The answer to one of the most important questions facing the Phillies in the second half of the season will begin playing out Monday night when Aaron Nola gets the start against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
Nola struggled in his final five starts of the first half and was held out of his last turn in the rotation as team officials gave him 15 days between outings to work on some mechanical issues and simply clear his head after the difficult stretch.
Will the break pay dividends?
“He’s ready to go,” manager Pete Mackanin said of Nola. “He’s a competitor and he doesn’t want to sit around. I’m anxious to see him.”
For Nola, the second half of the season signals a starting-over point and he’s eager to get going. He spent the All-Star break at home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana visiting with his family and catching 20 large mouth bass.
That’s not a bad haul.
“It was good to get home and see my family and do some fishing,” Nola said Sunday.
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Monday night, he will angle for a different kind of fish when he opposes Marlins All-Star right-hander Jose Fernandez.
In total, Nola had a good first half. Over his first 12 starts, the 23-year-old right-hander had a 2.65 ERA, ranked sixth in the majors with a 0.99 WHIP (behind a group that included Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester) and fourth in strikeouts-to-walks ratio. He misplaced his signature ability to locate the baseball down and on the corners over his next five starts and was roughed up for 38 hits and 27 earned runs in 18 innings over that span.
Of some encouragement was the fact the Nola seemed to get his bearings back over the final three innings of his last start against Kansas City on July 2. He retired the final 10 batters he faced, six by strikeout.
Nola believes he made strides during that 10-batter span.
“I adjusted my visualization of the strike zone, got the ball down and got some ground balls,” he said. “That felt good. I was able to throw more first-pitch strikes.”
During his time off between starts, Nola threw two bullpen sessions and a simulated game under the watchful eye of pitching coach Bob McClure.
Nola has faced Miami twice in his career. He has given up just three runs in 14 innings, while striking out 11 and walking three, one intentionally.
Nola’s approach will be simple in this start.
“I am going to try to attack the hitters and the zone best I can,” he said.
Nola acknowledged that he’d never struggled to the extent he did he did in the final five starts. He planned on chatting on the phone Sunday night with Cole Hamels, who was briefly his teammate last season. The two have remained close.
Hamels has always said he learned much about pitching and himself when he struggled. Failure can be a good teacher. Nola hopes his trip to the classroom is over and he can get back to dealing that way he did when he recorded a 3.12 ERA in his first 25 big–league starts.
“I want to learn and build off these challenges,” he said.
