Thought of Adam pitching
is Eaton him alive

In the Batter’s Box
By Matt Godfrey

The Phillies cannot let Adam Eaton start another game this season.
I know I’m not saying anything profound. They just cannot do it.
He stinks.
Pitch John Ennis.
Pitch anybody else.
You could even call up Carlos Carrasco and have him take a turn.
At least you can hope one of them will give you a strong outing.
With Eaton there is no hope. There are only blown leads and high-scoring games — often for the other team — and praying that the Phillies can score enough for a miracle win.
There’s just no fight in this guy. He’s being Eaton alive.
The best option?
Sit him.
Cut him.
Have the security guards act like they’ve never seen Eaton before when the pitcher tries to enter the stadium.
It’s just too hard to watch as Eaton takes the mound and the other team steps to the plate. Because when he pitches, they hit . . . a lot.
I’m not saying Eaton’s pitching isn’t worth the three-year, $24 million free-agent deal he got from the Phillies. That goes without saying.
But his pitching isn’t even worth the cost of the baseballs that have soared out of the park while he labors to hold a lead or stay in the game for four innings.
The idea that Eaton will be here next season is reason for more nausea. And he will be back . . . he has that three-year deal.
We’ll deal with him then. We should not have to deal with him now, not while the Phils still have a shot at the playoffs.
Catching the Mets and winning the division is a long road, though not impossible. Yet it still would require the Mets to have a drastic collapse over the next 10 days. It also would require the Phils to beat teams they should beat.
Their spot in the wild-card race is another story. The Phils are right there, yet they’d still need some help.
The San Diego Padres have one more game to play than the Phils. For the Phils to achieve a tie, the Padres would have to lose that extra game plus one more game than the Phils lose from here on out.
The Los Angeles Dodgers could make things tricky as well.
Which means all the Phils can do is play their games. And pray.
It pretty much comes down to how they play against the Washington Nationals in these final days of the season. They face the Nats seven times over the next week and a half; they need to take five of seven games, in my opinion, to win this race.
They need to win 10 of 13 to be serious contenders in either race, but with seven games against the lowly Nats, that is definitely a possibility.
Also on the Phils’ side is that the Braves are the only team they’ll face with a winning record; the Padres play seven games against teams still in pennant races.
They have three games against the Colorado Rockies and four in Milwaukee against the Brewers, a much tougher road to travel.
The Phils finished the season series against the Mets with a three-game sweep. They won their final eight games against New York to finish the season series 12-6.
When the Phils won four straight games in that euphoric sweep of the Mets in late August, they suddenly became mediocre and squandered that momentum.
That can’t happen a second time. It would bring yet another farewell to postseason play for the Phils.
Their final 10 games are all division games, all against teams that would love to play the spoiler.
Adam Eaton has a way of being a spoiler too. Too bad the Phils paid so dearly. ••
Columnist Matt Godfrey can be reached at 215-354-3113 or mgodfrey@phillynews.com