I’ll have more on Wednesday’s game tomorrow — unless today’s game is equally deep — but here’s the question I’m pondering.
Two guys started for the White Sox:
First-inning Jake Peavy: 1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Rest-of-the-game Peavy: 5 1/3, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Do you think his turnaround was real?
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Minor league roundup:
- Columbus 4, Charlotte 2
- Lucas Harrell was OK: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 2 K. He got 11 groundouts to one flyout.
- Dayan Viciedo went 1-for-3 with his first steal. He struck out once.
- Ramon Castro went 0-for-3 with a K; Tyler Flowers went hitless in his only at-bat.
- C.J. Retherford’s 0-for-3 extends his slump to 2-for-32.
- Birmingham 6, Tennessee 5
- Christian Marrero went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout; so did John Shelby.
- Winston-Salem 13, Frederick 3
- Nevin Griffith improved to 4-0 despite control problems: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K.
- Santos Rodriguez walked a batter over two otherwise spotless innings.
- Jon Gilmore went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two walks.
- Justin Greene tripled and homered in four at-bats, and also stole a base.
- Eduardo Escobar went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk; Brandon Short singled twice.
- Lakewood 4, Kannapolis 3
- Miguel Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Nick Ciolli was 2-for-5.
- Kyle Colligan went 1-for-5 with four K’s; Trayce Thompson walked once and struck out twice.
- Matthew Hopps allowed two runs on five hits and a walk over seven innings. He struck out four and induced 13 groundouts.
Peavy certainly had a dominant few innings where, for once this season, he was Peavy-esque. But I didn’t believe he was going to keep being crap after his first start because of the sample size, so I can hardly say it’ll be all roses based on this one.
Besides, we’ve seen it before. A rough first inning, then the pitcher (Count comes to mind though my memory may be failing me and it’s 4 am) and then he comes back and rocks faces for the rest of the game. Sometimes, that carries over for a few starts. Sometimes, it means nothing.
If nothing else, it reinforces my belief (based on me wanting it to be true) that the Peavy we saw last season is locked away in there somewhere, and that the guy we’ve seen for most of this season is not all we’ve got.
But the velocity is still missing to the tune of several miles an hour and Peavy has yet to put together one really Peavy-ish game. I say give him one more start, and if we don’t see more of what we saw tonight (namely, command) or even a decent start with the return of some of his velocity, DL him with inflammation of the ERA and let him work it out in Charlotte or something. Innings like the first one today are not helping Peavy or the Sox. (As for who we call up, well, uhh…. with Hudson struggling I’m not sure who we have that’s a better option than Peavy, so I hope he improves and quick.)
Side note: I caught the first inning of the radio broadcast and Farmio mentioned that sometimes guys have a rough first, pull it together, and go back out and shut down the opposition. (He drew comparisons to Contreras, who went on to be dominant for the next year and a half- we can hope). I was very happy he was right. It’s sort of amazing how long Peavy lasted after a 40+ pitch first inning and a nice reminder of what we should have when he sorts it out. My predictions (read: hopes and dreams) for the rest of the season: starting pitching sorts it out toward the end of May, everyone starts hitting and team OBP goes up (while HR rates drop, I think we’ll see a lot of doubles eventually). Sox are more productive and steadily climb in the standings while Minnesota has pitching trouble. Minnesota’s starters and pen combine to be below average, but a dominant Liriano keeps them afloat and Mystery Reliever X wins the closer job, shutting down everyone (Rauch of course explodes and turns into Linebrink). The Minnesota offense continues to score and don’t miss a beat when Morneau ends his season with another back injury. The Sox bullpen returns to similar form from last season, with a few guys being reliable and a bunch of them being terrifying for the fans. Still, the AL Central is mostly a two team race entering September. The Sox, led by the red-hot 1-2 punch of Pierre and Beckham (at this point in the fantasy Pierre is stealing everything and actually hitting line drives OVER defender’s heads, leading to shocking extra bases) overtake Minnesota with about two weeks left to play and pay them back for all those times the Sox have lead the division all season only to see it slip away. This got bizarrely specific at one point and it’s now nearing 4:30 so I think I’ll wrap it up there.
