ARLINGTON, Texas _ There was a time when Jerad Eickhoff dreamed of baseball at Globe Life Park. He was a 15th-round pick of the Rangers. He rose through their minor league system as a teammate of Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo and Rougned Odor, with the hope of one day pitching in the same rotation as Yu Darvish.
Eickhoff, on Tuesday afternoon, finally walked into this stadium as a big-leaguer. Texas had sacrificed him, and four other prospects, in a trade with the Phillies to acquire Cole Hamels because these two teams exist in divergent stages of the baseball cycle. Eickhoff is the most dependable Phillies starter, while Darvish paces Texas.
The difference, displayed in a 5-1 Phillies loss, was sizable.
Eickhoff looked improved after a string of shaky starts. But he is not the caliber of Darvish, who until Tuesday had never faced the Phillies but built a reputation in the American League as one of the game's dominant arms. Only Michael Saunders had ever faced Darvish, and the others studied video that showed a steep challenge.
The Phillies pushed Darvish in the later innings. They put a man in scoring position in the fifth, sixth and seventh. They cracked him in the seventh, with a run-scoring Freddy Galvis single that rolled to center field. That brought Brock Stassi to the plate, with the tying runs on the corners.
Stassi played first base Tuesday, with Tommy Joseph as the designated hitter, because Phillies manager Pete Mackanin had a hunch. He saw Stassi as the most able to adapt to Darvish's deep arsenal.
Darvish threw Stassi a first-pitch slider for strike one. Stassi fouled a cutter and a slider. Darvish spiked a slider. Then he threw his best fastball, at 97 mph, chest-high. Stassi ripped it foul. He had a chance.
But Darvish countered with a 76-mph curveball, down and away. It was a devious pitch, especially after the potent fastball that preceded it. Stassi whiffed. He stood in the batter's box, deep in thought and powerless against Darvish.
He is a free agent at the end of the season. He, if healthy, will command a vast sum. The Phillies, flush with cash and craving an ace, could be suitors. But team president Andy MacPhail has stated multiple times his reluctance to overpay for a free-agent pitcher. The Phillies would rather grow their arms and sign the bats.
Darvish, 30, could test that.
When the Phillies dangled Hamels two summers ago, Mazara was a player that interested them. The Rangers were not willing to include him in negotiations. Now Mazara, 22, is Texas' No. 3 hitter while the two position players the Phillies acquired, Jorge Alfaro and Nick Williams, continue to develop at triple A.
Mazara, three batters into Eickhoff's night, smashed a 1-0 hanging slider that landed 444 feet from home plate. But Eickhoff lasted six innings, which is a milestone these days for Phillies pitchers. He allowed two earned runs; a third scored as a result of a misfire by Cameron Rupp on a botched pickoff play. Eickhoff struck out eight. He walked two. It was progress.
But even a small deficit was too great against Darvish. He started with unhittable stuff. He threw 51 pitches, 41 of which were strikes, in the first five innings. The Japanese righthander fired first-pitch strikes to 13 of the first 16 hitters he faced.
The Phillies' offense has produced a better clip than last season's. But Darvish is an unenviable opponent for any lineup.
