Ford: Phils pitchers have no margin for error

Aaron Nola, like the rest of the Phillies' starting pitchers, has no illusions about the task that confronts the staff as this season begins with a patched-together offense that might not be any better when the patches come off.

"The main goal is to keep the guys in the game, to battle as hard as we can to keep the score as low as possible," Nola said Monday. "We want to help the team as much as we can by limiting damage and limiting big innings."

That's pretty basic baseball, and any pitcher on any team would say much the same thing, but with the Phillies, it's really no joke. The Phils lost their home opener, 4-3, to San Diego, with Nola giving up all four runs and all six hits collected by the Padres. He threw very well but pitched in some poor luck and didn't get away with any of his very few mistakes. As said, the margin for error for Phillies pitchers this season is exceedingly thin.

In seven games, the team has scored 21 runs. There will be days that are more bountiful for the offense and days that are more frustrating, but for fans who viewed this first look as a preview of the year, that ratio is probably going to hold up. Three runs on the board is what they got in the home opener and it won't be the last time. That's what the pitchers are up against.

"He pitched well enough to win," manager Pete Mackanin said. "We had a chance to win . . . just didn't put enough runs across the board. The negative is that we lost the game, but at the start of the season we've been in every game except one and we're pretty pleased with that at this point."

Aside from a poor start in Cincinnati by Charlie Morton in which he allowed six runs, the other four starters have pitched to a 2.21 earned run average so far. The bullpen coughed up a couple of games, and in a couple of others, as was the case Monday, there just wasn't enough offense. Nola has given up just five runs in 14 innings, struck out 17 and hasn't walked a batter.

"He's just got mechanics that are conducive to throwing strikes. He's a strike-thrower," Mackanin said. "He reminds me of Cliff Lee. Every once in a while, you'd like him to get a little wild, effectively wild. But he pounds the strike zone."

Three hits, two of which were excuse-me bloops off his curveball, added up to two runs against Nola in the third, then he hung an inside curve to Wil Myers in the fourth that landed over the wall in left. Down 3-0, he could have reacted differently, but he retired the next 10 batters instead.

"Nothing affects him. Nothing fazes him," said catcher Cameron Rupp, who has been behind the plate for all of Nola's 15 major-league starts. "He doesn't show emotion when he's at his highest point or down in the ditches. He battles and knows how to pitch."

Amazingly enough, the Phillies came back to tie the game, with third-base umpire Will Little appearing to give and take in the process; calling a questionable ball fair in their favor in the fifth, and then being the point man (literally) in an infield-fly ruling that cost the Phils at least an out if not more in the sixth.

In any case, Nola went out for the seventh and was victimized when catcher Derek Norris was jammed on the handle by a good pitch but somehow pushed a one-out double down the first-base line. Mikael Franco appeared to get the second out with a great diving play at third, but his throw, after a replay review, was found to have pulled Darin Ruf slightly off the bag at first. With one out instead of two, the Padres squeezed. Nola fielded the bunt and had a quick look home before deciding to take the out and let the run score.

"I thought about it," Nola said. "I felt like if I flipped it, it would have to be perfect. That was my view. I thought throwing to first was the safest bet."

That will be a familiar feeling for Phillies pitchers this season, knowing that the next thing they do might have to be perfect. You have to give the 22-year-old Nola, who was pitching in Reading at this time last season, credit for doing the right thing, and not taking into account that he was probably turning away from his last chance at a no-decision.

Someday, if everything goes according to plan, making those right calls will add up to wins. This season, they only add up to giving the team a shot to win. It's still a step in the right direction, but there are so many more steps to take.

bford@phillynews.com

@bobfordsports