tl;dr need more proof before I declare Peavy back
Posted by mechanicalturk | 29. Apr, 2010, 4:23 amoh god this is much too long
Posted by mechanicalturk | 29. Apr, 2010, 4:24 amplease add more pictures next time
Posted by fustercluck | 29. Apr, 2010, 8:17 amIn this dream does Ozzie say “You know what? Vizquel should only be out there for defensive purposes, never batting anywhere but 9th. And I think Kotsay probably actually sucks. I don’t think I’m going to play him anymore unless I really have to.”?
Posted by Shinons | 29. Apr, 2010, 10:50 amTwo points
1. Peavy was still facing a Kinsler and Cruz “less” team and he got his tits lit. Im becomming concerned the real league is too much for him.
2. Juan Pierre bats in the 7th and 9th of a close game with guys on both times. Jones better have been dead, dying, or gone missing.
That is all, much more and I will have an ulcer.
Posted by knoxfire30 | 29. Apr, 2010, 9:48 amI’m gonna go ahead and question the sanity of a manager that continues to use Randy Williams in key situations to clean up our pitchers messes when he’ll come in and deliver results like:
-Walk the bases loaded on 4 straight pitches and promptly get lifted
-Pitch around a 23 year old switch hitter with a weeks worth of MLB experience so lefties can hammer his mid 80s inside meatballs
& explain to me why Juan freakin Pierre who grounded into what 2 double plays and has had a beyond horrible series is used try and get back in this game??? What exactly are the chances he picks up his first extra base hit or improves on his 1/18 RISP in that situation. Beyond horrible managing especially when Andruw Jones could have & should have been used against a reliever that was hit all inning.
Posted by danks50 | 29. Apr, 2010, 10:59 amI am 10,000% with you Danks50. This Williams dolt has already chipped in to insure at least three losses. Why is this bum being used? Having a shitbird like Williams on your roster points up the fact that you are NOT trying to win. Williams has NEVER BEEN SUCCESSFUL AS A MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHER. UNLIKE PEAVY HE HAS NO CAREER. WHY DOES KW, Oz and Coop thing that’s going to change?!! For the love of God, send him packing and bring up ANY WARM BODY.
Not lifting Pierre for a PH was absurd. Ozzie does that sort of crap all the time. Wake me up when Ozzie’s finally dumped.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 1:52 pmIsn’t Williams a warm body?
Posted by blah | 29. Apr, 2010, 6:22 pmNever could I have imagined Peavy would be this bad. Has all that time pitching on a garbage team in games that basically don’t matter ruined him? Who knows anything at this point?
The only good news I can find is that if they can keep this up for another three or four weeks, the season’s over and I can concentrate fully on my golf game.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 11:01 amPadres were in the playoffs once or twice with peavy I believe.
Posted by knoxfire30 | 29. Apr, 2010, 11:56 amThe POINT is they’ve been among the worst franchises in baseball for the last few years. Long enough for Peavy to forget how to pitch in games that could matter.
Next the the word “pedantic” in the dictionary we find Knox’s photo.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 1:59 pmRick, wouldn’t a more obvious explanation be that moving from the National League and baseball’s most pitcher-friendly park to a home run paradise in the American League would hurt the guy? Or that he’s injured? Or that his mechanics are messed up as he claims? Those things all seem a lot more likely to me than that he has suddenly forgotten how to compete or just doesn’t care.
And anyway, currently the 2010 White Sox look a lot more like the 2008 Padres than the 2006 Padres, so if he really is at home on a “garbage” team, he should be doing fine right now.
Posted by bigfun | 29. Apr, 2010, 2:13 pmDude, you’re kind of a dick. Chill.
Posted by conor | 29. Apr, 2010, 3:20 pmWe’re all pissed as hell for how the Sox are playing and for the realization that this is a team with far too many marginal players and a wacked-out manager who is going to either: A) punch someone in the dugout B) get a nasty, Mel Gibson-esque DUI or C) go back home to Venezuela and become Hugo Chavez’ Minister of Sport.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 3:44 pmYou could make the argument that these early season games don’t matter.
