Weather reports have today cooling off to a balmy 90 degrees this afternoon, but with high humidity and the threat of thunderstorms it will feel pretty similar to the past few days here in the NY metro area. That sounds like baseball weather to me, so head out to the ballpark or curl up in front of your A/C, whatever your preference. Here’s your lineups, courtesy of Brian Heyman over at LoHud:
1. Jeter DH
2. Granderson CF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. Cano 2B
5. Swisher RF
6. Martin C
7. Jones LF
8. Nunez SS
9. Laird 3B
Facing Big Bart is the outstanding Gio Gonzalez, so the Yanks have their work cut out for them this afternoon. GO YANKS!!!!!!
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92 Responses to Game 99-Bartolo brings the heat
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TIQ IQ
You must mean that Jeter is the Super Special DH.
Good catch, it’s fixed. I just copied that from LoHud, so blame Brian Heyman as well.
what, you want me to go? (I’m just a little insecure.)
hey, you’ll see him first. Tell him, “what you giving me, bad doodoo?”
Doesn’t seem like a bad idea from Joe. Try out this combo when it makes sense, like the old man deserves a break, then they would be ready when the occasion arrives.
Bartolo cuts his knees off, yet nips the corner at 93.
upperleft corner, too damn fast, yeah, that’ll do.
upper outside, I mean upperright.
Matsui is a gorilla, and he’s gonna get his hits. It’s too hot to argue, so let him have one.
Josh, oh sorry about the bat. You’re strong, but you don’t wanna swing at that one.
Now, Gio’s got a wizz-bang, too.
“Tough to pick up a lefthander.” Paulie. He’s so closed: righties don’t that much. Masterson used to. Greinke?
Guess the short hop was too difficult to handle sideways, ready for the runner. Russell has been so tough, hell, what’s going on? Didn’t see that. Ouch.
Wow, the YES MO seemed to show Russell’s bat bending when he started that swing.
Alright, Andrew. We got one. (As adversed to, ” he picked up a hit.”)
Gio Gonzalez is the best comparison in the major leagues for Manny Banuelos’ ceiling. A lefty with good stuff, 3 good pitches, and shaky command at times. He’s a very solid number 2 for years to come, though I don’t think he will be an ace.
Funny thing is, if the Yankees had developed Gio they probably wouldn’t have stuck with hum. He really struggled pretty bad with his command early on in his career, and because we have a win now team he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to work through that.
The A’s aren’t trading him, but I think I would trade Banuelos for Gio depending on what else was involved in the package.
Hunh, it explains the White Sox and Phillies trading him. I get that prospects have not been proven, but Manny has that silken look that may indicate something extra-special. But, if one were to want to win now, then yeah, you probably would if you could.
He also is walking over 5 batters per 9 against double A competition that could eventually put him in the pen. He has talent, but don’t let talent blind you to how hard it is for someone to make that talent work for them.
lately I’ve seen everything from Betances compared to Felix Hernandez, to Banuelos compared to Johan Santana, and Montero compared to Miguel Cabrera. It’s highly unlikely any of 3 come close to those comparisons.
It would depend on if you feel comfortable adding Montero in the deal. Trading Banuelos for Gio is a no doubt move, since that’s his upside. The questions come into play when you are adding a bat like Montero. You’d probably be more comfortable adding Romine into the deal, since Gonzalez isn’t someone you view as an ace. I would also want to keep Nova for depth reasons.
Nova for depth, yeah, but isn’t Romine needed depth at catcher? I am very happy with Russell, but some voices would seem likely to bring up his hitting stats come re-sign time.
Martin has been great behind the plate, in every sense. At the end of the day that’s all I want from a Yankee catcher. I can live with a Posada behind the plate mashing, but I would rather have a top notch defensive catcher and sacrafice some offense. We always have one of the best offenses in baseball anyway, we aren’t tied to having to have a catcher mash.
Romine is a nice piece to have, but I don’t think he is “needed”. Martin has catcher locked up this year, and I would be more than happy with him behind the plate next year as well. Plus if you trade Romine you still have Montero, and he can be a warm body behind the plate next year as well. After that we should have a clearer idea of where Sanchez, and Murphy fit into the equation.
I agree on the value and qualities of the defensive contributions from Russell, both physical and pitching staff handling. So much that I’d prefer Romine as backup catcher (remember I have not seen the difference, only going on report), and finding a trading partner who can optimize Montero’s potential, and pay us commensurately. Sanchez and Murphy are both several years away, no?
