Alex Rodriguez likes Aaron Nola and you will too

You know, as of Friday afternoon, the Phillies still had not named their Opening Day starter.

I'm just saying.

In completely unrelated news, Aaron Nola pitched like gangbusters in Friday's rain-shorted 10-0 loss to the New York Yankees in Grapefruit League Action. You make you OWN judgments.

OK, of course, Nola is not starting Opening Day for the Phillies, nor will he even be on the roster when the team heads to Philadelphia for their opening series with the Boston Red Sox. But he was mighty impressive on Friday.

In three innings he allowed five hits but gave up no runs while strikeout out four and walking nobody. That included some nasty breaking stuff that caught Alex Rodriguez looking, as well as outfielder Carlos Beltran.

While neither guy is an elite hitter anymore, these are still legitimate Major League hitters, and Nola straight-up schooled them.

Nola struck out A-Rod on a changeup. "The one I almost choked on? Yeah, that was a pretty good changeup."

— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) March 27, 2015

When Alex Rodriguez is throwing rose petals at your feet, you know it's legitimate.

ARod on Aaron Nola: "The Phillies should be very excited about him. Good arm, power slider, power changeup. I think he has a bright future."

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) March 27, 2015

All spring we've been watching non-Cole Hamels starters Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Kevin Slowey, Chad Billingsley, Jerome Williams and Aaron Harang throw a lot of pitches, and it's been kind of depressing. So it was nice to see the team actually throw one of their exciting young hurlers on the mound and give fans a glimpse of the future.

And it appears there's more to come.

RHP Zach Eflin will get a spot start with the major league club on Monday at PIT. Another prospect getting a shot. #Phillies

— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) March 27, 2015

Of course, there is a downside.

Curse you Phillies for starting a prospect on the road in a non-televised game

— Matt Winkelman (@Matt_Winkelman) March 27, 2015

But hey, I'm sure there will be pictures we can analyze later, just like boxing stills on the evening news.

Back to Nola, his fastball sat 92-93, hitting a peak of 94 at times, with decent movement on the pitch at the lesser speeds. He also demonstrated a knee-buckling changeup.

So this is what it feels like to have something good happen to your baseball team. I feel like this kind of thing used to happen more often.

Anyway, it was a terrific debut for Nola on Friday. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for the real debut at some point in 2015.