Monday, April 18, 2005 |
Where's Weber? Angels 6, Mariners 1
His logical replacement, a formerly effective reliever acquired for a song on his way down (the hard way) looks like it's going to be Brendan Donnelly. This is a point I made back in September last year after he gave up two earned runs in two innings. Now, in today's game, Donnelly didn't give up anything, but what bugs me is that
- Seattle is a weak-hitting team. Let's not kid ourselves: Ichiro isn't a home-run hitter, Spiezio is basically done as a hitter, and Reed is a green rookie with not even 100 at bats yet.
- Donnelly gave up a couple near-home-runs, one to Scott Spiezio (his first hit of the year) and another to Ichiro, the first a double that nearly duplicated his 2002 World Series Game 6 homer, the second a warning-track fly ball.
ERA IP AVG OBP SLG WHIP K/9 K/BB
=============================================
6.75 6.2 .357 .379 .607 1.65 8.10 6.00
Now, obviously, he's a victim of small sample size here, but what jumps out at you is the 1.65 WHIP, a career high, and nearly double his previous years' efforts. Obviously, he can't continue playing Jarrod Washburn and expecting to be effective in middle relief. Maybe it's a little early to be panicking, but the Angels ought to think about bolstering their bullpen; "solutions" like Esteban Yan are unacceptable.
For similar reasons, I'm underwhelmed by Paul Byrd's efforts, though they are against a marginally better 2005 Mariners team. His first efforts, a eight-hit, six-run blowout against the Rangers and a nine-hit, four-run bitchslapping at the pansy hands of the Royals, just weren't that different in terms of hits or walks. Today's victory is a textbook example of why won-loss numbers are a terrible way to judge a pitcher.
Unfortunately, I was only able to see the first third of the game on Gameday (Gameday Audio seems to still be broken for whatever reason), and I caught innings four through six on the radio. I would have loved to see him pitch against former Dodger Adrian Beltre; Belly almost knocked one into the stands, but damp, cool air at Angel Stadium kept his sure dinger in the yard.
(Update: Josh at Pearly Gates does not agree exactly, saying Lackey could learn a thing or two from Byrd. That's possible; I'd much rather have the win no matter how many hits get "scattered", as they say, but I'm not at all sanguine that Byrd's current MO is something we want to see replicated across the pitching staff. Give me a few more strikeouts and a few less hits and then we'll talk.)
Aside from the pitching, it's clear that Mike's aggressiveness on the basepaths is once again costing the team more outs. Figgins got cut down at second trying to stretch a single into a double; I suppose I can forgive him that one, because it was against Randy "Penguin Arm" Winn in left. D-Mac, who has no business trying to steal anything, got mowed down by a freightcar length. Risk is one thing, but stupid chances are another.
Offensively, what went right for the Angels was the hitting; what went wrong was that it only happened against former teammate Aaron Sele. The good news for the Angels is that Aaron Sele is in the same division and gets his paychecks from the Mariners. The bad news is that if he keeps this up much longer, the club may get to see Felix Hernandez every fifth turn.
Newer› ‹Older
 |
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.