their first 14 games, the NL East’s “stupid money” team moved to 9-5 Apr. 14 behind no-hit pitching for several innings from a starter and sterling pitching from their relief corps over 14 innings.

Clearly, the “stupid” Phillies money had mostly been spent on offense, and anyone foolish enough to write the pitching “was holding up after all” after nine games was jumping the gun. (My bad. The pitching held up for…um…two games – until the 14th.)

The starters after two weeks’ worth of games looked problematic, and the relievers were all over the place. Purported prime ace Aaron Nola, third in last year’s Cy Young voting, was sporting a 6.46 ERA to go with his 1-0 record in three starts. Ace number two, Jake Arrieta, looked OK, but still, about a year late. He was 2-1 with a WHIP of 1.150.

Starter number three, this year’s alleged step-up guy, Nick Pivetta, hadn’t stepped up yet. He is sporting a 2.175 WHIP, and you can look up the rest of his numbers. Dude number four, Zach Eflin, had looked wonderful in his first two outings, but like a cheap string of firecrackers lit in the woods in start number three.

In fairness to Pivetta, Eflin and starter number five, Vince Velasquez, all three have been learning their craft on the MLB job for a couple of years with mostly dreadful results and a few highlights.