Ranger Suarez, Not Aaron Nola, Is The Phillies 2nd Ace

Ranger Suarez got a late start to the season. An injury while preparing for the World Baseball Classic kept him out the first month of the season. But it was not just the missed starts that hurt him. He missed all of Spring Training. So when he first took the mound for the Phillies, it was essentially a Spring Training start for him. The problem was the game actually counted. And we saw that cause him problems. His first few starts were not good.

But he is off and running now. In his last 4 starts, he has pitched 26.2 innings and has given up just 4 earned runs. That is an ERA of 1.35. The Phillies have won 3 of those 4 games. They only lost one because they scored no runs, but he held the Mets to 2 runs in 6.2 innings.

Last night was the latest example of that. He faced one of the toughest lineups in the league and shut them out over 7 innings. He gave up just 4 hits to the Diamondbacks and struck out 7 guys. This comes after he held the Dodgers to 1 run over 6 innings.

That success should not come as a surprise. He has pitched this well ever since he moved into the starting rotation. In 2021 he had an ERA of 1.51 in his 12 starts. It was 3.65 last season, and then 1.23 in 3 playoff starts. Ranger Suarez has proven time and time again he is that dude when on the mound. A guy you can count on to battle every time he pitches.

Ranger never seems to be phased by anything when he takes the mound. Guys will make errors behind him, he just gets the next out. He gives up a few hits, he buckles down and gets out of the inning. Last night there was a moment where he got in some trouble after an error prevented them from turning a double play. No problem, he got a double play the next at-bat and got out of the inning anyway. He proved how tough he is in the playoffs, and is continuing to prove it this season.

It is in stark contrast to the guy who currently fills the role of the team's second Ace. Aaron Nola is hard to trust. Can he go out there and shut the other team down? Yes. We have seen it several times this season. But we also see the other side of that coin. The times he collapses. It often feels like a big lead with Aaron  Nola on the mound is dangerous. Because too often we see them give him a 4 run lead, but he can't hold up.

Just imagine if he had half of the mental toughness Ranger Suarez does. Instead, it feels like when it rains it pours with Aaron Nola. He will be sailing, but then gives up a couple of hits, and suddenly like a Jenga Tower it all falls apart. Just look at the first start of the season vs the Rangers. Where he had a 5-0 lead, was sailing. But then in one inning, it all crumbled. Next thing you know they are down 9-5.

We don't know if we will be able to trust Nola when the games start to really matter. The World Series suggests we probably shouldn't trust him. But we do know we can trust Ranger. All he has done since moving from the bullpen and into the rotation is step up when it matters. And if and when that moment comes in the playoffs, and they need someone to start game 2 of a playoff series, it should be Ranger Suarez taking the mound, not Nola. Because one guy has earned that right, and it is not Aaron Nola. It's Ranger Suarez.

Some guys we will never forget playing in Philadelphia. Brian Dawkins, Allen Iverson, Jimmy Rollins, and Eric Lindros. These names will be remembered by Philadelphians, even if they were too young to ever see them play. Hell, I know the name Chuck Bednarik, and he retired 30 years before I was born.

But that is not what this list is about. This list is dedicated to those guys most people may not even remember playing here. The guys who spent 1 year or less here, and despite being somewhat notable names, failed to make an impact. The guys who were in Eagles training camp but couldn't crack the roster. Players the Phillies added as mid-season trades, who failed to make an impact. The guys who spent only a short amount of time with the Sixers, but had big careers elsewhere. Or legendary hockey players who came to Philadelphia past their prime.

You will likely know these names from elsewhere, but how many of us remember seeing them play in Philadelphia? Let's take a look at 7 well-known athletes, who at one point in their careers played on one of the Philly teams.

Credit to the Sports Hub up in Boston who inspired this list by making one of their own for guys they forgot played in Boston.

Jose Bautista took the league by storm in 2010 when he came out of nowhere to become one of the best power hitters in the league for the Blue Jays. He had played 6 seasons for 4 different teams before that season and was never anything more than a role player. His career high before then was 16 HRs. In 2010, he hit 54. He followed that up with 43 the next season. Then he hit 185 more home runs in the next 6 seasons.

But do you remember his short stint with the Phillies in 2018? it would be hard to. The Phillies picked him up as an August Waiver Claim. And he was not the same player he used to be. he played in 27 games, had 11 hits, and just 2 home runs.

It was in the same season when Carlos Santana was breaking TVs because he was annoyed by his teammates playing Fortnite during a game. By August many Phillies fans had already checked out on this team, and even if you still watched, there was not much worth remembering.

