Struggling pitcher Adam Eaton made his minor league debut last night.  Eaton took the mound for the Lakewood BlueClaws, the Phillies Low-A minor league affiliated, and like he’s done all season for the Phils, he got hammered.  Eaton allowed four runs and five hits in three and two-thirds of an inning.  He also was unable to establish a fastball, topping out at 89 MPH.

Surprisingly Eaton was encouraged by the outing. 

“I felt good. The ball was coming out pretty nice. I was very happy with the way I threw.”

He was finished praising himself. 

“It seemed like a double or a home run on every hit,” Eaton said. “But for the most part, things went well. I had good command.”

Besides losing the ability to pitch, has Eaton also lost his mind?  It’s bad enough he was forced to accept an assignment to the minor leagues for struggling against major league batters, but not to be able to get out players from the South Atlantic League?  That’s completely ridiculous.  I’m not trying to take anything away from Sally League players, they are the future of the game.  But they also have never seen major league pitching.  There’s no excuse for a major league veteran to not make it out of the fourth inning against players in Low-A baseball. 

Maybe Eaton wasn’t really happy with his outing.  Maybe knows he’s collecting a paycheck until October of 2009, so he really doesn’t care.  Either way it’s an embarrassment.

While I’m sure this isn’t the outcome or attitude management hoped for out of Eaton, maybe it’s not such a bad thing.  The worse he pitches, the better chance their is he’ll never take the mound for the Phillies again.