May 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (27) throws a pitch during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Usually, after a game, whether he pitched or not, Aaron Nola can be found sitting by his locker holding court with a couple teammates.
In the one chair, has been a rotating cast of characters. Earlier this week it was Brandon Marsh. In another chair, often its Matt Strahm.
But there's always one guy who sits to the right of Nola - like two old men sitting on a porch watching the sun go down while sipping lemonade.
And this trusty compatriot may be the one guy in the Phillies clubhouse who knows what Aaron Nola is going through so far in 2025 - Taijuan Walker.
When the Phillies traded for Jesus Luzardo to eliminate the problems they had with the fifth spot in their rotation in 2024, they felt that they could go toe-to-toe with any team in the sport when it came to starting pitching.
The problems of that No. 5 spot in the rotation that haunted the team in 2024 - created predominantly by the awful year Walker had - would be a thing of the past.
Except, it's not been. In fact, it's been back, just not through the pitcher anyone expected - Nola.
The Phillies have lost eight of the nine games Nola has started this season. Considering they've only lost 18 total, that's a seeming black hole in the rotation.
And the most recent - a 14-7 pounding to the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday was the ugliest of all.
NEW Phillies Stoplight 🚦@TimKellySports @AntSanPhilly
🚦: It’s fair to be concerned about Aaron Nola
🚦: Bryce Harper’s funk
🚦: Pirates 🏴☠️ vs. Phillies preview pic.twitter.com/PKnawUzXCW
Nola allowed career highs in hits (12) and earned runs (nine) and only pitched 3 2/3 innings in what was easily the worst start of his 11-year big league career.
He is now 1-7 with a 6.16 ERA. it's a black eye on an otherwise brilliant start to the season by Phillies starters.
"I don't really have another answer for tonight, besides 'Terrible,'" Nola said.
At least his analysis was on point. Because his pitching was not.
Nola gave up three home runs - and none of them were cheapies. A few of the hits he allowed were, but he also had some outs where the ball was hit hard, just right at his defense.
It was clear from the jump that Nola didn't have command of his pitches. He especially was struggling to get outs once he had two strikes on hitters.
"They didn't miss any balls over the plate tonight," Nola said. "I didn't do my job at all."
No, he did not.
To be fair to Nola, he probably should have been lifted after a brutal third inning in which he coughed up a 5-1 lead allowing five runs on five hits in the inning.
It was clear he was off his game and he needed to come out of it. Once the Phillies tied the score back up at 6-6 in the bottom of the inning, there was even more reason to make the change. They would have survived a bad outing by Nola and had a clean slate to win the game and series by sweeping the doubleheader over the next six innings.
Yet, inexplicably, Phillies manager Rob Thomson sent Nola back out for the fourth inning, and well... we'll let Nola tell you what happened.
Aaron Nola tonight: 3.2 innings, 12 hits, 9 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts pic.twitter.com/ZZB1sKcANy
"What can go wrong, went wrong," he said. "My mistakes were hit really well. They found holes when I did make a pretty good pitch, I feel like, but they didn't miss too many balls."
Nola gave up the lead when he allowed his third homer in four innings. He then loaded the bases on two infield singles and a walk that came around two outs before Thomson finally decided to lift him.
Thomson turned to Tanner Banks for a left-on-left matchup with Alec Burleson and Burleson singled home two more, to cap off Nola's brutal line.
"With him, you always think he's going to find it," Thomson said, trying to provide rationale for keeping Nola in the game. "We were right in the game. When he went out in the fourth, we were trying to get him through those righthanders (in the Cardinals lineup) and they got two infield hits. ...
"I mean, you can look at it a lot of different ways, but that was the thought - try and get him through those righthanded hitters."
Thomson did Nola no favors, and now the Phillies have to start to wonder if there is concern for a guy with a lot of innings on his right arm who is only in the second year of a seven-year, $172 million contract.
There is still time for Nola to come back around. He's got the track record to prove it and the Phillies will give him a long runway. Hell, they didn't pull Walker from the rotation last season until August.
But the concern is Nola's numbers are not much different than they've been in his career when you look at his stuff. His fastball is on par with where it usually is. His breaking stuff, while not good on Wednesday, has had the shape it usually has. He's just getting hit and hit harder than usual.
His first four starts of the season weren't good, but there were velocity issues as he was trying to build up to where he normally is through some starts in awful weather.
His next four starts were solid. Two were excellent. One was good and one was good until the seventh inning in an other game Thomson left him in too long, but did so that time because he was worried about a taxed bullpen.
Then came Wednesday.
"He had a lot of first pitch strikes but just couldn't put people away," Thomson said. "There were just a lot of mistakes, especially with two strikes on the hitters. He didn't really have his best command and kind of paid for it."
Sure did.
The one silver lining is his next start will come at the beginning of next week against an awful Colorado Rockies team, so the Phillies are hoping for a bounce back.
But if he struggles again against that lineup, then some more serious questions will need to be asked and answered.
In the meantime, Nola may want to shrink his postgame chat circle and pick the brain of his good friend Walker to see how he turned things around this season after such a brutal 2024.
Because right now, it looks like Nola is headed toward something similar if he doesn't get it rectified quickly.