Nikola Vucevic has made a nice career for himself. Never quite a star, he has still been one of the better centers in the league for most of his 13-year NBA career so far. In 4 different seasons, he averaged over 20 pts and 10 rebounds per game.  

Most of his career was spent in Orlando with the Magic. And since the Magic have mostly been terrible, he maybe does not get as much attention as his production would usually merit. A few years back he was traded to the Bulls, and outside of one competitive season, they have mostly been irrelevant too. But despite playing on bad teams, he played well, getting two All-Star nods. 

But do you remember his rookie season with the Sixers? They drafted him in 2011. But since Doug Collins was the coach, and he never really liked to play rookies, he barely saw the floor. He averaged just 5.5 points per game.  

The next season he was part of a huge 4-team blockbuster deal, that brought Andrew Bynum to Philly, sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers, Andre Iguodala to the Nuggets, and included 8 other players and included 5 other picks. Vucevic went to Orlando. Bynum flopped in Philly, and the process was born. 

Tim Tebow may be the worst player everyone remembers playing in the NFL. He was a prolific College QB, but he never had the arm talent to play in the NFL. That was clear before he ever stepped onto the field. The Broncos drafted him in the first round anyway.  

In his first season, he barely played. But he eventually became the starter in year 2. He somehow managed to get them to the playoffs, and they even beat the Steelers there. But it was clear to everyone Tebow was not a starting Qb. 

The next season the Broncos signed Peyton Manning, and traded Tim Tebow. He went to the Jets, where he created more issues than he fixed. His presence led to a QB controversy for a struggling team. But he never got a chance to start again.  

He jumped around a few teams and even spent one season in training Camp with the Eagles under Chip Kelly. Matt Barkley beat him out for the 3rd string job though. And his career with he Eagles was over before it ever began. Not long after he finally realized being an NFL Qb was not going to happen for him. 

Paul Coffey is an NHL Legend. A Hall of Fame defender who won 4 Cups, made 8 All-Star teams and is 14th all-time in total points. You can’t write the story of the NHL over the past 100 years, and leave Coffey out. 

Flyers fans probably remember him more for the damage he did to the Flyers. He spent 5 seasons with the hated Penguins and had a reputation as a Flyers killer.  

But do people remember his short stint with the Flyers? He did help them get to the Stanely Cup in 1997. It was his first season here after the Flyers traded for him with the Whalers. But he was no longer the Hall of Fame guy that helped the Oilers and Penguins win Cups. He spent just a 1 and a half seasons here.  

Phillies fans remember AJ Burnett from him being a Yankee in the 2009 World Series. He pitched pretty well vs the Phillies in Game 2, holding the Phillies to 1 run over 7 innings and getting the win. Though he followed that up by giving up 6 runs over 2 innings in game 5.  

What Phillies fans may forget though was he spent one season with the Phillies. It was during the Ryne Sandberg era, which to be fair is better left forgotten. He led the Phillies with 34 starts in 2014. And they were bad that year. They finished last in the NL East, and 24th in the MLB. 

Burnett went 8-18, with an ERA of 4.59. Actually, not too bad for a 37-year-old pitcher. He gave them 213.2 innings over 34 starts. That type of production the Phillies would happily take from their 5th starter this season. 

This one is cheating a bit because people don’t remember Terry Crews as a football player period. What people know him for are his acting roles. He played the dad on Everybody Hates Chris, the President in Idiocracy, played Terry in Brooklyn 99, among many other roles.  

But the actor did get his start in the NFL. He was drafted by the Rams as a defensive end in 1991 and had a short NFL career where he got no sacks. He jumped around to many teams. But his last stop before quitting football was the Eagles.  

It was his time with the Eagles that inspired him to quit Football. 

Kwame Brown is best known for being one of the biggest busts in NBA History. The Wizard took him first overall in 2001 right out of high school. Reportedly he told then Wizards coach Doug Collins "If you draft me, you'll never regret it." I would say the Wizards regretted it.

He never lived up to the hype. On the court, he struggled to make an impact. Off of it, he was plagued by maturity issues. He never turned into anything more than just a mediocre bench player.  

But to his credit, he did stick around the NBA. There are other high draft picks where they are out of the league a few years later. He stuck around until the 2012-2013 season when he played for the Sixers. As he was everywhere else, he struggled here. The 30-year-old averaged 1.9 points per game and only played in 22 games.