Read the game wrap: Doubled up in Arlington
Rick Porcello hasn’t had an easy go of it this season. He’s managed to pitch around some struggles, but the Angels hit him pretty good. Already things like “sophomore slump” are being bandied about and with one more rough outing [air quotes]clever[air quotes] will start calling him Por-shell-o. A strong outing against the Rangers would certainly help quell that talk.
In actuality there is nothing wrong with Porcello:
He’s getting more ground balls, striking out more, walking less, keeping the ball in the park better, and the only thing that isn’t happening is that his balls in play aren’t being converted to outs. He’s also giving up fewer line drives. Porcello is fine.
Colby Lewis goes for the Rangers. He has 18 K’s in 17.1 innings this season, including a 10 strike out effort against the Indians. He is prone to the walk though with 10 allowed over his 3 starts.
Magglio Ordonez is sore and will get his first day off today.
Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers – April 25, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
Looking at the bright side, we have a pinch hitter available off the bench!
Is it safe to say that Maggs has re-emerged as one of the premiere hitters in the AL?
I suppose it depends on how you define premiere. He’s going to hit for a good average and drive in over 100, but I’d still be surprised if he hits 20 home runs. When I think of premiere think of Miggy, Mauer, A-Rod, etc.
I guess the only thing different I’ve noticed about Porcello this year is that it seems like a lot of his pitches are drifting back over the middle of the plate. But I agree with Billfer… there’s nothing wrong with him at all.
I noticed that too. He’s getting tail-end movement on his pitches like Fernando Rodney.
AJAX!!! homerun numero uno!
Wow. Way to go kid.
Action Jackson sure put a charge into that one!
I really like batting Santiago 2nd today, he’s been on one of his hot streaks, and has been running the bases well.
Love the first inning runs and getting Porcello a lead to work with.
Hopefully we can get Porcello a bushell full of runs to start the game.
Drive 100 runs and bat 300 but not a premiere hitter. So Ty Cobb wasnt a premiere hitter his 5 hr were the equivalent of today 15 hrs. Wade Boggs ,were also 20 hrs batter . Neither premiere? RBI are what count no matters how they came.
Tony Gwinn 338 avg Hits 3,141 Home runs 135 Runs batted in 1,138
Magglio1 .312 . 1996 281 1159
I get your point .. not saying you have to hit 30 home runs to be a top hitter. But I still think there’s a difference between an elite hitter and a good hitter. At this point, I think Magglio is still a good hitter but not elite. I don’t think opposing pitchers would fear him like they would Cabrera or Mauer.
“They’re going to try and score him”? Try? LOL good thing he went for it.
I like what Leyland done to the bottom of the line-up with Avila 8th and Sizemore 9th. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Santiago batting 2nd and Damon batting 3rd for awhile. We can just move Magglio down to the 5th spot to protect Cabrera.
Porcello’s results are too much like Rodney’s too. Movement doesn’t mean much when you can’t control it. Location, location, location.
Have the Tigers had a multi HR game yet this year?
Haven’t they learned yet …….you can’t run on AA.
yikes, Porcello is all out of sorts right now. His pitches are up in the middle of the plate and he’s just getting crushed.
Now who woulda thought we’d ever see that, Dontrelle preparing to relieve Porcello…
Porcello is really struggling and the pen is kind of thin today with Thomas and Bonine pitching 3 ip each yesterday. Is Willis available or are we just going to have to leave him out there.
The worst part is that he cant be send to AAA.
Let’s hope Rick can settle down a bit and get into a groove. First pitch ground-out is a good start.
Perhaps he’s getting tired (only 75 pitches though), but his fastball is 1-2 mph slower than it was in the 2nd inning. He seems to be locating it better. I wonder if he was overthrowing… trying too hard. Could just be luck, but now he’s getting the ground balls we’re accustomed to seeing. I wonder what his deal is. Any ideas?
I would guess it’s overthrowing instead of bad luck. He made bad pitches up in the zone and middle of the plate and they got crushed. No luck involved with that.
