Barry Zito failing to cover first on a routine grounderThe Giants have officially demoted Barry Zito to the bullpen.
Zito currently has an ERA of 7.53, a BAA of .336, a WHIP of 1.95 and 11 ks to 15 walks in 28.2 innings. He's currently on pace to go 0-33 and perhaps if the Giants had left him in the rotation, we could have witnessed an "un-perfect" season. I honestly don't know what's wrong with him. His velocity has been down, his curveball hasn't been fooling anyone and he's just been doing a solid Daniel Cabrera impression by walking way too many people. As a fellow lefty, I feel for the guy and would like to see him return to at least a level of mediocrity. The Giants were going to be a bad team regardless this season but until now they've essentially payed 126 million dollars to put up a loss every fifth day. Oh well.
Also around the NL West
Troy Tulowitzki has been dropped to the 6th spot in the Rockies batting order for the forseeable future and everyone behind him (Helton, Holliday, Atkins and Hawpe) has just moved up one spot. He's slumping very hard despite putting up similar rates to last year. His BABIP however remains somewhere sub-.200 so perhaps a turn around is in the near future. Also recently, the Rockies assigned opening day second baseman Jayson Nix to the minors. He wasn't a very good hitter in the minors and for a few games this April showed he's not a very good hitter in the majors. The second base job is now a platoon between Clint Barmes and Jeff Baker with Barmes, who's off to a solid start, getting the majority of the platoon time.
Max ScherzerPictures courtesy of the internet
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7 comments:
As far as Scherzer . . .
Last night, I tuned into the Phillies - Diamondbacks game in order to watch his starting pitching debut. Did anyone else watch it as well?
If you didn't, Scherzer's line is relatively unimpressive -- he threw 92 pitches. Here is his line:
4.0 IP, 7 H 5 R 2 ER 2 BB 5 K
Over the course of a season, it is probably better to evaluate a starter by total runs, but in the case of starts themselves, it is often important to actually watch the game to see what the true story was behind the unearned runs.
In this case, Stephen Drew made an error on a ground ball hit hard, but right at him. It was an error, because it was right at him, but it was a well-hit ball. The hits kept on coming, however, as someone (I don't remember who) followed with a slow grounder up the middle, a ball I would normally expect Orlando Hudson to get. He was nowhere near it (possibly a holdover from his injury against the Mets?), so I guess he was shading the hitter towards first base. Finally, Jamie Moyer drove in a couple with a line drive that just stayed fair inside the leftfield line. Scherzer actually pitched quite well with men on base (though he did not get the best of luck on some softly hit balls) and struck out Pat Burrell twice, blowing him away with a fastball earlier in the game and then getting him swinging on a straight change.
To sum it all up, I think Scherzer looked very good in this start. I had heard that he mainly sticks to his fastball, and it was excellent, but he also changed speeds once in a while for strikes. Please note that there is a very big difference between changing speeds on show-me pitches that are essentially unhittable, and changing speeds for actual strikes.
He was victimized by some bad defense and poor luck on batted balls, but at 23, this kid looks like the real deal. Anyone that young who is throwing breaking pitches for strikes and dials his fastball up to 95 regularly is going to have some success as long as he can stay healthy.
Best of luck, Max (except when you pitch against the Mets!) and I'll be sure to catch your next start (if you get one) as well! Anyone who can blow away Pat Burrell with a fastball is okay by me!
-wal
By the way, I just saw that Baked Ziti is back into his starting role.
Congratulations, Barry (and the rest of the National League)!
Seriously, I wish Zito all the best, and I don't think he screwed the Giants. It's not like he put a gun to Sabean's head. If someone offered me three times what I should be paid to do my job, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
Ha, yeah I don't blame Zito. At least he's playing the games (Hampton/Pavano). I still think he can reach 10 wins this season
Ha, yeah I don't blame Zito. At least he's playing the games (Hampton/Pavano). I still think he can reach 10 wins this season
Maybe Zito just doesn't care because the Giants don't look like they're getting anywhere for about another two seasons. The Cardinals should get him so Dave Duncan can work his magic... well not really but w/e...
Guys, why do my Rockies suck so hard? Actually, don't answer it, that's a future post.
But seriously, that "Barry Zito failing to cover first on a routine grounder"? I was proud of that one, he looks so smug in that pic
True, Paul -- that was a great one. And what the hell is his problem, not even bothering to cover 3rd?
-wal
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