Game Thread: June 3, 2007

Wedge:  Lee has work to do; regressed from last start; fast-ball happy; will sit down with Carl;
has to do better

Hey, how about those Cavs?

If Sowers has a bad day today, JoBo may have to pitch in a non-save situation just to get some work.

Happy birthday, Pronk.

Plus, it seems like all of his homers lately are just no doubters-they sound gone and we always get a moment of Victor watching that thing fly.

But he's just pitching like crap.

Do you think the Cavs team shop is open today?

Sowers has 5 QS for the season, but only 1 in May.

It will be interesting to see at the end of the year how Willis' current and former pupils stack up at the end-of-the-year when they decide whether to bring him back.

Wait, is there baseball on today?

http://10702135442.baseball.sportsline.com/players/playerpage/583492

Is your apartment in Buffalo still available for sublet?

Many thanks,

Jeremy

Granted, there's not a real viable replacement option now (Stanford?) but it's still frustrating as hell.

Wedge wants to try to win today.

I hope Fauston bucks the trend. With his stuff you'd think he'd strike more guys out.

9.1 IP, 15H, 10R, 7ER

So, ignore the 5-run bottom of the ninth for a second.  Close your eyes and imagine that we've got a 2.5 game lead and the Tigers are about to make it 1.5.  The bullpen really isn't that good, or at least, this has been its worst weekend since the New York series I think.

He needs to go.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2891875

Starters:

1. C.C. Sabathia
   
2. Fausto Carmona
   
3. Paul Byrd
   
4. Jake Westbrook
   
5. Adam Miller
   

6. Cliff Lee
   
7. Joe Borowski
   
8. Rafael Betancourt
   
9. Fernando Cabrera
   
10. Aaron Fultz
    
11. Tom Mastny
    
12. Rafael Perez / Ed Mujica
    

13. Victor Martinez
    
14. Kelly Shoppach  
    

15. Josh Barfield
    
16. Casey Blake
    
17. Ryan Garko
    
18. Jhonny Peralta
    
19. Mike Rouse
    

20. David Dellucci
    
21. Franklin Gutierrez
    
22. Jason Michaels
    
23. Trot Nixon
    
24. Grady Sizemore
    

How good does Perez look, though? A couple more innings like that and he'll need a realtor in Cleveland.

It's not officially over yet, due to a rain delay, but it's probably not too early for some observations.  :-)

1. It probably would have been Sowers anyway who would have been sent back to Buffalo even if he had pitched somewhat well over his next start or two, but with today's performance, I'm guessing it'll be Sowers who will head to Buffalo and Lee will "work on his stuff" here, though Lee really is doing no better than Sowers, and to me, his stuff doesn't seem much better than Sowers either.  Why isn't he using his curveball more?  That makes no sense to me.

2.  You know Pronk still isn't right when he's chasing obvious balls up and out of the strike zone like he did in one of his at-bats today on a 3-2 count.  Will he ever find his 2006 form this year or will he be inconsistent/streaky the entire year?

3. Just like Fultz can't seem to handle bases-loaded situations too well, it might be better to keep Borowski out of non-save situations.  He seems to have an allergic reaction to them.  :-)

He can replace Phillips as the former Indian flash point.

I don't live in the area, but I see at least parts of most every game.  To me, his stuff isn't what it was last year...and I realize he's not a "stuff" guy.  But after a couple of starts last year, I remember him throwing 88 pretty regularly.  This year it's more like 85.  With his delivery, hitters had a tough time picking him up.  He'd get a lot of hitters to be late and pop up or he'd jam them and get them to bounce to third.  That isn't happening much this year.

A couple of more things support this theory...his K rate in 2005 was over 8 per 9 innings, including 7.65 per 9 innings in AA...he wasn't striking that many guys out with the stuff he's showing now, that's for sure.  Also, the stuff he's showing now wouldn't get him drafted in the first round...twice.  His numbers this year support it as well...his GO/FO ratio is way down this year, and his K rate is also way down (unbelievably).  Also, his walk rate is up, which could be the result of worse stuff.

Basically, I think he's either got a tired arm, is hurt, or is way out of whack mechanically.  None of that is fatal.  Hopefully his stuff will return later in the year in Buffalo, assuming that he'll be there shortly.  I think he can turn into a pitcher with an ERA in the low 4's, especially if he can improve that vastly inadequate change-up.  But if they need to move him to get a quality set-up guy, I wouldn't be opposed to it because he isn't a high-ceiling guy.  But it's not just as simple as saying that he was lucky last year.  He's been unlucky this year to a degree, but his stuff is off as well.

Getting my money's worth on my first post...