Game 146: Rangers 9, Indians 1

In borrow a term from golf, David Huff had a snowman on his pitching card.

This was to be an important test for David Huff: could his pitching style survive against a very good lineup and a very hitter-friendly ballpark? Well, the answer, at least this night, was no. But I think his failure was that he went away from what's made him successful this season; he turned back into the old David Huff, throwing pitch after pitch on the outside corner. The successful Huff had thrown inside as well.

It was a minor miracle that Huff lasted as long as he did, thanks mostly to Shelley Duncan. The left fielder made three straight catches against the left field wall, each successive catch better than the one before. After his third one, he had a priceless expression on his face, almost as if he couldn't believe what he just did.

But eventually the balls the Rangers hit were beyond the reach of even Shelley Duncan. He would pitch to eleven batters in the fourth inning, and give up six hits and a walk. Included in those six hits were two home runs, a two-run shot by Mike Napoli, and a Josh Hamilton grand slam. Thanks to a Lonnie Chisenhall error, five of the runs he'd give up in the inning would be unearned, so his ERA won't take that bad a hit, but regardless of what the official statistics say, this was a brutal pitching performance.

via www.fangraphs.com