Why Phillies Struggles Have Sabotaged Aaron Nola

In his last four starts Aaron Nola has struggled, compiling a record of 1-3 and has given up 12 Earned Runs over 18.2 Innings, which has escalated his ERA from 2.86 to 3.51 on the season.  Nola has been the most consistent pitcher for the Phillies in 2016 so to see him struggling in recent starts is a bit disconcerting.  With the Phillies losing 18 of their last 23 games, the Phillies are now seven games under .500 heading into play on Friday.

Kevin Cooney of Calkins Media joined Mike Gill on Friday and explained why Nola has lost 3 of his last 4 starts:

"I think that when you don’t have any offense,  pitchers tend to believe they have to be completely perfect… A lot more nibbling, not throwing the ball down in the zone…and what you have seen is that when you nibble you get hurt. Their location is off and quite frankly they are getting tattooed by good lineups."

Hear what Cooney had to say about Ryan Howard's final season in Philadelphia, Tommy Joseph's play for the Phillies, along with why Pete Mackanin has been so critical to this young Phillies team