Taste of the New, Taste of the Old

Eight years after their last World Series title, the Phillies in the midst of a total rebuild. A wave of prospects, a mix of draft picks, some international signees and young talent obtained in trades are getting the chance to impress Andy MacPhail, Pete Mackannon and the rest of the organization. One of them sparkled last night: Aaron Nola, the club's top choice in the 2014 draft, took center stage last night in St. Louis. He threw seven dominating innings, extending his shutout streak to 20 innings. He recorded 17 of his 21 outs by either ground ball or strikeout. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Nola's WHIP -- that's walks and hits per innings pitched -- stands at 0.83. That's third in the National League behind only Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta. Pretty impressive company. And he's just scratching the surface of his potential -- Aaron won't turn 23 until June 4th.
The 1-0 victory over the Cardinals was the Phillies' 10th win in 12 games as they moved five games over .500 at 16 & 11. Six of those 16 wins have been shutouts!
The other headliner Tuesday night at Busch Stadium was one of the last of the old guard. Ryan Howard homered leading off the 6th inning for the only run of the night. The St. Louis native has cleared the fences 22 times in his career against the team he grew up rooting for. Of course, there's that other Howard memory of facing the Cardinals -- he tore his Achilles making the last out of the 2011 NLDS, ending the Phillies great five-year post-season run as the previous core began to crumble.
So the irony is seeing the two eras come together -- one Howard's last big Phillies moment helping one of the cornerstones of their "next generation" lock in a victory.
The image of Nola came from last August 1st against the Braves. The Howard photo came from April 2014 against the Braves.

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