Yeah, I was referring to the 3rd and 4th innings. He was getting ground balls instead of hard line drives. I wonder if he settled down, or if the hitters were just ‘missing’ his meatballs.
is there ANYBODY who can throw a strike on this team?? …. 🙁
IMO Willis has an emotional problem. He is suffering from an anxiety disorder of some kind. He shows all the signs and history of it. Too bad, really. If I am right it will be the hardest thing he ever does to recognize it and eventually cope with it because there is no magic cure.
Alcohol. It cures my anxiety when I watch Willis.
After 6+ beers, Willis starts looking better and better.
Is it just me…..or are the umpires calling of balls & strikes leaving something to be desired this year?
I’ve notices that too…even more so than normal, including Damon’s two K’s in Anaheim and Ni’s strikeout today of Young.
IMHO, it is time to go the the electronic strike zone. Leave the umps back there to do all the other stuff.
It’s time to end the Willis experience, and to bring up Galarraga.
That is all.
I agree that we need to call-up Galarraga, but not in Willis spot. Willis has been our 2nd most effective starting pitcher so far. Porcello should be sent down to the minors. He’s been garbage.
I’ll give Porcello more of a chance the Willis. Willis looked like the Willis of the last two years in his one inning. He walked the bases full!!! He now has 10 walks.
Porcello’s control isn’t good at all either. Worse part is that he lost his sinker. He’s in the exact same boat that Galarraga was in last season when he couldn’t find his sinker anymore. It’s a tough pitch to get back because it has so much to do with timing.
What about throwing the sinker has to do with timing?
Yeah, a sinker is just a 2-seamer with enough pronation to turn the ball over. There are plenty of different grips for it though.
Timing with his throwing arm and front leg follow-though. I think his release point is too early.
In general, if the release point is early, the pitches will be up over the plate too much. If the release point was late, there would be more pitches near or in the dirt. I watched him throw and looked at the pitch fx also, and he’s definitely leaving his pitches up too much.
It’s not the results that hate the most either. It’s the pitch count. 4 innings and 92 pitches is not good at all. I hate to see him throw long stressful innings like he did Today. This is the kind of stuff that could ruin him.
But that’s true of any pitch, not just the 2 seam. It doesn’t make it harder to find.
What an ugly, ugly game. On the bright side, our pen (not including Willis here) has been sick as of late.
Yeah…They’ve been great, but too bad they will be burnt out by the All Star game.
I don’t think we should call down someone for Porcello, but maybe we should skip his turn in the rotation next time. The kid pitched in more innings than ever before last year, and for him, they were more stressful innings than he’d ever encountered. I think a little rest is all he needs.
My prognosis: They win tomorrow, it’s a totally acceptable result on a death trip of a road trip. They were never going to go 8-5, they win tomorrow, move on.
1. Porcello, I am somewhere between Bilfer’s optimism and the wing nut ‘send him down’ crowd. It’s not that I think he’s lost it, but pitching is so much a ‘feel’ thing it’s completely possible he has momentarily lost it this early in his career. It’s quite possible for him to regress to major league stuff and squirrelly AAAA mental game.
2. Willis’ WHIP and ERA means he is not long for this world. His WHIP is commensurate with Nate’s disasterous last two seasons. I think he’s going to pitch well enough to not get released and next thing it’s July and he’s 3-6 with a 5.90 ERA.
3. Brandon Inge’s May 1 2009 to April 20 2010 numbers are downright scary. You can say that’s an arbitrary start date but that include pre knee excuses and the first three weeks of the season. Strike out, don’t strike out, hit doubles, don’t hit doubles, hit homers, don’t hit home runs, but if you’re OPS is not north of, say, .750 for a third baseman, you’re just Jack Wilson at third base.
4. That is all.
Good post, thanks for the win…
Oh, and thanks for #3 also…Inge’s OPS mysteriously jumped way above the magical .750 line you drew the game after you made that comment. Coincidence? You decide…
Billfer- Instead of saying it’s lost, I should of said that the positive effects of his sinker are lost when it’s thrown too high.
I think the sinker is one of the most gutsy pitches there are. It’s a dangerous pitch if it’s left up too high over the plate, but it’s a dominating pitch if its kept low. A sinker is going to induce the hitter to produce more backspin on the ball. Flyballs fly farther with more backspin. Ground balls with more backspin bounce slower and are much easier to field.