Inside Baseball: On to Cincinnati!

When the Phillies play their first game in Cincinnati April 4, they will be tied for first place.

It's the closest to contention they will get all season. With that in mind, the most urgent business on skipper Pete Mackanin's to-do list seems to be deciding an opening-day starter.

In one corner, we have Aaron Nola, acknowledged by all to be the most talented pitcher in the organization. In the other, we have everyone else.

The latter group includes Charlie Morton, and I think he should get the ball April 4. Is he better than Nola? No. Jerad Eickhoff and Jeremy Hellickson might be a better, too.

But Morton doesn't have to be the best pitcher to fill the role I think they have in mind for him.

For sure, Morton was brought on because the Phils needed a starter and he was available for nothing. The Pirates were more than happy to offload his $8 million 2016 salary.

At 32, Morton is what I'll call a "young veteran." He's been around for a long time, but he's only thrown 875 innings.

The rest of the 2016 starts will go to Nola, 22, Eickhoff, 25, Hellickson, 29, Vincent Velasquez, 23, Brett Oberholtzer, 26, Jake Thompson, 22, Mark Appel, 24, and Adam Morgan, 25.

Many of these names show up on various prospect lists. Yes, the Phillies are young and talented, with a bright future -- emphasis on young.

I believe Phillies chief Andy MacPhail looked across town and saw the young 76ers wandering aimlessly through loss after loss. After stumbling through an embarassing couple of months, the Sixers talked Elton Brand out of retirement to babysit the striplings.

Morton as coach on the field is not a crazy thought. In a largely anonymous career to date, he's made minor news a few times. Once for mimicking the legendary Roy Halladay's delivery. Hopefully, he adopted Doc's work ethic as well.

But the thing that stood out to me is Morton's fondness for pitching inside. Nobody in baseball hits more batters than Charlie Morton, one per 11.2 innings. He led the National League in hit batters in 2013 and 2014, despite missing more than half a season's worth of starts over the two years.
 
The point, of course, is not to bean anyone. All that does is add another baserunner. What it tells us is Morton is fearless about pitching inside.

I see a lot of young pitchers seemingly afraid to throw inside. Or maybe they don't know how. The end result is giving up half of the plate, and it makes the hitter's job a lot easier.

"Pitching is the art of instilling fear," Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax said. In another interview, he was more blunt: "Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser."

Harsh? Perhaps.

I probably saw all of Nola's Major League starts last year, and my recollection is he prefers staying away from hitters. The numbers back it up: he hit three batters in 165 minor-league innings.

Eickhoff and Thompson pitched a combined 117 innings in the Phillies' organization after coming over via trade last year. Neither recorded a hit batter.

Again, it's about pitching inside. Hitting batters is merely a byproduct of that skill. The Phillies have a stable of talented young pitchers, and they need to learn to become complete pitchers.

I believe Morton is here to serve as mentor, coach on the field and leader of the staff. Can he fill that role starting the second or third game of the year? Of course.

But I think the Phils will be all in on this, and they should be.

Obama's Jacksonian Legacy

"This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president" -- Mitch McConnell

Barack Obama's presidency most reminds me of Andrew Jackson.

While it may seem illogical to compare anything about America's first black president with an avowed racist who smashed any abolitionist acts, there are similarities.

Above all, Jackson was a supreme political tactician. Despite his lack of formal education, few leaders have ever handled political opponents more deftly than The General.

And Jackson did not lack for quality opposition. Sens. Henry Clay and John Calhoun, as well as the brilliant Nicholas Biddle, were just three of his formidable foes.

Sen. Thomas Hart Benton is the Hillary Clinton in this analogy, an early adversary who quickly learned the political value of not holding grudges.

The former trio never overcame their stubborn opposition, and Jackson made them pay at every turn. His proficiency in trouncing Clay and Calhoun forms much of Jackson's presidential legacy.

In battles over administration appointments, nullification and the national bank, Jackson bested opponents via a series of shrewd moves. Opponents were left to claim Jackson desired to be king of his kingdom.

For a nation just a generation or two removed from the abuses of King George III, the charge was a serious one.

These days, Obama's serially vanguished opponents claim he "wants to act as if he's a dictator," as Gov. Chris Christie said recently. Dictator is the new king, apparently.

The modern-day roles of Clay and Calhoun are filled by Sen. Mitch McConnell and former Speaker John Boehner. McConnell even hails from Kentucky, the state where Clay held sway. Like Calhoun, the first vice president to resign, Boehner also gave up a power post after losing several confrontations with the White House.

McConnell welcomed the Obama presidency thusly: "My number one priority is making sure President Obama's a one-term president."

That didn't work out so well. Through healthcare, gay marriage, government shutdowns and elections, Obama seemingly emerges stronger each time.

And that brings America to the final epic showdown over the Supreme Court. Republicans would do well to stop underestimating their opponent.

Or at least set their expectations low. The Washington Post has already theorized that even if Republicans succeed in batting the nomination forward, Obama wins anyway.

The Jackson years ended with one final battle to erase an early Senate censure from the record. In the ensuing debate, Clay, Calhoun and Benton gave fiery speeches for and against as all recognized the historical importance of a final fight that closed an era.

Even as Calhoun spoke in oratory fury, Jon Meacham writes in "American Lion," "like Clay ... he knew that his was a futile argument."

Will McConnell & Co. recognize the same?