CLEARWATER, Fla. — “Did he already throw?”
“Yeah. He’s done.”
“Dammit.”
That was the exchange between two Phillies minor-leaguers on the side fields at spring training. One, clean-shaven, got to watch Jake Arrieta throw his first bullpen session as a Phillie. The other, struggling to grow face fur like Arrieta’s, had to practice hitting cutoff men, so he wasn’t able to hang out near the mounds with the 50 other players.
It’s OK. He wouldn’t have seen what everyone was looking for, anyway.
You know. That missing 2 mph.
The 2 mph the Phillies insist they don’t care is missing.