Romine is still in double A, and because of Montero has never seen Scranton. I am not looking to promote him to the major leagues just to be the backup, there is no reason to interrupt his development like that.
The thing with comparing Montero and Romine though is that Montero could be an elite DH bat. Unless you truly don’t want him because he isn’t a catcher, it’s hard to say trade Montero because we have Romine.
Yes, they both are several years away. That’s why keeping Martin around next year would be so hopeful. You could use him and Montero (if you trade Romine) as catchers until you figure out how those two fit into the picture, if at all.
OK, I could ride for three years with Russell, assuming his defense maintains and 300 obp with occasional pop, constant heads up. I would love it if Montero can catch a good game 1.5 times a week,and hold down the fort when Russell gets hurt, I just doubt it. If that were given, or if we had a catching Molina, Romine becomes expendable.
Beane will trade him, he trades everyone eventually. Just not this year.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2004/12/oakland-athletics.html
He hasn’t even entered his 1st year of arb yet. They’ll keep him for at least another year or two. Maybe three.
He should be arb eligible after this season. I wonder if they will look to extend him though, like they did with Brett and buy out the arb years plus 1. He won’t be able to ask for the moon, and having young lefties like him is always a plus. He also doesn’t rely on the slider like Brett, so his injury risk is probably a lot less than Anderson.
That is certainly likely. Haha I did mean this year of course.
He’ll actually be arbitration eligible for the first time after this season. With Brett Anderson having Tommy John there may be more motivation to sign Gonzalez to an extension, or trade him to get more players.
If I was a player, I would NEVER sign an extension with Beane. Why give him a hometown discount? All you’re doing is increasing you trade value and screwing yourself out of FA $.
You do get a bit of extra security, and pitchers careers are always uncertain, but I don’t think it’s worth it playing for the A’s. They’ll just ship you off somewhere you may not want to play eventually. He’s going to trade you either way, so you might as well get paid by the arbitrator and sign an extension later or go FA.
A lot of players don’t like playing the arbitration game. If you can get paid, and you don’t have to deal with arbitration 2 or 3 years in a row it’s not a bad idea. If you are just dying to leave that’s a different story, but if you get hurt you are better off taking the guaranteed money.
Ho,ho, around the horn, Laird, past Nunez to Cano, and hell, yeah, out by a mile at first. Isn’t that special?
I disagree with Mike and Paul. Jeter did not intend a swing, he went around to defend himself and avoid being hit by the pitch. Rules of checked swings sb reviewed.
Gotta acknowldge that shot ‘cross the bow from Conor.
Gonzales threw the first fb down at the knees to Cano harder than I saw Banuelos throw. More smooth, didn’t need to exert himself, more finesse.
He may max out a little higher sometimes, but for the most part I think they are pretty close in velocity. Gio has the tighter curve between the two, but Banuelos may have more potential on the change. Though Gio has a nice change. They really are very similar, even down to stature.
If we do hold on to Banuelos for the long haul and he becomes Gio Gonzalez I think we would all be very happy.
Hope we do. I have a desire to see well composed pitching of this variety.
Do you have a preference on home grown vs acquired players? I personally don’t care where, or how we get players so long as they help us win. My 3 favorite players on the team are Alex, CC, and Curtis, all 3 traded for or signed. It does seem though that a lot of Yankee fans would rather have a developed prospect over a player brought in from another team.
You’ve got a point, but I guess I would like to encourage cheap talent because it should allow you to aim for talent in a wider band, rather than depending on the single sources. Spread out the resources. Love what the Rays have done.
Curtis has to be considered a very good eye on the part of Cashman, with an assist from Kevin Long. But, yeah, I appreciat talent wherever it comes from.
There may be extra satisfaction from homegrown, besides the cheap early years, there is the patience and competence to suffer those baby steps. You may be wise and practical, but I may see another Mariano in Manny.
We aren’t the Rays and Padres though. Holding onto prospects because they are cheap isn’t a good enough reason for us. We need to win every year, and money is never a problem for us. Sure if you have several cheap players all at once you can spend bigger on other parts of the team. but you are probably having to deal with struggles from those players as well.
The funny thing is he is probably more likely to be a great closer than he is a top of the rotation starter.
