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The story for the Philadelphia Phillies entering the 2013 season was simple: win behind Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Cliff Lee. While Halladay’s struggles have been well documented, the Phillies haven’t had much success behind any of their elite starters. Thus far, Lee, Hamels and Halladay are a combined 5-8.
The Phillies have tried to make up for their disappointing aces with victories behind their other starters. They’ll try to steal another win behind Jonathan Pettibone against the Miami Marlins, who will send out their ace Ricky Nolasco as a counter.
While the Phillies need a strong performance from their fifth starter, the Marlins will look for consistent strong pitching from Nolasco for another reason. As the Marlins’ offseason fire sale was well documented, Nolasco remained as the highest-paid member of the team.
Miami has gotten off to a horrific start as projected, and are now dealing with an injury to superstar Giancarlo Stanton. Though Stanton is one of the most discussed trade pieces in all of baseball, his hamstring injury will likely take him off the mid-season trade market.
Nolasco, however, is more available than ever.
While both teams will be rooting for strong performances from their starting pitchers, the teams’ motivations will look very different. The Phillies need their fifth starter, Pettibone, to emerge as a consistent asset to their struggling rotation.
The Marlins, however, will look for their ace, Nolasco, to continue his strong performance — characterized by his usual high strikeout and unusually low walk numbers — in an effort to increase his trade value.
