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Phils Get to Balester, Skid Gets to 12
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Too many times this season, Balester's starts have reinforced a familiar pattern. The previous time out, on Aug. 14, he held the Mets hitless through three; they scored in each of his last three innings. On July 6, Balester's second start, he held the Reds hitless through three; they pounded him for five runs in the next two innings.
The good in Balester's starts indicates what Washington thinks he can become. The bad indicates what he still must learn. He is 22, after all, and he won't hit 23 until he has been roughed up a few more times.
Wednesday, the Phillies needed a few innings to turn the near misses into runs. Balester survived the first two innings with no hits but plenty of deep fly balls, one of which drove Lastings Milledge to the warning track, and one that slammed a leaping Austin Kearns against the right field wall.
In the third, the Phillies scored an unearned run -- a double play should have ended the inning, but shortstop Anderson Hernández's throw tailed above first base -- but still didn't have a hit.
Yet by the fifth inning, Philadelphia was ready to make up for it. The Phillies' lineup greeted Balester with a single, homer, single, single, double stampede. The only out Balester recorded in that stretch came against opposing pitcher Brett Myers. Two batters earlier, Philadelphia's Greg Dobbs opened up a 3-0 lead by blasting a high fastball over the right field fence.
"I've learned a lot," Balester said. "In the minor leagues I don't think you learn a lot. You throw a pitch up in the zone and you get away with it. You think you maybe did good, but you really didn't. You kind of get a false sense of things. . . . Say I pitch one game [in the minors], I'm up in the zone but I throw six shutout innings. I think, 'Oh, I'm doing so good! Why am I not getting called up?' But [the team] knows I'm up in the zone.
"So, I've just got to fight to get that pitch down, that's all. . . . It's not even a 'maybe' thing. You've got to do it."
