The Phillies, soon to be golfing, fishing or cleaning out the garage, completed an improbable sweep of the National League East champion New York Mets with a 3-0 victory in front of the smallest crowd ever at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday afternoon (see Instant Replay).
Rookie Jerad Eickhoff basically wrapped up a spot in next April’s starting rotation with seven shutout innings and 10 strikeouts, and Darin Ruf continued to show he deserves playing time at first base next season with a two-run homer.
Manager Pete Mackanin couldn’t hide his satisfaction with the win. The Mets had tormented the Phillies this season, winning 14 of the first 16 games between the two clubs before this three-game series.
“It’s nice to sweep these guys,” Mackanin said. “As much as they beat up on us the whole season, it feels good to sweep them.”
Mackanin was elevated from interim to full-time skipper because club president Andy MacPhail liked that he was able to keep the players competing hard even with the majors’ worst record and 100 losses getting closer on the horizon.
The Phils have continued to grind right into the final week of the season. They have won four in a row and five of their last six.
There is a positive to this: The Phils have to win just one of their remaining three games to avoid the ignominy of their first 100-loss season since 1961.
But there also could be a negative: The Phils are suddenly being pushed by the Cincinnati Reds for the worst record in the majors and thus the first pick in next year’s draft. (We recently looked at some potential top picks here.) The Reds (63-96) have totally packed it in. They have lost 12 in a row and are only a game better than the Phillies, 62-97.
Next year’s draft is the last thing on Mackanin’s mind. He wants to win and avoid triple-digit losses.
“It would be nice,” he said. “Nobody wants to lose 100 games. These last three wins were good for everybody’s mental health.”
Eickhoff was similarly unconcerned with next year’s draft on Thursday. The 25-year-old right-hander was looking to make one final positive impression on the Phillies' brass before heading home for the winter — and he did that.
“He can be an outstanding pitcher here,” Mackanin said. “He’s on his way to becoming a complete pitcher.”
Eickhoff was widely considered the fourth-best prospect of the five the Phillies received when they sent Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman to Texas in July. (Three of those prospects, catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielder Nick Williams and pitcher Jake Thompson played in the minors this season while Eickhoff and fellow pitcher Alec Asher made the jump from Triple A to the majors.) Regardless of where Eickhoff ranks, the Phillies are thrilled with his performance and potential. The 6-5, 235-pound pitcher went 3-3 with 2.65 ERA in eight starts. He went seven innings in each of his last four starts. He did not give up a run in two of those starts. He gave up one and two in the others. He struck out 10 in each of his final two starts. Not too shabby.
“With each start he got stronger and stronger and realized he can pitch here,” Mackanin said.
Eickhoff’s strengths are his ability to command a fastball that can reach the mid-90s and an outstanding curveball. He will work on his changeup this winter.
On the plus side, Eickhoff is also a pretty serious competitor with no back-down in him.
He showed all of these qualities in the seventh inning when he went toe-to-toe with Juan Lagares and eventually rang up on a strikeout swinging on a full-count curveball with two men on base and the Phils up, 2-0. That was Eickhoff’s 110th and final pitch.
“That was guts,” said Mackanin, who visited the mound before the at-bat. “This was another, if you want to call it, test for him. We pushed him to the limit and he passed it with flying colors.”
Eickhoff enjoyed the battle with Lagares.
“As a competitor I’m not wanting to come out there and for Pete to stick with me, that meant a lot to me,” Eickhoff said. “I was really looking to get that guy out for myself and for the team to build some trust.
“It was fun, but it was also nerve-racking at the same time. He kept fouling good pitches off. He had me grinding, too.”
Eickhoff pumped his fist with emotion as he walked off the mound after the strikeout.
“It’s hard to describe,” he said of the feeling. “It’s just the whole culmination of a season, experiences, learning. It just all comes together into a great feeling. It’s hard to describe, just everything was kind of bottled up into one pitch.”
Eickhoff began the season with Texas’ Double A club. He never imagined he would end it in Philadelphia, pitching against the Mets. He showed enough in his two months in the Phillies' organization that it’s safe to say he will join Aaron Nola in the rotation in April as the Phillies continue their rebuild.
Thursday’s game was moved to noon from 7 p.m. because of the threat of bad weather. The paid attendance of 13,238 was the lowest ever at Citizens Bank Park. The actual attendance, according to a person in the know, was under 1,300. Eickhoff did not mind. He said he was so focused, he did not know how many people were in the stands. All he cared about was finishing his season strong and helping his team win.
Success. On both counts.