Posted by blah | 29. Apr, 2010, 6:23 pmAnd how would we recognize his picture anyway?
Posted by fustercluck | 30. Apr, 2010, 8:24 amYes bf, and all those things have already been said. The point really is that it doesn’t matter, which is why I wrote “why knows anything at this point” in my previous post. I mean, is this the second or third time Peavy’s noticed a flaw in his mechanics and felt it was “fixed”?
The fact that it’s the WALKS that are killing him would seem to at least mitigate the AL rosters/ pitcher-friendly park theories. And I do think Peavy cares, it may be that, as I tangentially suggest, he cares too much.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 2:30 pmEither Peavy is injured, or he’ll end up having a fine season. His current walk rate (6.28 per 9!) is significantly higher than his career walk rate (2.98), and there’s no way it stays up there all season. Walks, of course, have little to do with switching leagues and park, and they’ve been his biggest problem, so I’d be hesitant to start with all the “OMG AL” talk.
His home runs are up, though, which was expected. His current rate is 1.26 HR/9, while he has a career .91 HR/9, most likely as the result of pitching in Petco all those years. But again, it’s not the home runs that are killing him.
Basically, he’ll get his shit together, or hit the DL.
Posted by marshlands | 29. Apr, 2010, 3:30 pmSure, I’m not saying it’s necessarily an AL/NL thing. Although it’s a lot easier to get away with walking guys when you have a pitcher coming up for an easy out.
His fastball is not that much slower, but it’s getting creamed – is he locating it poorly or is it moving differently? Someone with more analytical knowledge than me needs to pull apart his pitch/fx or something. Pale Hose Pariah hasn’t updated yet for last night’s game. Maybe we’ll get some Peavy analysis then.
Posted by bigfun | 29. Apr, 2010, 4:15 pmBrooksBaseball has been down the past few days, but it looks like it’s back. I’m planning on looking into his swings and misses tonight.
Posted by Jim Margalus | 29. Apr, 2010, 5:46 pmWell, at least we won one today. It required a huge gift from the Texas bullpen, but a win’s a win. Konerko’s 10 dingers in April are impressive. In his contract year, with Rome burning all around him, all Paulie has done is lead the league in homers. A good kick in the ass for Teahen for his three Ks and his 4th error which led to two runs. This dufus pencils out to about 27 errors for the year. Great pick-up Kenny! Loved the extension too! Pierre is simply hopeless. His pop out with the tying run at third and one out is all we’ve come to know from this piece of rotting sewage. Kotsay has a banner day with two walks, but still managed to lower his average to .111. Yes, he’s our DH.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 4:52 pmToo soon…
Posted by Shinons | 29. Apr, 2010, 5:00 pmWaiting and hoping for the day to eat my words. Seriously doubt I’ll have to though.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 5:18 pmThat was in response to “we won one today.” Bobby was in the process of making it interesting. As for the rest, Pierre has thoroughly taught me my lesson for defending him.
Posted by Shinons | 29. Apr, 2010, 5:42 pmYou’re right, I was counting on the win because Texas seemed to lose interest offensively (and don’t they have as sorry a line-up as you’ve seen without Kinsler and Cruz?) and then Jenks almost blows it. That would have been the crowning disaster of the season — so far of course. Much has been made of Jenks’ gradual deterioration. I hope he has come gas left in the tank, but he sure as hell ain’t worth his contract. Barring some unforeseen turnaround, next year we have to drunk boy, eh fat boy, eh, Jesus boy go.
Posted by ricksch | 29. Apr, 2010, 7:07 pmAfter all the complaining about Alexei’s ability to bunt, he lays one down today, for what? Juan Pierre to make some outs? COOL GUYS.
Posted by marshlands | 29. Apr, 2010, 5:03 pmFuck bunting. Dude needs to get hits.
Posted by blah | 29. Apr, 2010, 6:28 pmOr have more than 1 walk this year. :(
Posted by marshlands | 29. Apr, 2010, 8:08 pm