Kendrick Can't Keep Consistency

August 21:  Washington 8, PHILLIES 1

Naturally, after bragging up Kyle Kendrick's recent success on the mound, he reverts back to the Kyle Kendrick who couldn't get the Nationals out back in April.  And he still can't get them out in August.

Personally, I'm trying to figure this one out:  You're a major league pitcher who's been having success in getting guys out your last five starts.  You enter your start against the last-place team in your division knowing that the team ahead of you in the standings has already lost.  You go out to the mound knowing that you can gain ground on the division leader with a win.  This is your big chance to show the coaching staff that you've turned that corner, and are ready to be a reliable fifth starter for the stretch run.

And then, you go out and get lit up for the third time this season against one of the worst teams in the league?  Seriously, are you even paying attention to the game plan and the scouting reports?  And if the hitters are "onto you", aren't you making adjustments in your game plan to offset whatever the hitters are doing against you?  Are you even listening to Carlos Ruiz?

Kyle, it's time for you to grow up and start pitching like you mean it.  It's not enough anymore to blame your youth and relative inexperience.  You've been in a pennant race before.  You're pitching for the two-time defending National League champions.  You have an All-Star lineup to give you whatever run support you may need, but too often you put them in a hole they have a hard time climbing out of.  You should be pitching better than this, and more consistently than this.

Every time you give Phillies fans a reason to believe that you've finally figured it out and are becoming a guy we all can trust to go out there and give the club a quality start, you implode like that flight attendant who jumped out of the plane a couple weeks ago.  Every time Charlie thinks you might be a guy he can count on to win those extra games every team needs down the stretch to win a division or make the playoffs, you give him a very ugly reason to ship your sorry butt back to Lehigh Valley.

I understand that pitching in the majors isn't as easy as we mere mortals think it is.  However, we mortals also know that you're just one of 150 guys (give or take) in the world who can say "I'm a starting pitcher for a major league baseball club" ... so you do have the talent and ability to be where you are, and to make it look so easy to the rest of us.  It seems as though you're just not focused enough some nights.  It's not just the command issues, it's the pitches you leave up in the zone, the patterns you get into that hitters figure out much too easily and quickly, it's the inconsistency.

You're one of 25 guys, agreed.  But every five days, you have some serious control over the potential the team has for a win.  And while that is a great responsibility, it is also a great power.

So, please, stop pitching as though you are afraid of both.