Cruelty to Animals Caught on Tape
June 17, 2008The Battle of Ohio That You Likely Don’t Know About
June 18, 2008Rockies 10, Indians 2 (box)
“It just didn’t happen for us,” [Indians pitcher Paul] Byrd said.
Us, Paul? Not to point fingers, but Byrd has now given up 10 earned runs over the past two outings – totalling seven innings pitched. On a team that has been plagued by a lack of offense and the occasional bullpen meltdown, you simply cannot afford your starting pitcher to allow five earned runs in four innings pitched.
Byrd allowed two more home runs last night, taking his total to 19 – the most in the American League.
Given that the game was in Colorado, I’m wondering if there was any thought given to possibly skipping his spot in the rotation. Yes, it wouldn’t be a vote of confidence in Byrd, but it would give us a better shot at keeping the opponents batting average to a minimum while keeping his trade value up – something that needs to be done if the team turns to sell.
Byrd’s comments are not exactly sitting well with me.
“Honestly, I thought I threw the ball well,” he said. “I’m a fly-ball pitcher, and I got some fly balls. It just didn’t work out tonight. If we played to the left, they hit it to the right, and vice versa. It’s one of those where I just made the pitches, and it just didn’t work out.”
It’s as if he has zero sense of urgency at a very crucial point in the season. Yes, we shouldn’t even be in this situation, but for a guy who is now 3-7 on the season, owning up to some of this would be a start. It didn’t work out last night – or six of the nights previous to last.
To point out something good, Casey Blake was the only non-pitcher to not record a hit on the game. If we could have strung a few of them together, the outcome may have been a bit closer.
But in the same, if Grandma had balls, she’d be Grandpa.
The Tigers won again, allowing us to now be sharing third-place at 6.5 games behind. Bring on Aaron Laffey – a guy who gets a few more ground ball outs and has an ERA of 2.83.
3 Comments
Let’s offer Byrd to the Yankees for Cano and Joba. Let them see how it feels to assume we can get good players for nothing.
Who didn’t see Byrd pitching in Colorado as having “disaster” written all over it?
[waiving hand in air]
/wedge