NEW YORK _ The rain fell harder Wednesday night at Citi Field. The bases were loaded. Catcher Cameron Rupp patted his pitcher, Nick Pivetta, on the back. This was another slog.
Some days, the prospects shine. And, some days, it rains. The Phillies have asked Pivetta to learn big-league lessons every fifth day; few teams in baseball would allow a young right-hander to endure the regular beatings Pivetta has.
But these are the rebuilding Phillies, desperate for a hint of pitching advancement. So nights like a rain-shortened 6-3 loss to the Mets are part of it. Pivetta allowed six runs in five innings. New York hit him hard.
Pivetta is a cocksure, 24-year-old Canadian who has insisted this season will contribute to his eventual growth. This is not a pleasant existence for someone who has enjoyed success for most of his life and can throw a baseball 97 mph.
The Phillies like Pivetta because he has shown mental toughness _ and because he can throw a baseball 97 mph. That could separate him from the pile of back-end starters the Phillies have built. It could at least lead to a bullpen role. But that is the last resort; the Phillies crave starters and they will exhaust Pivetta's potential until better options materialize.
Besides the nightly prospect peek _ Nick Williams crushed a two-run homer in the sixth inning before the rain delay _ there is little drama that remains for these Phillies. One development carries interest: The race for the worst record and the rights to the No. 1 pick in next summer's amateur draft.
The Phillies entered Wednesday one percentage point better than the sinking San Francisco Giants, who had played three more games than the Phillies. The Chicago White Sox have stripped their roster and are a contender for the worst record. Whatever the case, the Phillies appear to have a lock on a top-three pick in 2018.
No one in the current clubhouse cares about that. The last four weeks are a time for every starting pitcher not named Nola to generate a lasting impression before a winter that figures to involve quite a bit of roster shuffling.
Pivetta has started 22 games and failed to pitch beyond five innings in 14 of them. He needed a career-high 111 pitches Wednesday for 15 outs. He threw strikes. He did not walk a batter for the first time in 10 starts. But New York clubbed 10 hits, six of which were on Pivetta fastballs.
It left Pivetta with a 6.49 ERA this season. There are just four rookie pitchers since 1901 with at least 22 starts who have posted higher ERAs. They were: Texas's Colby Lewis (7.30, 2003), Baltimore's Garrett Olson (6.65, 2008), Cleveland's Ryan Drese (6.55, 2002) and Baltimore's Jason Berken (6.54, 2009).
The Phillies' rookie has four more starts to avoid that dubious company.
