From Jim Salisbury’s article in the Inquirer today-

It's been nearly six months since the team traded for Freddy Garcia and manager Charlie Manuel uttered the words "I'd say we picked us up an ace."

Garcia hasn't pitched like anything close to one in his first four starts for the Phils.

This is retarded for two reasons- one, Charlie Manuel obviously doesn’t know what constitutes an ace pitcher. Garcia has had one great season in his career, and that was in 2001 when he threw 238 2/3 innings and had a 3.05 ERA. Maybe 9/11 really messed him up, because he hasn’t had an ace-like year since then (okay, maybe 2004 before he got traded from Seattle). Two, why would you believe Manuel when he said they picked up an ace? All anyone had to do is check out Garcia’s career stats and he or she would clearly see that while he has been a very reliable, decent starter, he ain’t no ace.

What the Phillies and everyone else should have expected Garcia to be is an innings-eater who starts 30+ games a year and pitches just well enough to give you a chance to win if you have a good offense, which the Phillies do. But to expect him to come in here at age 32 (while pitching half his games in the hitter’s haven that is Citizen’s Bank Park) and have something like an ERA in the 3.50 and under range is sheer looniness because nothing in his past points to that being a reasonable expectation. Also, it doesn’t matter that Garcia won 17 games last year, because wins are almost pointless as a pitching stat; he had great run support in most of the games he started in 2006. But he didn’t pitch all that well.

Yes, Garcia has been horrid this year; he should be much better than the garbage he’s been tossing. Maybe it’s the tendonitis in the bicep still messing him up, or maybe it’s that Philadelphia just seems to sap the talent and liveliness out of the athletes who come here with its plentiful fatty foods and miserable fan base. But there’s still plenty of time for him to turn it around and turn into the non-ace that he truly is.