And here's the comeback win.
There you go; clean win against a division rival, and then a gritty, hard-fought comeback won by The Albert and scrubbinis Dunc'n'Miles in equal parts. Is the late June bad taste in your mouth gone yet? I mean, give it time, but certainly the Cardinals couldn't have afforded to let their skid run through the all-star break--and guaranteeing a series split is as good a way as any to prevent that.
Of course, the win glosses over the fact that Young Reyes hasn't resembled the pitcher who almost no-hit the White Sox in several starts. Is it because of LaDunc's ever-insistent stance on utilizing a two-seam fastball he can't throw? Well, here's what a cursory glance at his game log turns up:
Strike% K:BB Groundout%
thru shutout 69% 7.00 36.2
post-shutout 56% 1.20 58.1
Am I ready to attribute all of that to an overriding demand on Reyes to throw lots of sinkers? No. For one thing, his first start after the shutout he induced four groundouts and eight flyouts. And for another, these numbers would look similar if he was just having a rough couple of starts, or if he was working on adjusting to a league adjusting to him. But they're certainly troubling, and if he has changed his approach, it's... probably not a good plan. More groundouts don't matter when the side-effect is allowing more baserunners.
posted by Fibber @ 11:39 PM
2 Comments:
I keep hearing people suggest reyes has begun nibbling, especially these last two starts. Maybe that's Duncan and laRussa trying to get him to pitch to contact, but not let it get hit hard, I don't know. I'd hope that they would be smart enough to say, "Hey this kid's doing alright his way. let's not change his overall approach, maybe just give him a few hints on how to be more effective with it."
As for me, I liked that reyes seemed like a guy that went after hitters, would try to strike them out. If nothing else, that can make the hitters be aggressive, which might keep his pitch count down, which is something we might want to consider when dealing with a pitcher who has a history of arm problems.
Yeah, I'm starting to freak out a little already. I haven't been able to watch, so I don't notice if he is trying to throw 2 seamers. It just seems he's lost the killer instict or he's just struggling with his command. Problem with that is, he's never really struggled with his command.
It's either duncism or he's just trying to be too fine. i dunno.
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