Rise and Phight: 8/5/2021

Chase Anderson went four innings yesterday, only throwing 55 pitches. He made some bad pitches to allow three solo home runs, but for the most part, he was effective. The problem with evaluating Anderson off of a start like that is that he was pitching against a Nationals lineup that has been decimated by trades. Sure he had to face Juan Soto and Josh Bell, but for the most part that isn’t a good lineup Washington has right now. So you can’t really make any definitive statements about whether Anderson is a viable member of the rotation now or not.

For now though, he moved the ball in and out nicely, his changeup continues to look good and get some ugly swings. He probably could have gone another inning, but Joe Girardi decided against risking batters seeing him a third time, a strategy not necessarily a poor one when you consider how Anderson has pitched the vast majority of this season. The team needs pitching to be consistent and if this team can get outings like this from Anderson, perhaps just a touch longer, they might be alright for the rest of the season. A lot depends on how the other rotation members perform (looking right at you, Mr. Nola), but I would take five innings, three runs allowed out of Anderson any day of the week.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Cole Hamels isn’t coming to Philadelphia and here is why (outside of his, you know, signing with Los Angeles).
• The USA Olympic baseball team has a big fan in Luke Williams, who was originally on the roster.
• The arms that Dave Dombrowski got at the deadline are game-changers.

MLB news:

• As previously said, Cole Hamels is headed to Los Angeles. How he performs, and when he is ready to perform, remains to be seen.
• As one Los Angeles team gets good news, the other gets bad news as the Angels are going to lose Anthony Rendon for the rest of the season.