The Phillies home opener Friday, a 7-6 loss to the Washington Nationals, lasted 3 hours, 34 minutes. And Vince Velasquez, as much as anyone aside from Washington's relief pitchers, was responsible for transforming the game from a light, happy matinee into the kind of intense, overlong epic that Francis Ford Coppola would sacrifice a Philippine jungle to film.
Velasquez was everything the Phillies hope that he one day can be, and he was everything that might give them pause about his future as a reliable starting pitcher. He struck out 10, becoming the first Phillies pitcher since 1900 to record at least 10 strikeouts in an appearance that was at most four innings.