9-News: 36.057 – Phillips Sees Sports Therapist

[RonCo]

With a three day break on his hands, word comes that the YS9’s young closer Curt Phillips went home to California to see a close advisor, who is also a sports therapist.

“It’s always great to see Pops and Mom,” Phillips said. “They do the best backyard barbecue in the world.”

That may be true, but the news people want to hear about is the second reason—a session with Dr. Rudy Calvin, a man who served as Phillips’ coach in high school and who has a practice geared toward helping players keep their focus. Phillips, at 21, has been under intense pressure as the club’s ninth inning guy, a role that on the whole he’s done well enough (5-5, 17 SV, 5.08 at the break), but in which he’s also seen 6 blown saves.

Like many relievers, that 5.08 ERA is a bit misleading, in that he’s had a few tough outings among many solid outing. The goal, though, was apparently to help him see that fact despite the vitriol of some of the fan base when it comes to the low side.

“Fans are focused on the bad moment,” Dr. Calvin said in a phone interview. “They want a guy to be perfect, you know? They expect every opponent will fail and that their guys are dog meat if something negative happens. But a player’s success is predicated on letting those go. So a lot of the time, being a fan hurts the team. Veteran players come to some grips with this, but Curt is a younger guy. This is his first time through the wringer. I wanted to help him see the whole picture—and remind him that players succeed by doing what they do best and avoiding what they do worst.”

“Yeah,” Phillips said in a later conversation. “We talked about the things that were working. You don’t save 17 games without doing something good. We talked about how I can listen to coach LaLoosh more, and talk with Crash and Jose and some of the other guys.” They also talked about dealing with criticism that comes from those blown saves, and relying on teammates to pick him up. Several of those blown saves show up in that 5-5 record as victories, after all. “It’s a team game made up of a lot of individuals,” Phillips said.

“I’ve never felt there’s any shame in talking to someone about your problems,” Phillips said in response to questions about fans who still see such therapy sessions as signs of weakness. “I mean, half of being a good coach or mentor is probably helping a guy get his mind in the right place. What’s the big deal?”

MEETINGS SEE SUCCESS

Whatever got ironed out in the conversation must have worked. Phillips has appeared in three games since the break, and registered three saves while giving up only 1 hit in those appearances.

“I’m feeling good,” Phillips said last week.