Sunday, May 02, 2004 |
Pickoff Moves
Rubber Dickey
R.A. Dickey, the Rangers' newfound Cy Young winner, halted the Bosox 4-1 tonight in 8 2/3 innings to sweep the Rangers' homestand. I mention this because his last time facing the Angels, he held the team down to only one earned run. His present line of 4.32 ERA, 5.08 K/9, 1.73 K/BB doesn't seem to me to be ace stuff -- but he's pulled the plug on the hottest lineup in baseball tonight. In short, he's living off his WHIP of 1.33, a number well below his career norms. He'll get eaten alive eventually and descend to earth as the pitcher we all knew and blasted.Expos 6, Dodgers 4
The Dodgers had to lose eventually, but to the Expos? There were several moments in yesterday's game when the Dodgers could have blown it, but stubbornly refused to do so. However, the big problem today was the empty hits and a lack of timely hitting. Today, while the team hit reasonably well, they miss Milton Bradley's bat... and, to some degree, Shawn Green's, whose shoulder continues to give him trouble.Angels 3, Twins 1
There was a short reliever... but his name was not Troy Percival. If yesterday's save was a gem, today's was a total mess, with Percy loading the bases. Though he claims that was what he wanted to do, you'll have to color me skeptical as I'd just as soon he ... uh ... strike the guy out. Or get an out some other way. Jeez.
Who made me a believer...
Update: Richard suggests that back-to-back starts may not be agreeing with Percy's arm, and it sounds like a reasonable theory, especially considering his recent injury history.
Now then. Lack. 5 K's, 7 innings, 1 earned run. Damn good work. Ramon, your situation's getting increasingly dire.
Guillen: .263/.333/.379. Two RBIs won't make up for that, but it helps.
Figgins: .348/.400/.565. How impressive is that? He's got a higher SLG than our alleged left-field slugger? Eckstein: you've got your work cut out for you. Your mission is to boot Figgy from the starting shortstop position, despite your belief that you'll start Monday.
God, this team's spending way too much time on the bench; now Salmon's going to take a mini-vacation. Some reliever named Hensley just got called up to the big club to take his spot for 15 days. Guess that means Sele's going to be on a short leash if he gets any "spot starts", eh?
Update: Richard's pretty impressed with Hensley's 17 K's, 3 BB's, and 0.59 ERA in 15 1/3 innings at altitude in Salt Lake. No question that's good, but the statheads at BP think he's more like a 3.29 EqERA, 5.8 EqK/9, 2.9 EqBB/9 kinda guy -- in other words, not really that impressive. We'll get to see which guy shows up presently, though it should be noted for the record that they didn't think Gregg would go anywhere, either. (Whether this is because his name never appeared in Moneyball or for other reasons is best left to the authors to decide.)
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