Phils try to find ‘stuff’
dreams are made of

In the Batter’s Box
By Matt Godfrey

There are distinct moments when a player shows what he’s truly made of.
You hear it a lot — he’s a player who has "the stuff" to be a winner. It’s not always easy to know what that "stuff" is. But it’s always a joy to behold when it becomes apparent.
Take, for example, Jimmy Rollins. Let’s rewind to June 6 in New York, when Rollins hit a three-run homer against the Mets.
He had painted a big target on himself during the offseason when he made a bold assessment of the Phils’ chances this year. Come on, you remember. All that stuff about the Phils being the team to beat in the NL East.
He was chided big time by the Mets fans, and rightly so, but when he stepped into the batter’s box on that June day, his team trailing in the game and sagging in the standings, Rollins smacked that homer and silenced his hecklers, at least for the moment.
A strikeout could have doomed Rollins to a lonely — and derisive — return to the dugout. Instead, he showed that he had it — the "stuff" to be a winner.
Rollins and his teammates are displaying that virtue for all to see right now. With all-star second baseman Chase Utley relegated to watching from the dugout, benched by a hand injury, the Phils had won 10 of their last 16 games heading into this week.
Many fans figured the season was over when Utley left the lineup, yet another bad break for a team that lost a key player when a pitch broke Utley’s hand as he batted in that game against Washington.
He went on the disabled list, where he remains. The Phils have been determined not to roll over.
After taking two of three games from the Braves last weekend, the Phils were just three games behind the first-place Mets in the East and one game behind the San Diego Padres in the wild-card race.
And other players have been showing they have "the stuff."
When the Phils opened the season with six starting pitchers, no one thought that, come the trade deadline at the end of July, the team would be relying on pitcher Kyle Kendrick, a double-A prospect who’d hardly been a topic of conversation.
All Kendrick has done since his call-up is go 5-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 11 starts. He has pitched at least five innings in every start, including seven innings in each of his last three outings. Kendrick’s most impressive number, though, is that he has not surrendered more than five earned runs in any of those 11 starts. His has given up four runs or more just twice.
Such a pleasant surprise has made it easier to stomach a player who hasn’t had "the stuff" — pitcher Adam Eaton swiftly comes to mind.
Eaton has been downright awful. That’s no secret. Here’s a guy touted by the Phils as a big free-agent signing — three years for more than $24 million — and he has delivered what you’d expect to be getting from a pitcher mired in double A.
Actually, Kendrick’s durable performances have only magnified Eaton’s quick exits and bloated ERA.
If the Phils are going to make their move during these last weeks of the season, it’s time to cut ties with Eaton. I’d been thinking the team should start skipping Eaton’s starts to minimize the threat of disaster every five days. Maybe his best contribution would be to stub a toe and go on the disabled list.
Whether his replacement would come in the form of starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter-turned-reliever J.D. Durbin or some other move doesn’t really matter.
Eaton hasn’t shown any consistency. He has become a liability in the Phils’ rotation.
General manager Pat Gillick has stated his belief that injured starter Freddy Garcia should be pitching again before September. That could be the answer right there.
Wherever the fifth starter comes from isn’t the big issue right now.
At the start of the week, the Phils had 45 games left in the season. Now we’ll get to see just how much "stuff" this team really has. ••