At the end of the day I’ll let other teams deal with the struggles and development, and then I’ll pick up the finished product. Having Granderson for Jackson now is a lot better than struggling with Granderson the whole time, or struggling with Jackson now.
Amen on Granderson, and hallelujah! That was hell for a while, but he looks to be great for a long time.
While Manny reminded me of Mo’s grace, I don’t look at his talent as tuned to the short spurt, but rather the long run. He reminded me of grandmother on the front porch rocking chair.
Ok, I’ve had enough.
The Yankees need to trade for Ubaldo Jimenez, call up Nova for the rotation, move Hughes and Colon to the bullpen, send down Dickerson and Wade, designate Logan for assignment or trade him and replace him with J.C. Romero, and if they can, trade Burnett and $1.5M to Atlanta for Derek Lowe (Yanks pay the same for Lowe as they would for Burnett for 2012 and clear Burnett’s $16.5M for 2013.)
Sabathia/Jimenez/Garcia/Lowe/Nova for the rest of the season.
Sabathia/Garcia/Jimenez/Lowe or Nova (whoever pitches better)/Sabathia Games 1 through 5 respectively for the A.L.D.S. I’d go with Lowe for Game 4 for his veteran and postseason experience.
Sabathia/Jimenez/Garcia re-signed/Lowe/Nova or Hughes for the start of 2012. Or the Yanks could trade Hughes for a #3 or better and Garcia and Nova battle for the fifth starter job. I try to re-sign Garcia before I trade Hughes.
The pen is Rivera/Robertson/Ayala/Romero/Noesi/Hughes/Colon. Send down Noesi to make room for Soriano if/when he returns and call Noesi back up in September.
If Romero replaced Logan, did well, and was re-signed along with Ayala, the Yankees 2012 bullpen would be set: Rivera/Soriano/Robertson/Feliciano/Romero/Ayala/Colon (I try to bring him back to be a reliever and if he doesn’t want to be that or he can’t cut it in spring training/whenever in early 2012, replace him with Noesi.)
As far as the offense goes, if the Yanks could get Jimenez without giving up Montero (unlikely but you never know as Colorado may take Betances and Banuelos), I would call up Montero for DH, make Posada the backup C, send down Cervelli 8/1 then call Cervelli back up for September. I would start Laird at 3B until A-Rod comes back. I would start Nunez at SS 2 games of every 7 (Jeter rests one game, DHs another), 3B 2 of every 7 (Laird is on standby for pinch-hitting and late-inning defense when the Yanks want Nunez at SS then), and 2B one of every 7 (Cano DHs on those days) so Nunez plays 5 games of every 7.
Why exactly is Colon coming out of the rotation?
Because he has shown he won’t last as what he was before his 7/7 start in his last three starts and possibly today as well. One more bad inning by him today and that’s 3 bad starts out of 4. Even if he gave the Yanks 6 serviceable innings today, look at who he would have done it against. Josh Willingham is the As cleanup hitter. In fairness to Colon if he did give 6 servicable innings, I’d give him one more start against the Os and if he stunk, out of the rotation and into the pen.
Sabathia/Jimenez/Garcia/Lowe/Nova isn’t a better rotation from hereonin than Sabathia/Burnett/Garcia/Colon/Hughes or Sabathia/Jimenez/Burnett/Garcia/Colon or Hughes? Garcia’s not coming out of the rotation so Hughes can stay there, this isn’t spring training anymore and the first half of 2010 i.e. when Hughes was great is long gone.
You really see Burnett, Colon, and Hughes (or any two of them if Jimenez is acquired) doing well in the postseason? I don’t. Any two or all three if Jimenez wasn’t acquired would most likely be an ALDS disaster or ALCS disaster if the bats did enough to advance to the next round. Who’s to say Sabathia couldn’t get hammered or be outdueled in Game 1? It’s not 100% written in stone he will win. If Jimenez joined the Yanks, one among Burnett, Colon, and Hughes isn’t making the Game 4 ALDS start since it’d be Sabathia Games 1 and 5, Garcia Game 2, Jimenez Game 3 (so the Yanks don’t start Garcia if they were down 0-2), and Burnett, Colon, or Hughes for Game 4 if Nova wasn’t in the picture. Garcia, not Burnett, Colon, or certainly Hughes, is the #2 after Sabathia, so he gets the Game 2 start in the ALDS.
