Hmm . . . maybe Seneca
should bat cleanup

In the Batter’s Box
By Matt Godfrey

Many circumstances that influence a baseball game seemingly can be chalked up to luck.
When a pitcher leaves a ball over the plate but the home-run hitter swings with a mighty miss, someone will say the pitcher got lucky.
Or maybe that hitter drives the ball and it barely clears the outfield wall for a homer . . . did the hitter get lucky?
Sorry, but I have trouble believing that so much of anything is based on something as uncontrollable as luck. There is a quote by the Roman philosopher Seneca that I have found myself thinking about more and more.
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
If you ask me, it’s a quote that embodies the season Jon Lieber is having since his exile to the bullpen ended by necessity with his return to the Phils’ starting rotation.
His preparation was there from the beginning. He rolled into spring training (in his gigantic truck) and did his job, perhaps better than any of the other potential starting pitchers.
As spring training was wrapping up, Lieber obviously had been one of the — if not the — more dominant starters the Phillies had. But with six pitchers vying for five spots in the rotation, Lieber somehow became the odd man out and was moved to the bullpen.
Since his opportunity to rejoin the rotation arose via a swap of positions with starter Brett Myers, Lieber has been impressive.
I reserved judgment on him until he was able to get a few starts under his belt. Since Lieber wasn’t a happy camper in the bullpen, it was easy to believe that his first start or two would be fueled by a ton of motivation, but could he keep it going?
Whether it was because the Phils brought in pitchers Freddy Garcia and Adam Eaton over the offseason, or because the team tried to trade him, or even because of his banishment to the bullpen, Jon Lieber had plenty to be motivated about.
But after his latest start, on Sunday against his former team, the Chicago Cubs, I have to acknowledge the outstanding job he has been doing.
He is the linchpin of the strategy that moved staff ace Myers to the bullpen and catapulted reliever Lieber to the starting rotation. So far, he has made it look like a no-brainer. And Myers has been no slouch either.
On Sunday, Lieber pitched eight innings, giving up nine hits while surrendering just one earned run and striking out five Cubs.
The start was overshadowed by Ted Lilly’s fine performance for the Cubs, but Lieber pitched as well as anyone could hope for.
On the season, he has thrown 35 innings and recorded a 2.83 ERA while striking out 18 batters.
With the exception of his first start, Lieber hasn’t gone fewer than six innings, nor has he given up more than four runs per game.
That is the definition of keeping your team in games and getting the ball to your setup/closer combination.
The Brett Myers side of this swap can be judged along the same lines. People have been talking for a while now about how Myers could be the "closer of the future," or insisting that he "has the perfect mentality to be a closer."
So when his opportunity arose to shore up the back of the bullpen, many people were watching.
Of course, Lieber wanted no part of the bullpen. Nor was it an assignment coveted by Myers, who made it clear he was accepting the setup role in the spirit of a true team player.
But when the opportunity arose for Myers to take his shot at the closer’s role, thanks to Tom Gordon’s seemingly annual stint on the disabled list, it was time for his preparation to be put to the test.
Only time will tell if Myers is successful as a closer, or if he’ll even keep the job for the rest of this season, but he has converted his first three save opportunities of his career. In fact, Myers has given up just one run since being moved to the bullpen, a span of more than 14 innings.
Myers also gives fans a sense of optimism among a relief corps that generally has hurt the team far more than it has helped. It’s a sense that he can win the game for the Phils rather than hand a victory to their opponent.
So the next time you see something happen in a game that seems influenced by the forces of luck, think of what your pal Seneca said. He might know something that we don’t. ••
Columnist Matt Godfrey can be reached at 215-354-3113 or mgodfrey@phillynews.com