Throughout the season, I've been trying to look for any sign that Fausto Carmona is going to become a dominating pitcher again, or at least to transition to decent one. He's been healthy for the entire season, took a lengthy furlough in Arizona, and has had a very wide berth due to the non competitiveness of the team. Probably the only left to try is a new pitching coach, and that rarely works, so I've just about given up on him. The numbers this season tell a very stark and depressing story: 101.1 innings pitched, 63 strikeouts, 63 walks, 118 hits, 80 runs, which translates to a 6.48 ERA and a WHIP of 1.786, both of which are the highest in the American League for a pitcher with that amount of innings pitched. In other words, he's been the worst starting pitcher in baseball.

Tonight Carmona allowed five earned runs in 5.1 innings, and it could have been much worse, since he allowed 12 base runners in his short start. He struggled to get through the first, and although he worked out of the inning allowing just a run, he'd already thrown more than 25 pitches. And this was a middle-of-the-road offense missing its second-best hitter.

The good news from the game was that Matt LaPorta had a good night. Matt went 2-for-4, including a ninth inning home run off Joe Nathan. LaPorta's really cooled off since his late August surge, and most likely due to teams starting to game plan against him. Now it's his turn to make adjustments against AL pitching, and hopefully tonight's at-bats are the start of that.

Finally, a word about Joe Mauer's season: wow.

Next Up: Laffey vs. Blackburn, 1:10 PM. Also, the last game the Indians will play in the Metrodome.

via www.fangraphs.com