ST. LOUIS - Jake Diekman sat in front of a computer in the visitors' clubhouse at Busch Stadium Tuesday afternoon, flanked by Phillies bullpen coach Rod Nichols. The lanky lefthander watched on a screen as the 2014 version of himself attacked hitters in the strike zone and walked off the mound after strike three.
"Last year," he said, "I was aggressive through the zone and I threw the ball violently, like: 'Hey, here it is. Good luck hitting it.' That's what my mentality was."
Amid an awful start to this season, Diekman is working to recapture the form he showed in his breakout 2014 campaign.