Honestly, J.D. Durbin's middle name is Adam. He's technically calling himself "Joseph Durbin Durbin."
After Adam Eaton landed on the 15-day DL for his chronic spasms of Suckitude (the same affliction that also took down Rod Barajas and Freddy Garcia), thus leaving the Phillies with $24.5 million of starting pitcher carcass spoiling in the sun, I did a funny thing.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Eaton's injury meant that "The Real Deal" Durbin, the once and future king of Phillies spot starters, would find his way back into the rotation for today's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. There is just something about Durbin that perfects encapsulates the inspired lunacy that is the 2007 Phillies, and their starting pitching in particular.
He's been an amalgamation of Bill and Ted thus far, a slacker with a heart of gold and a knack for popping up at historically opportune moments despite the fact he has absolutely no business being there. And you know what? He has amazingly done more than enough to keep the back end of the Phils' rotation afloat (no word yet on if he's going to graduate from San Dimas High).
There can be no certifiable explanation for Durbin's success--not for a guy who pitched 8 total innings in the majors with 13 earned runs before joining the Phillies. His ERA was 94.50 (0.2 IP, 7 ER) when they picked him up for crying out loud!
Since then, he's 3-1 with a 4.44 ERA and 10.03 run support in his four starts. He shut out the Padres on the road. He relieved Kyle Lohse in Lohse's injury-marred first Phillies start and wound up with the win. He even got a save against the Teal Bastards in a game the Phillies led 11-1 in the ninth. That is some strange, strange voodoo right there.
Clearly, the boy is blessed with some sort of heightened consciousness during stressful situations, becoming the perfectly adequate tweener pitcher when we need it the most. He's a beautiful disaster, an accident of history like Jeff Weaver in the 2006 playoffs. There's no way that he shouldn't be a huge failure, given what we know about him and the Phillies.
With the high profile (and highly expensive) flops of Eaton, Garcia, and Jon Lieber, youth is being served on the mound in Philadelphia. It has the potential to be a Detroit Tigers Lite rotation, a collection of young, cheap arms willing their team to victory with enthusiasm instead of experience. With Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, and the soon-to-return Scott Matheison channeling Bonderman, Verlander, and Robertson (sort of), it's not hard to starting thinking about the postseason. But, fittingly, it may all hinge on Durbin, the sink-or-swim Mike Maroth-type of this analogy. It could mean the Series.
It could also mean he's going to lose 20 games.
Which, I wonder, is the real deal?
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Do You Recall...Matt Beech?
The Baker Bowl continues its hard-hitting monthly exposé of past Phillies scrubs and the smart-ass fans who love them.
Do You Recall...Matt Beech?
There's a big baseball-related news story making its way through both the shameful mainstream media and the shameless alternative media on this day: Jose Offerman, former major leaguer and Phillies utilityman, assaulted two opposing players with a bat during a game in the independent Atlantic League on Tuesday night. All the coverage is focused on the perp, Offerman, with little mention of the victims. Even the lovable mooks at the 700 Level missed a golden opportunity to catch up with a far more recognizable member of the Phillies family. And so far, I'm the only commenter to point it out; actually, I'm the only commenter, period.
Why?
It's because the main target of Offerman's wrath was once one of the most infamous Phillies on arguably the worst Phillies team of the past 20 years.
It's because a subpar but persistent pitcher who never was surrounded by adequate major league talent deserves a better eulogy than trading a beanball for a broken finger.
It's because the pink elephant in the room is none other than Matt Beech, a Phillies left-handed starter--make that the Phillies left-handed starter--from 1996-1998.
I have italicized for emphasis because after the 1996 mid-season trade of Terry Mulholland for Desi Relaford (two Baker Bowl favorites), Beech was the only lefty in the Phillies' rotation pitching on a consistent basis. In fact, he was the only lefty starter on the roster in 1997 and 1998. It was for this reason that Beech kept his place in the rotation despite his brutal statistics. (Mulholland, by the way, was still active as of last season at age 43, his 20th season in the majors, for very similar reasons.)
Matt Beech Phillies Statistics: 8-22 career record, 295 IP, 5.37 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 266 K, 131 BB
Little Matty Beech probably had no idea that when he started picking up crayons with his left hand it would someday allow his team to lose 14 consecutive games he started (though he only picked up the loss in half of them). Or that he would personally pitch 22 straight starts without a victory, a span of a little more than one year. Or that he was seriously considered one of the best bets to be the first pitcher to lose 20 games in a season since Brian Kingman in 1980.
Obviously, the fans can blame the Phillies organization and their inability to either acquire or develop another left-handed starter as much as they can blame Beech. There wasn't even a guy the Phils could call up for a September cup of coffee--lefties went to the Phillies minor-league system to die. It was like they weren't even trying.
