Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Panic?
Not in Atlanta. The Phillies continue to spin Roy Halladay's struggles positively.
But then again, what is the alternative?
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
One of the reasons we gravitate toward competitive sports is the illusion of control that it offers us. The world is a scary freaking place. Think about the moment when the first of our ancestors developed consciousness, when he or she looked up and down and left and right and experienced a trickle of realization about what, exactly, all of us are up against. Talk about "Oh, crap" moments. The course of human history has been shaped by our attempts to exert control over an environment that, at its fundamental level, is uncontrollable. We build cities and then watch them crumble atop the plates that shift beneath them. We build levees and then watch them burst, build friendships and then watch them turn to dust. Spend a night watching television commercials at some point and count how many of them appeal to our desire to fortify our psyches with a sense of control. You can control your age, you can control the feelings of your fellow man, you can control your restless leg. Take this pill, drink this beer, drive this car, and the world will be at your mercy instead of the other way around.
Professional athletes inhabit a world that was built for them to control, and for most of their lives, they exert dominance over it. When they do not, the root of that failure is easy to identify. Every problem has a solution. Longer workouts. More practice. A mechanical adjustment. The greatest of these athletes are the ones who will go to any length to find the solution that surely exists, the ones whose defining characteristic is a will to exert complete control over their environment, to establish themselves as alpha. When they do not succeed, is is not because of the weather, or the opponent, or the physical condition of their body, or their deteriorating skill. It is because they failed. And to be great requires convincing oneself that failure can always be fixed.
In a certain sense, great athletes are liars, and the greatest are the most pathological. They are the ones we are drawn to, because they are the ones who make us believe that the entire world is within their control. We watch sports because of the way this pathology manifests itself within the framework of controlled, competitive situations. Michael Jordan draining a jumpshot with 5.2 seconds left. Derek Jeter relaying the ball to home plate. Tom Brady leading a last minute drive. The will to win is a very real thing, but I think a more accurate way of describing the phenomenon is the suspension of disbelief in one's own limitations.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
In 2011, when Roy Halladay last looked like Roy Halladay, the veteran right-hander faced 933 batters and went to a three-ball count against 138 of them, an average of one every 6.76 batters. On Wednesday night against the Braves, he faced 19 batters and went to three balls against eight of them. That, in a nutshell, is the challenge the Phillies face when it comes to predicting what they are going to get out of their one-time ace this season. This wasn't about velocity, although that was down (88 to 89 MPH on both his fastball and his cutter over his final two innings). It wasn't even about the runs he allowed, although those were up (five runs in 3 1/3 innings). It was about a pitcher who simply could not pitch the way he is accustomed to. Instead of pounding the strike zone with his fastball and cutter, Halladay relied heavily on his curveball and change up. Of the 95 pitches that he threw, 47 were off speed. During one 15 pitch stretch in the third inning, he threw 13 off speed pitches. When Halladay got ahead of hitters, he was able to put them away with his change up and curve: he became the first pitcher in history to record nine strikeouts in as few as 3 1/3 innings. The Phillies recorded just one out on a ball in play against six hits, two of them home runs.
Of the 33 cutters that Halladay threw, only two prompted a swing-and-miss, compared with one home run, three singles and four foul balls. He threw just 14 sinkers, seven of them for strikes, one of which was a Justin Upton home run on a 1-2 count. Of the six other strikes, three were foul balls, and none were whiffs.
By the end of the night, Halladay had thrown 95 pitches, 55 of them strikes. The usual caveats apply: it was his first outing of the season; the cool, wet weather could not have helped his grip. But what we saw against the Braves looked similar to what we saw throughout spring training, which was a pitcher attempting to reinvent himself, and struggling to do so.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Michael Young cleanly fielded a ground ball hit his way during batting practice on Wednesday afternoon. But then he sailed a throw toward the right field line.
Young, a former Gold Glove shortstop, is playing third base for the first time in a full-tme basis in three years. In his first major league game there on Monday, Young failed to knock down one ball hit to his right (ruled a hit by a gracious official scorer) and he bounced a throw to Ryan Howard later in the game on a routine play.
It was one game, granted, but manager Charlie Manuel was asked if he's consider using the slick-fielding Freddy Galvis in place of Young as a defensive replacement at third base.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Roy Halladay was sitting in front of his locker wearing sweatpants and staring at an iPad. We are about two hours away from his first action of the 2013 season, and everybody is curious what they will see out of the veteran righthander. Halladay had a rough spring training as he battled to find his cutter, a pitch that has been an integral part of his success over the past decade. Charlie Manuel relayed a conversation he had with Halladay prior to Monday night's season-opening loss to the Braves, which was started by Cole Hamels. Manuel asked Halladay if he felt ready to pitch in a couple of days.
