You forget how much of a luxury it is for a guy to pitch for the same team for over a decade, routinely make all his starts, and continue to achieve the same level of fan support. Without Wainwright or Kershaw being active, it really is just Aaron Nola right now that's accomplished this. With the exception of last year, where frankly he was kinda burned out, and 2016 and 2017, where he was spending time in Lehigh Valley to get the balance right, every year of his career he's made all his starts and been a reliable, well-loved arm for the Phillies. I've been to my share of Nola Days, I've seen him flirt with a no-hitter, and I've grown to respect him as a veteran arm in an age where the Phillies were more prone to deal a great pitcher, if we'd even had one.
The main issue many fans have with Aaron Nola is those meatballs right down the middle. He can have a start where he strikes out 8 or 9 batters and gets the win but still gives up a home run or two that could have been avoided. In 2024, despite a great season, he led the lead in homers allowed with 30. In 17 starts last year he gave up 18. And in three 2026 starts, despite a 3.63 ERA and 19 Ks, he's allowed...three home runs. When you have guys like Zack Wheeler, Andrew Painter and Cristopher Sanchez, who really don't give up long balls like that, it stands out. And it'll ultimately prevent Nola's stats from being fully embraced when it comes time for HOF enshrinement. The dude's likely to hit 2000 Ks this year, and will very likely get to start his 300th game. But he wasn't THE BEST consistently enough to get the rest of the league to really care, not like Waino and Kersh did for sure.
At the same time, he's still a very good starting pitcher, who's had a great career, and still has a handful more seasons to play in Philly. He starts tonight's game against the Cubs, and I will be in attendance. There is the concern that the Cubs' menagerie of power hitters could get to him, but seeing as last night was a race to see whose lineup could wake up first that the Phils ultimately won, I'm still optimistic.
The Phillies themselves have began the year 8-8, and haven't really been hitting as well as the reputation would imply. Last night Kyle Schwarber had 2 homers, but I'm still not sure if this'll be a messy 40+ homer season for Kyle or a dignified one. Bryce Harper's thankfully hitting, mostly out of spite, and he's got 3 homers and 10 RBIs already. But honestly, this lineup still feels like something's missing. Alec Bohm is being given more power opportunities and he's not taking advantage of them. Turner and Garcia have been good but not great. Justin Crawford is a terrific contact hitter but isn't anywhere in the lineup where he can really bat runs in. It just seems like an incomplete hitting unit, hence the struggles.
Thankfully the pitching's been doing a lot for us, especially the bullpen. Jhoan Duran, thankfully, IS the guy for this team, and has been terrific so far. Tim Mayza and Tanner Banks have been terrific, and Brad Keller's slowly catching up. And let's not ignore the fact that Andrew Painter's the kind of guy that can recover from a horrible migraine incident, come into the game 2 innings late and still be absolutely elite. Even with the rotation security, we NEED a guy like that.
The Phillies still look good in points, but you can never tell which team's gonna show up, or when they're actually gonna hit. Hopefully they can continue their damage from last night into a game I'll be there for.
Coming Tomorrow- If the Phillies' have struggled hitting, his team has REALLY struggled hitting, but thankfully he can still pitch 6 innings of clean baseball.
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