On the other hand, maybe there wasn't much they could do to help Beech in the first place. In 1998, with an improved Phillies squad led by emerging youngsters Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu, Beech complied a 3-8 record and a 5.15 ERA with 3.86 runs of support per game. In 1997, an much worse team supported Beech with 4.25 runs per game, and still his record was 4-9 with a 5.07 ERA.
Looking through rose-colored glasses, Beech was a pretty good strikeout pitcher with a 2.03 K/BB ratio, and he kept the lefty spot warm for Randy Wolf once he finally arrived in 1999. Also, Beech managed to hold onto a great sense of humor on a sinking ship filled with a bunch of stoics. I don't remember the exact quote, but after the game he finally snapped that 22-start non-winning streak he said something to the effect of, "Awesome. At this rate I'll be a 20-game winner in 15 years."
Unfortunately, he hasn't pitched in the majors since 1998 and will most likely not make it out of the minors again. After the Phillies released him into free agency, Beech shuttled between 11 different minor league teams, including the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League (ironically, the current employer of Jose Offerman) where he was a teammate of John Rocker. He's now pitched for the Atlantic League's Bridgeport Bluefish for the past two seasons thus proving, like Terry Mulholland before him, that lefties endure no matter how large their misfortune or how little their talent.
Why?
It's because the main target of Offerman's wrath was once one of the most infamous Phillies on arguably the worst Phillies team of the past 20 years.
It's because a subpar but persistent pitcher who never was surrounded by adequate major league talent deserves a better eulogy than trading a beanball for a broken finger.
It's because the pink elephant in the room is none other than Matt Beech, a Phillies left-handed starter--make that the Phillies left-handed starter--from 1996-1998.
I have italicized for emphasis because after the 1996 mid-season trade of Terry Mulholland for Desi Relaford (two Baker Bowl favorites), Beech was the only lefty in the Phillies' rotation pitching on a consistent basis. In fact, he was the only lefty starter on the roster in 1997 and 1998. It was for this reason that Beech kept his place in the rotation despite his brutal statistics. (Mulholland, by the way, was still active as of last season at age 43, his 20th season in the majors, for very similar reasons.)
Matt Beech Phillies Statistics: 8-22 career record, 295 IP, 5.37 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 266 K, 131 BB
Little Matty Beech probably had no idea that when he started picking up crayons with his left hand it would someday allow his team to lose 14 consecutive games he started (though he only picked up the loss in half of them). Or that he would personally pitch 22 straight starts without a victory, a span of a little more than one year. Or that he was seriously considered one of the best bets to be the first pitcher to lose 20 games in a season since Brian Kingman in 1980.
Obviously, the fans can blame the Phillies organization and their inability to either acquire or develop another left-handed starter as much as they can blame Beech. There wasn't even a guy the Phils could call up for a September cup of coffee--lefties went to the Phillies minor-league system to die. It was like they weren't even trying.
On the other hand, maybe there wasn't much they could do to help Beech in the first place. In 1998, with an improved Phillies squad led by emerging youngsters Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu, Beech complied a 3-8 record and a 5.15 ERA with 3.86 runs of support per game. In 1997, an much worse team supported Beech with 4.25 runs per game, and still his record was 4-9 with a 5.07 ERA.
Looking through rose-colored glasses, Beech was a pretty good strikeout pitcher with a 2.03 K/BB ratio, and he kept the lefty spot warm for Randy Wolf once he finally arrived in 1999. Also, Beech managed to hold onto a great sense of humor on a sinking ship filled with a bunch of stoics. I don't remember the exact quote, but after the game he finally snapped that 22-start non-winning streak he said something to the effect of, "Awesome. At this rate I'll be a 20-game winner in 15 years."
Unfortunately, he hasn't pitched in the majors since 1998 and will most likely not make it out of the minors again. After the Phillies released him into free agency, Beech shuttled between 11 different minor league teams, including the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League (ironically, the current employer of Jose Offerman) where he was a teammate of John Rocker. He's now pitched for the Atlantic League's Bridgeport Bluefish for the past two seasons thus proving, like Terry Mulholland before him, that lefties endure no matter how large their misfortune or how little their talent.
Maybe it's time for me to consider a different career path.
For doing a job when there was nobody else suited to do it, I fondly recall Matt "Lefty Longevity" Beech.
Full Matt Beech Statistics (including minors and indies) [Baseball Cube]
For doing a job when there was nobody else suited to do it, I fondly recall Matt "Lefty Longevity" Beech.
Full Matt Beech Statistics (including minors and indies) [Baseball Cube]
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