I’ll amend my stance on Colon:
Six serviceable innings from him today, give him the start vs. the Os 7/30. If he sucks in that start and Hughes sucks in his next start, call up Nova to replace whoever does worse. This is with the assumption the Yanks won’t get Jimenez before then or at all.
If Nova replaces Hughes or Colon and Jimenez is acquired, Jimenez replaces whoever does worse between Nova and whoever kept his job.
If Colon and Hughes pitch well enough to have rotation jobs and Jimenez is acquired, one of them has to go to the pen cuz Burnett and Garcia aren’t going there.
If Jimenez replaces Colon or Hughes, whoever wasn’t replaced’s job should not be safe.
Well, how about that. Nunez’ swing is a fooler, down on it and Willingham is not that swift.
I’m not sure if it’s just because of the injury, or because he’s gone deeper into the season than he has in a while but Colon seems to be using his top velocity more sparingly. He can still hit 94/95, but he is more willing to go with the 90/91 with movement. As oppose to early in the year when he was really pumping the velocity. He’s been effective both ways, but it’s something to look at closer to playoff time. If it’s because of the injury he may pick up with the velocity, if it’s the season grinding on him it may go down.
yeah, I’ll bet the frequent mix is important. I haven’t taken time yet today to study his hitting the catcher’s mitt, which seemed to be an issue in the bad spell, missing down the middle.
He was mixing the 2 and 4 seam the same as he is now early on in the season, but the velocity has rubbed off of both. Early in the year he still hit 94/95 on the 4 seam later in games, and his 2 seam was more frequently 92/93. He seems to be a lot more 90/91 on the 2 seam now, and he really saves the 94/95 on the 4 seam. It just depends on if he is doing it on purpose, or if the amount of innings he has thrown/injury has taken it away. He seems to still be able to hit the top end speeds on his fastball, just not as often.
I’m wondering whether he saves, holds back, or if the flow of a hard stroke has to be married to a well-timed wrist flex, and that that equation may hold him back at times, ie didn’t work too well, so slow it down till the timing’s right.
Well done, Mr. Curtis!
an easter egg: thought he had caught it, but there it was, laying there.
Granderson is looking like he is going to pick up his first career 30-30 season. He just has to stay active on the base paths, and he’s all but a lock.
If anyone has the MLB package, Ubaldo Jimenez is going to be starting against the Diamondbacks in an hour. I’m sure the Yankees will have some scouts in the stadium as well.
It is the A’s, but this has been a good start for Colon. Control has been somewhat shaky at times, but he has thrown strikes and done his job.
If you had told me Colon would’ve been this good coming into the year I would’ve called you a liar. I’m not sure anyone saw these kind of results. Huge feather in the cap of not only Cashman, but an assist given to Tony Pena as well.
14 straight?
Hey Jack! Trade King Felix, you can lose 14 straight without him!
Let them have their fun. If talking about Felix gets someones blood flowing, I’m done saying it’s not possible. We all have dreams. haha.
I wish we had signed Fuentes over Feliciano. He’s for sure available, but I wonder if Cashman would want to trade for him. He may have some pause knowing he’s signed for next year, and with Soriano coming off the DL. He’s the perfect guy for this pen though, a lefty who can pitch to righties and has closed in the past.
You are right. But I am prejudiced against him, don’t like the odd dart throwing, though, it is effective.
That’s why he is effective. being something different, and original in baseball is usually a good thing. Especially for pitchers.
MLB Rumor has the Yankees interested in Craig Breslow. I trust Fuentes more, but I could see the Yankees not wanting him. MLB Rumor also has the Yankees with “some interest” in Tyler Clippard. It’s going to cost a lot more than the Jonathan Albaladejo they traded us to get him this time around though.
yow, don’t get hurt out there, boys. It must have cooled down, let’s have a delay.
Robertson sure doesn’t like it.
“Amen on Granderson, and hallelujah! That was hell for a while, but he looks to be great for a long time.
While Manny reminded me of Mo’s grace, I don’t look at his talent as tuned to the short spurt, but rather the long run. He reminded me of grandmother on the front porch rocking chair.”
Granderson had a much better year last season than most people give him credit for. He was awful against lefties, but his overall numbers are impressive for someone who missed as much time as he did.
