Telemaco pitched well, but he's not the solution

By Bill McFarland

Before leaving town for the longest road trip of the season (13 games), the Phillies swept the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend to complete a six-game homestand with five wins in a row. Since I can't attend every game, I usually make it a point to get to one game during each series at the Vet. This time, I saw the best and the worst of this team.

Brandon Duckworth gave up four runs in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers last Tuesday and forced his teammates to battle back from another deficit before they even picked up a bat. The poor outing forced the team's hand, and the quest for a more reliable fifth starter only went as far as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Former Phil Amaury Telemaco was successfully coming back from shoulder surgery at the organization's top farm team. The right-hander was 10-9 with a 3.24 earned run average at Triple A, but more important was his control. In 155 innings, Telemaco had struck out 116 batters and walked just 22.

He started Sunday night's game against St. Louis and posted similar numbers. After giving up two runs and four hits in the first few frames, he retired 14 straight batters before leaving the game after seven innings.

"Telemaco's throwing the ball real well, and he has great movement on his fastball," said announcer Larry Andersen during the radio broadcast.

"I think he just got into a good rhythm after the second inning," said manager Larry Bowa. "He threw a hundred and four pitches through seven innings with no walks."

"My goal was to keep my team in the ballgame, so I just went out and did my job," said Telemaco.

Until he fails, Telemaco is the fifth starter. If he can maintain consistency, he'll be better than Duckworth, who was optioned to Scranton to sort out his problems. I still feel, however, that the Phillies need a veteran starter who has withstood a pressure-cooker run to the playoffs, and I'm not yet ruling out a possible trade.



I'm just about out of patience with Jimmy Rollins. Bowa always liked the shortstop's swagger, but if you're going to talk the talk and walk the walk, you have to produce, and Rollins still hasn't broken a bad habit — namely thinking of himself as a power hitter.

The Phillies did little against Brewers starter Wayne Franklin last Tuesday. Trailing, 6-2, after six innings, the Phils finally had him on the ropes when a walk and a double brought in a third run with one out in the seventh. Then Rollins jumped on a first-pitch high fastball and popped up.

It was his lack of patience that cost him the leadoff position in the batting order, and he grumbled when he was put in the eighth slot. As good as he is defensively, the team might look for another shortstop for next season.



Another highlight of Sunday's clash was watching Jim Thome blast a rocket into the upper deck in right field. I've never seen a ball go that far that fast. After the game, the infielder talked about it with his typical "Aw, shucks" approach.

"(The pitch) was a fastball, and I was looking for one," Thome said. "I think it ran in toward the middle of the plate, and I got a good swing on it."

Here's another item about Thome: While his teammates enjoyed an off day on Monday, he was in Peoria, Ill., hosting a golf tournament to benefit a children's hospital.



Speaking of off days, the Phillies don't have another one until Sept. 15. Starting with the current series in Milwaukee, the team will play 27 games without a break, and all but seven will be on the road. That's why I think they need some veteran help. Otherwise, they might fall out of the race for the wild-card spot in the playoffs.

We'll know much more when we meet again in two weeks.

This column was published on Aug. 20, 2003, in the Northeast Times in Philadelphia, which owns the copyright. It may not be reproduced anywhere else without permission.

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