Wandy
Rodriguez
went 5 innings last night allowing 4 runs, only 2 earned. On 5 hits and
a walk
while striking out two. Mike Lamb contributed errors at first base in
the 5th
and 6th as Wandy
fell to 7-11 on the year with a 4.31 ERA. This loss
was on the road in LA and Wandy is now 1-9 with a 7.80 ERA away from
home this
year, while he is 6-2, 1.65 while pitching deep in the heart of Texas. He is
pitching at
home in his next start as it turns out, against the Nationals on
Tuesday and
then perhaps again on Sunday as the Astros host the Pirates. That looks
like a favorable
two start week next week. He had 24 starts last year and his home/road
splits
were pretty even, and the same was true in 25 appearances and 22 starts
in
2005. Therefore, this year’s split is not pathological, but
it is too stark to
ignore.
Derek
Lowe
collected his first win in nearly two months, throwing 7 shutout IP at
the
Astros on Thursday. Derek fanned 2 while allowing 5 hits, as he
improved to
9-11 and lowered his ERA to 3.45 on the year. We all know that Lowe
throws
ground balls and on a night like this when he pitched so well, you can
bet that
he limited his walked (0) and yes, had the sinker working.
Derek’s GB/FB split
was 13-2 and the Dodgers turned three twin-killings on the night. This
snaps a
5-decision losing streak and a string of 8 starts without a win. The
Phillies
and Cole Hamels are next on Wednesday, making him a one-start next week
despite
the Thursday start this week. Keep in mind also that sinkerball
pitchers do not
always benefit from the extra rest. Many feel that a tired sinkerballer
imparts
better action. I’m just saying some say … that is
all I am saying … In Lowe’s
case however his extra rest splits have been fine until you get back to
2005
when he was 2-3, 6.40. In 2004 he was 6-6, 6.09 on extra rest. Last
year he was
4-2, 2.87 and so far this year he is 4-3, 2.73. Maybe he has found a
routine to
deal with the extra rest.
We
could pick on any number of pitchers from last night 11-9
win by the Padres over the Rockies but Jeremy
Affledt was the
games loser and
he is the likely source of the blaze. He gave up 5 runs, all earned on
4 hits
(1 HR) and walk without getting an out. That has his owners being
treated for
third degree burns this morning. Three of the five hitters the
left-hander
faced were lefties too and lefties are hitting .296 off him this season
as
opposed to RHHs who are hitting just .202 (I’ll pause while
you read that again
… ready?). Last year the lefty/righty split was .212/.289.
This is why managers
and fantasy sports writers drink. Affeldt’s ERA rose nearly a
full run last
night to 3.47.
Pete
Laforest
homered in his first start since being called up on Thursday and he did
off
left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt. He went 3- for -3 in fact with 2
Rbi and a
walk. He will back up Josh Bard in the wake of the injury to Mike
Barrett.
Perhaps more telling was that Rockies were 4-
for -4 in SB attempts off La Forest. Three of those came off Clay
Hensley as
well so he needs to take some of the blame, but
Troy Tulowitzki stole just his 6th base of
the year and Matt
Holiday had 2 (count ‘em), his 8th and 9th of the
year
and the second one was a theft of third. Clearly, the Padres had issues
holding
baserunners last night.
Chuck
James
allowed the B*nds-less Giants 6 runs, all earned, in just 3.2 innings
of work
on Thursday. He gave up 5 hits and a walk while striking out two. He
was just
2-7 in his GB split and that just does not work for him. I have never
been a
big James fan. There will be nights like this. He fans 6.4 per nine,
but he
walks more than half of that back to his opponents (3.6 this year).
Chuck does
not throw GBs and so he gives up 1.6 HR/9. Chuck is 9-9 with a 4.22 ERA
and
1.43 WHIP this year and he is benefiting from a favorable 81.4% strand
percentage and slightly favorable .286 BHIP%. Last year his BHIP% was a
downright friendly .249 and he stranded 79.4%. Those are the
underpinnings of
his solid looking but soft 11-4, 3.78, 1.24 line in 2006. I
hate to say I told you so … Ah who am I
kidding? I love to say I told you so. And with a more normalized strand
percentage this season could look a lot worse.
Chris
Young
has
been like starting my old 1971 Dodge Challenger when I was kid.
Sometimes it
would fire and roar like the muscle car I knew it was, but it usually
just went
back to sleep 10 second later, leaving me with ten minutes of starter
fluid and
ungentlemanly words before it fired again. Young roared last night
going 3- for
-4 with a double and his 22nd HR of the
year … Yes he has that many.
That’s four more than JasonBay by the
way. And at,
now, .236 he’s within 20 points of Jason in batting average.
His 21.9% K rate
is not what you’d like but it isn’t awful. His 6.1%
BB rate is more
uncomfortable, especially considering he managed an very nice 11.5% in
his last
tour at AAA in 2006. Chris is working against an unfavorable .251
BHIP%, which
combined with the BB rate, suggests he needs to bring pitchers to him
more and
work more hitters counts. He is also hitting more balls on the ground
than you
would like but that may be the result of hitting out of the leadoff
slot. There
are some issues in his first full season, but Chris’
potential (believe it or
not he is 1 SB away from a 20/20 season) is clear. Stay the course.
There
are over 100
player news blurbs posted in the member area each morning, members can
read the
rest of today's player news by clicking here:
www.fantistics.com/baseball00/.
Not a member? Join today: www.fantistics.com/join/join.php3
Comments (0)