Last Chance - Monday, July 14, 2008
224 Views :: 1 Comments :: :: Michael Bradley

   It was a brutal day to be a Phillies fan Saturday. The weather gods hit us with a 90-degree scorcher, with extra humidity just for fun. And the baseball gods taunted us by sending Adam Eaton to the hill for another disastrous outing. By the seventh inning, anybody who wasn't being treated for heat exhaustion was wondering how the team could keep sending this guy out there every fifth day.

   It should happen one more time. Adam Eaton is officially on the clock. No more special consideration because GM Pat Gillick signed him to a ridiculous contract. No more excuses about how he just needs a little time to recover. Eaton is a giant mess waiting to happen, and the Phillies can't allow him to kill their bullpen and pennant hopes by continuing to start. The latest carnage: 3 2/3 innings pitched, eight runs, all earned. That came on the heels of a 2-plus inning performance that also produced eight enemy runs. The Pirates can allow this to happen, because they stink. The Phillies must stop it.

   So, Eaton gets one more start. If he can't keep the team in the ballgame and avoid giving up two-out, two-run doubles to pitchers who come into the game 1-for-21, then he doesn't deserve to pitch. Gillick has known this team has needed starting pitching since the minute Freddy Garcia's shoulder started to hurt. Oh, wait, that came at the end of the '06 season -- before the Phillies traded for him. Oops. Whatever the case, sending Eaton out there to self-destruct is not an option. I don't care what he has done in his other 15 starts. The last two have been abominations, so he is on notice. Stink again, and you're gone.

   Meanwhile, Gillick continues to search for pitching. Granted, the Ed Wade farm system he has to offer is a joke, and other teams know that. But good GMs find ways to make deals. Bad GMs do things like trade their top pitching prospect (Gavin Floyd is 10-5 with a 3.63 for the White Sox) for a broken-down has-been and outbid themselves for guys who would be fifth starters on bad teams. But enough about Gillick, who now has only A.J. Burnett and his poison-pill contract available to him on the trade market. This is about Eaton, who last year had the audacity to wonder why he was removed from circulation late in the year, when he couldn't get out of the third inning. The Phillies can't afford to keep letting him lose games right out of the chute, not when the Mets have finally figured out how to play baseball again. There may be two-plus months of the season left, but the stretch run has begun, and a shaky Adam Eaton cannot be a part of it.

   Adam, you get one more chance. Pitch well, and you can rest easy.

   For five more days.