Phillies Notebook: Mike Adams finding his groove?

Who says television isn’t educational? MikeAdams has had his share of issues since arriving as the Phillies’ big free agent addition this past offseason. Adams was signed to a two-year, $12 million deal to solve a big problem, the eighth inning. However, the highly-touted setup man has had some difficultiesin arguably the most troublesome inning in baseball. Adams has given up five home runs this season (entering play Tuesday night) and failed to hold his share of games.

“I have to pitch better,” Adams said. “ButI think I’ve solved my problem.”

Adams was sitting back in his hotel roomduring the Phillies’ last road trip watching his former teammate Yu Darvish pitch for the Texas Rangers.
“I watched Darvish and something popped in my head about my delivery,” Adams said. “I immediately got up in the hotel room and started working on my delivery.I started throwing without the ball and I think I’ve solved my problems thanks to a game on television. Darvish does things properly and it just reminded me of what I needed to do.”

Considering how the starting pitching hascarried the Phillies, who suffer from inconsistent or non-existent offense, perhaps Adams will be the key to a winning streak. If the Phillies’ starters can get the ball to Adams and he can carry a lead into the ninth, maybe that will help considerably.

“I think it would when you look at how great [Jonathan] Papelbon has been this season,” Adams said. “He’s been incredible coming in. You just know that he’s going to close the game out. So it’s up to me to put him in that situation.”

Why did the Phillies acquire Adams?
The Phillies’eighth inning ERA in 2012 was 4.89 (29th in MLB). The Phillies allowed 24 homers., the most in the majors.

“They had to sign Adams,” a NL scout said. “They had no choice. I have a feeling he’ll get better this season.”

Mike Adams was one of the Phillies’ biggest free-agent acquisitions. He’s been less than advertised early on.