Phil Sheridan: Phillies need an A-list arm

By Phil Sheridan

Inquirer Sports Columnist

In his own quiet way, Charlie Manuel yesterday made the case for help before the non-waiver trade deadline at the end of this month.

A couple of hours later, without uttering a word, Adam Eaton made the case much more loudly. On the day the best available pitcher moved from Cleveland to Milwaukee, it was painfully clear the Phillies' front office has to ratchet up its efforts to make a significant addition to this starting rotation.

Pat Gillick and his two-headed heir apparent, Ruben Amaro and Mike Arbuckle, reportedly took a swing at landing CC Sabathia. And that's just swell. Their efforts would be a lot more impressive if Sabathia wasn't now property of the Brewers.

Asked about the imminent Sabathia deal Sunday, Gillick said the Phillies would likely look to the "B list" for help. He cited last year's midseason acquisition, Kyle Lohse, as an example of the kind of pitcher he was talking about.

Funny, that. Now that he has a contract with (and 10 wins for) St. Louis, the Phillies are touting Lohse. During the winter and spring, when he was extremely available, they weren't nearly as enthused.

Before last night's loss left his team with slim leads over the Marlins and Mets, Manuel sounded pretty unenthused himself about those potential B listers.

"To go out and get a pitcher or a player, it depends," Manuel said. "If it's a top-notch player, that could put us where we want to be."

Losing three out of four to Mets is not where the Phillies wanted to be after this pivotal midseason series - especially not after they beat Johan Santana in the series opener Friday night. Their late rally from 10-2 to 10-9 only underscored how big a hole Eaton created for them.

Now the Mets are officially hot, one game over .500, and close enough to overtake Florida and even the Phillies by the all-star break. The Marlins, who played late last night in San Diego, were just two games behind the Phillies.

"We're back in the race," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said, and he's right. The Phillies' hold on first place, which they claimed on June 1, seems more tenuous with each passing game - and with each development among their pitchers.

While Eaton was getting knocked around by the Mets, opening-day starter Brett Myers was making his second start for the triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Setup man Tom Gordon was placed on the disabled list Sunday, just hours after telling reporters he felt "great" physically in the wake of his flameout Saturday night.

"You can always use pitching," Manuel said. "If you get a guy like Sabathia, that makes you better."

The Mets have three pitchers whose name stands out on the "probable starters" chart: Santana, John Maine and, even now, Pedro Martinez. The Brewers have Sabathia to go with Ben Sheets. Even with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz on the disabled list, Atlanta has Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens - a name that stands out anywhere. The Cubs have Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster.

The Phillies have Cole Hamels. That's it.

The ageless Jamie Moyer is fine. Kyle Kendrick has been very effective but hardly overwhelms hitters. Eaton has made some decent starts, to be fair, but is ever capable of a game like last night's. Myers is a cipher.

The Phillies are an offense-first team, no question about that. But offense is much more prone to hot streaks and cold snaps than first-rate pitching. Over the course of a long season, the teams that get the best pitching, week in and week out, tend to rise toward the top.

When Atlanta was winning all those division titles in the 1990s and 2000s, the lineup changed dramatically. Pitching was the constant.

The Phillies have hit and pitched well enough to get into July with a slim lead in the division. They need to be better to hold on to it.

"I said from day one the division was going to be very close," Manuel said. "And I also mentioned Florida. I evaluated their team. With the Mets, we're all jammed in pretty close. There are holes on each team, weaknesses on each team. It's right there for us to win. It's going to come down to whoever plays the best."

It is just as likely to come down to whichever team fills its holes the best, in the division as well as the rest of the National League. That's where Gillick and his staff come in.

The Phillies could use some offensive help - say, an outfielder to do what Geoff Jenkins and So Taguchi were brought in to do - but it is reasonable to believe their current lineup can simply perform better.

The only way to improve the pitching is with better pitchers. If Myers can come back and be effective, great. He can slide into the rotation behind Hamels and the new guy.

Let's just hope the new guy is from the "A" list.

Contact columnist Phil Sheridan

at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.