Anyone who can start can in turn work out of the pen. His stature is probably one of the biggest concerns when people discuss his future in the rotation, but his fastball would also play up in the pen, and his control problems would be lessened in short outings. It’s way too early to even consider something like that, I’m just saying that he and Betances are more likely to be elite closers than they are starts. Just because it’s much harder to be a starter than it is a reliever. I think eventually one or the other will probably end up in the pen though, Betances is the leader in that race however.
When they first put Mo in the pen, many people said he was too high strung to succeed in that kind of role. Then of course when it came to Joba he was too high strung to succeed in the rotation. haha.
I didn’t see a high strung Joba starting. I saw the big guy slowing to aim his pitches lamely at a corner, since he “knew” he couldn’t use gas all game.
That’s not the Joba we’re talking about. We’re talking pre-injury Joba. That Joba was throwing 93-95 MPH starting, and topping out at 98. After the arm injury he came back a different pitcher, even still he did strikeout 12 Red Sox in a game he never got above 92 in 09.
Besides what they kept referring to was his celebrating strikeouts, which is stupid to say that’s why he should be in the pen.
Yeah, I don’t recall the meat-eater pre-injury Joba as starter, fuzzed out by the latter, first 3/4 of a season starter without success.
Joba was once a gifted starter, for one reason or another that was taken away. Too many people forget what Joba was once upon a time.
People this year were even saying he was back to his 07 self, that simple was never true. Joba out of the pen in 07 averaged 97.4 MPH on his fastball, and consistently touched 100. Once he left the mound in Texas that day he never came back the same.
Should just refer to the pre-injury Joba. That musta been the stealth choice of management. I remember his late inning work in ’07.
I understand we needed Joba in the pen for 07 or we might not have made the playoffs, but they should’ve done the right thing and let him start 2008 in Scranton as a starter. People forget Joba was drafted in 2007, and he only had 8 innings in Scranton that season before being called up to the major leagues. They rushed him because they needed him, and they never let him develop into a starter.
wow, I didn’t remember that thy had just drafted him, tho I knew he hadn’t had much prep in the minors. Didn’t know it was that short. Sounds regrettable, indeed. Think he might not have hurt his shoulder?
Nice bunt by Laird. Great steal by Nunez, shooed him home.
Joey Devine found his competence on-switch after the shower.
Devine is another guy working his way back from injury. He had a spectacular 2008 season, didn’t pitch in 09 or 10, and is working his way back this year.
45.2 IP, 0.59 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 3.24 xFIP, 9.66 K/9, 2.96 BB/9, 1.6 WAR
Just goes to show you how unpredictable bullpens are.
I just read a post on Bleacher Report that made me laugh. Most of the articles make me laugh at that place anyway, but someone actually said Nova is the equivalent of Ubaldo Jimenez. I’m not sure if that is overhyping Nova, or undervaluing Jimenez. But if I was Jimenez and someone told me that, I would punch them square in the jaw.
Bleacher report is the worst. If someone was doing a spoof piece, you really couldn’t tell the difference. Sometimes I read a headline and think it’s from the Onion Sports Network, and it turns out to be BR.
Haha. Often times I check the recent news on my phone, and 9/10 times I can tell by the headlines which is bleacher report. Half the time I don’t think they believe what they are writing. It’s good for a laugh every once in a while though.
That was a strike, the 1 – 2 on Willingham.
Only justice, that double play!
So Kay has dropped “Put it in the left column!” now, huh?
Teixeira’s defense really is a game changer. You don’t think about how important a first baseman is sometimes on defense.
Gosh, a week to go until the trade deadline and nothing substantial has happened yet. Not just for the Yanks, but anywhere. This will either be a very busy week or a big disappointment. I’m guessing busy, since so many teams are out there shopping.
You know the Yanks will pick up some bench players (Berkman/Wood/Kearns) that teams are looking to unload at the last minute, but I wonder if one of the teams playing possum with their starters (Jimenez, Garza, Shields) will start getting serious.
If I had to guess I would say none of those 3 starters get traded. The most likely to me would be Ubaldo for the simple fact that Shields won’t be dealt to us for anything, and I think the Cubs need to hang on to Garza. He really is the only reliable pitcher they have going into next season, and they would have to receive a pretty substantial package to part with someone they just got. In the end though I imagine we just do some minor moves, and all the talk ends up being a let down.