"He said, 'Yeah, I wanted to pitch the first game but you didn't want me to,'" Manuel said with a glint in his eye. "That's a good answer. That's the kind of answer you like."
Halladay has been steadfast in his confidence throughout the spring, insisting that he feels capable of pitching like a top-of-the-rotation starter despite questions about his velocity, movement and location. The average velocity on Halladay's sinker has dropped from 93.29 in 2010 to 92.71 in 2011 to 91.15 in 2012, according to BrooksBaseball.net's database of Major League Baseball's pitch FX readings. During that span, the velocity on his cutter has dropped from 92.03 to 91.47 to 89.41. So his cutter last season was 2 MPH slower than it was in 2011. Nevertheless, Manuel said he will not be looking at the radar gun.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Roy Halladay trotted out to the third base line and stood alongside third base coach Ryne Sandberg for the pregame festivities on Opening Day.
Right before the national anthem played at Turner Field, with the gigantic American flag sprawled out over the outfield grass, Halladay stood along side his teammates and coaches. And he looked almost lost.
It was the first time in 11 years Halladay was not warming up in the bullpen in preparation to take the mound on Opening Day.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
While the majority of attention will be paid toward Roy Halladay tonight, another important story line will begin to unfold when the Phillies have the bats in their hands. Last season, the Phillies went 23-30 in games where they faced a left-handed starter. That's what they will be up against tonight in Braves veteran Paul Maholm, who had an excellent spring training that included an outing against the Phillies. The central characters are not a surprise. Just look back to last Sept. 2, when the Phillies scored seven runs against Maholm. Five of those runs came in the first inning, three of them on a double by Erik Kratz. John Mayberry Jr. also singled and scored a run in that frame, while Ty Wigginton drew a walk. The Phillies scored their other two runs in the third inning, which led off with a Wigginton walk and a Mayberry double. I'll be interested to see if Charlie Manuel does something different with his lineup tonight in order to break up Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, although both had hits against Maholm last September (including a two-run double by Howard). Ben Revere had a good game in the leadoff spot on Monday night, but keep in mind that Jimmy Rollins has struggled the last couple of seasons from the right side of the plate. Use the same lineup, and the Phillies are starting off with four straight hitters who struggle against lefties (Revere-Rollins-Utley-Howard).
One potential lineup:
1. Jimmy Rollins SS (SHB)
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The Phillies have claimed 25-year-old outfielder Ezequiel Carrera off of waivers from the Indians. In doing so, they have designated Rule 5 pick Ender Inciarte for assignment. The Phillies could try to work out a trade with the Diamondbacks in order to keep Inciarte in their system. Otherwise, Arizona has the right to reclaim him for a nominal fee.
So who is Carrera?
He brings a similar skill set to Inciarte, good stolen base numbers (18-of-23 in 384 career plate appearances) and the ability to play center field. He doesn't bring power (22 extra base hits in 384 plate appearances, a .347 slugging percentage), or on base percentage (.306 for his career). As for defense, UZR has him as an average to slightly below average defender.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Ender Inciarte said it was "like a dream come true" to make it to the big leagues on Opening Day.
Less than 24 hours, his dream came to an end, at least in Philadelphia.
The Phils claimed fellow Venezuelan outfielder Ezequiel Carrera off waivers from the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday afternoon. To make room for Carrera on the roster, Inciarte was designated for assignment.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
It came down to command, or a lack thereof, for Cole Hamels. It was obviously early that he was struggling to locate his pitches, particularly his cutter and curveball. That's not a good thing against a Braves team that is built to destroy fastballs. It also isn't a huge surprise. Hamels has had some rocky season openers over the years, and it is not hard to think about why that might be. After seven weeks pitching in 70 degree daytime weather, the transition to nightime and 50's is a drastic change that can affect everything from a pitcher's arm to his grip. Charlie Manuel theorized that Hamels' grip may have been the problem given the number of curveballs and curveballs he grounded. Going from spring training to the regular season means going from a second shift job to a third shift job, and that can take some time for your body to adjust. Point is, a good pitcher did not pitch well, and that happens sometimes. Thing is, the Phillies are going to struggle to win whenever that happens, which was the gist of what I wrote about in today's Daily News. If you were concerned by what you saw last night, you probably haven't been paying attention, because we did not see much that was new.
Here's the rest of this morning's coverage from the Phillies' season-opening 7-5 loss. . .
-Cole Hamels struggled to locate his pitches against a Braves team that prompts visions of some of the sluggers of franchise lore, Ryan Lawrence writes. Hamels looked great in Grapefruit League play. But again, the changeover from spring training to the regular season can be a shock to the system.
