Call to the pen
Fansided

Turning back time in picking the Phillies All-Decade Team

By Rick Soisson

ATLANTA, GA JULY 02: Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola (27) looks out from the dugout after pitching 8 scoreless innings during the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies on July 2nd, 2019 at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA JULY 02: Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola (27) looks out from the dugout after pitching 8 scoreless innings during the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies on July 2nd, 2019 at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Brian Garfinkel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Brian Garfinkel/Getty Images) /

The Starting Pitchers

Once again, we must turn back the clock for all but one of the selections here, and we’re going to pick only four starters because for most of the past sorry decade, the fifth Phillies starter has not been a happy subject, if he could even be named after picking a year randomly.

Roy Halladay, RHP: The big right-hander finished his career with the Phillies, coming from Toronto in 2010 at the age of 33 and immediately winning the NL Cy Young award after leading the league in wins (21-10) and innings pitched, posting a 2.44 ERA. That first year he threw the 20th perfect game in MLB history. He followed up the regular season campaign with the second ever post-season no-hitter, a win over Cincinnati in his career first post-season action. He was an All-Star and finished 6th in the MVP vote in ’10.

That was one year. In 2011 he lowered his ERA and WHIP. Enough said.

Cliff Lee, LHP: Weirdly, Lee may have been more of a Phillies fan favorite than Halladay, partly because, while Halladay pitched surgically, Lee’s approach seemed to be: “Hey, here’s another damned strike – I just moved it a foot away,” or sometimes: “Here’s another damned strike in the same damned spot!” This didn’t always work, but Lee appealed to Philadelphia.

His second stint with the team ran from 2011 through ’14, and in that time he posted a 41-30 record, 2.89 ERA, and 1.085 WHIP. He was twice an All-Star in Philly, 3rd in the Cy Young voting and 15th in the MVP voting in ’11.

Aaron Nola, RHP: Finally, a player who actually played for the Phillies in the most recent season can be added. Here’s the deal: One day we may all refer to Nola as “the poor man’s Greg Maddux,” or perhaps Maddux will be “the poor man’s Aaron Nola,” or they may be mentioned as equals. Nola is entering his age-27 season; he’s won over 50 games in five years in an era when idiot managers will, say, yank a starter after 68 pitches in his first start of the season. He has also won 60 percent of his decisions, and in ’18 posted a 0.975 WHIP on a team that has only reached .500 in one of his seasons.

Cole Hamels, LHP: The 2008 World Series MVP pitched his last partial season for the Phillies the year Nola first was listed by Baseball-Reference as a starter for the team. In his last game in red pinstripes Hamels threw a no-hitter. In the decade ending soon, he was 66-56 for the Phillies, and he may be coming back to the team. Entering his age-36 season, his career WHIP is 1.183, and he posted his career best WHIP (0.986) with the Phillies in ’11.

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