Today's Pitching Mysteries

[John Black]

I realize we can't win every game and Shields is no slouch to compete against, but I find (at least) two things about our pitching today quite strange. Notice that I leave Schlereth out of it. The guy has a world of speed-n-stuff, but just does not seem able to bring it to bear when needed. Pity.

 

With Verlander, I cannot help but wonder whether some member of our "brain trust" should not have seen "the problem" (whatever it might have really been) sooner. He had no trouble whatsoever with the 6th, 7th, nor 8th innings (at least in terms of demonstrable results), nor did the Tiger batting drag on during the bottom of the 8th. Yet (as JeffW noted from personal observation) he comes out for the 9th and "it" is gone. He gives up two hard singles (with a whiff in the middle) and there is a visit to the mound. One would not expect that Verlander himself would admit anything was wrong, but "the visit" gives the indication that "somebody" was getting concerned. So now the bullpen is "working" and they may be trying to buy a little time. Then we have a W and a WP (scoring run #1). We now have a 2-1 lead, but there are two runners on with only 1 out. Perhaps time for a move??? No, leave him in for one more hit to tie the score.

 

Skipping over Schlereth who simply came in to W the bases loaded ................

 

...... we come to Valverde. My very 1st question is - why Valverde? (at least at this moment). It is no longer a "closer" situation and he is historically suspect when that is the case. Further, I would have opted for Benoit (who I believe to be the fundamentally better pitcher anyway) at this moment, but why was he *not* warmed up and ready to come in???  I have this ugly feeling that this goes right back to Leyland *overworking* Benoit during Sunday's marathon (the most pitches he had thrown in years in a single outing) - so that now he is "not available". It could also be that he is wrestling with the flu-like thing that has hit several others. IAE, I would still not have turned to Valverde, but rather either Dotel or Coke (depending on the R/L situation).

 

I guess I just have this problem (which also goes back to last year's playoffs) with the way Leyland keeps getting himself in a trap where he has to leave Benoit a/o Valverde in a game far longer than he should.

 

JtE