I think Cashman is pretty entrenched on both Betances and Banuelos, he’s willing to deal Montero, but at this point any big deal doesn’t go down without Manny. He held onto Hughes like he was an oil well, and he is on record as saying both Betances and Banuelos have more potential than even Hughes.
Jimenez just hit 96 in the first inning by the way. He’s been as low as 92, but he’s hit every number from that to 96 thus far. Including gassing Nady on back to back fastballs.
He struck out Chris Young on a nasty split. After the first couple of pitches he was consistently 94-95 on the fastball, topping out at 96. Very good for the first inning of work.
Yeah, but he’ll blow up eventually.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/is-ubaldo-jimenez-inconsistent/
He’s a carbon copy of AJ Burnett, don’t you know that?
Totally Burnett… Except for the stats he’s put up. Haha.
Great article Steve. I hadn’t read that, but it really does drive home the point about perceived notions and reality.
Let’s go ahead and put that one in the same category as the “He’s going to hurt his arm soon because I said so” logic.
Yeah, there’s no way Shields gets dealt to the Yanks or Sox. The Rays have already made that clear. It’s Ubaldo, Garza, Liriano or Edwin Jackson. Of those 4, Jackson is the only one likely to go somewhere, the others are all long shots.
From what I understand the Yankees have zero interest in Edwin. I like him, but I guess they figure he isn’t a true upgrade, and they can sign him in the offseason if they really want him. I would love to get John Danks from the W.Sox, but I can’t imagine them trading him now.
If we do make a trade for the rotation it needs to be with the playoffs in mind. We don’t need a back of the rotation arm to help get us to the playoffs, we need a number 2 arm that can get us over the hump. I’d rather just pass on a Kuroda type arm, as I just don’t see that kind of guy being a real difference maker.
“wow, I didn’t remember that thy had just drafted him, tho I knew he hadn’t had much prep in the minors. Didn’t know it was that short. Sounds regrettable, indeed. Think he might not have hurt his shoulder?”
There’s no way to know. But he would have been able to be developed in a better manner though, and he would have been watched and groomed as a starter. As opposed to being bounced around from role to role every few months.
Ubaldo was more 93-94, topping out at 95 in the 2nd inning. He’s mixing his pitches well though, and he has 4 K’s after two.
He ended up giving up 2 runs in that inning, but it looked much better than that.
Once again he was at 93-5, topped out at 96 again, he raised his strikeout total to 6, and he ended up giving up a little dink bloop with 2 outs that lead to 2 line drives to score 2 runs.
Justin Upton ended up driving in the runs on a line drive single, that was just over the glove of Helton.
Oh no he gave up a ground ball to Micah Owings, on a curveball to drive in a run. The AL East would destroy him meme.
Seriously though, his command isn’t as sharp as you would like early on, but his splitter is exceptionally nasty today.
4 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 3 ER.
Jimenez has certainly gotten himself into some trouble, but this Rockies defense sucks! Seth Smith turns what should’ve probably been an out into a triple, and Herrera with the infield drawn in can’t make an accurate throw home to cut down the runner coming home.
“OK, I could ride for three years with Russell, assuming his defense maintains and 300 obp with occasional pop, constant heads up. I would love it if Montero can catch a good game 1.5 times a week,and hold down the fort when Russell gets hurt, I just doubt it. If that were given, or if we had a catching Molina, Romine becomes expendable.”
——————————————————————
I don’t know about 3 years. He is under contract this season, and is arbitration eligible next season, after that I doubt the Yankees re-sign him. For this year and next though he is fine. Montero can physically squat behind the plate and catch in the big leagues, he might not be able to do it for very long, but for a few years at least if he hits it’s doable.
well, I was emphasizing that the defensive quality of catching plans, not warm bodies that can squat, are important enough to plot, before giving Romine away.
You know, I’ll bet “Chooch” Ruiz’ presence in Philly was an important factor to the Cliff Lee decision.
Jimenez’s final line isn’t good, but he didn’t get hit as hard as it looks like.
5 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 5 ER.
The defense cost him 2 runs with awful play, and he gave up a couple very soft hits. He was looking solid through 3 innings, but his control abandoned him somewhat and caused him troubles.
Even with the troubles he still showed plenty of good signs. He mixed his pitches well, especially early on, and his splitter today was one of the nastiest pitches I’ve seen all year. He was throwing his 4 seam as hard as 96 as well.
He was certainly shaky, but he also wasn’t as bad as his final line.