Pitching Perspectives (4/20-4/26)
By Wally Fish
The Twins finished the third week of the season with a 2-3 record putting them at 9-10 on the season. They are currently 4th place in the division.
Minnesota
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
HR
PC
ERA
WHIP
Scott Baker
4.2
10
6
6
1
2
3
92
11.56
2.36
Francisco Liriano
4.0
4
7
7
4
6
1
74
15.75
2.00
Nick Blackburn
7.0
6
1
1
0
4
0
99
1.29
0.86
Kevin Slowey
8.0
8
1
1
0
7
0
114
1.13
1.00
Glen Perkins
5.0
7
4
4
2
4
0
92
7.20
1.80
Totals:
28.2
35
19
19
7
23
4
5.96
1.46
Rotation Assessment:
Week 1: 5.40 ERA and 1.34 WHIP
Week 2: 4.23 ERA and 1.32 WHIP
Two good starts and three bad starts resulted in a 2-3 week. Baker struggled again in his 2nd start back from the DL and if he doesn’t show some improvement in his next start, I will become officially concerned about him. It could be mechanics, it could be injury, it could be mental or he might just miss Joe Mauer, but he has not looked right thus far. Liriano has thrown 21.2 IP this season with a 7.06 ERA and 1.38 WHIP with 17 strikeouts. His stuff is definitely there but he has only had control in 1 of his 4 starts. Blackburn finally had an excellent outing this week and has pitched deeper into the game in each of his starts this year. His 4.44 ERA is in the ballpark of the 4.18 I projected he’d have at the end of the year, so he is basically giving the Twins what I expected. Slowey seems to be on track after his last two starts and has only walked 2 batters in 26.1 innings. Perkins finally had a rough start after opening the season with three gems. Despite his latest outing he still has a 1.00 WHIP in 29.0 innings.
At 9-10 I am very optimistic about the Twins because 3 of the 5 starters haven’t pitched up to their expectations. Blackburn is delivering the steady performance that we can expect from him, but only Perkins is outperforming expectations. Because they are solid 1-5 they are capable of rattling off winning weeks as long as 60% or the rotation is pitching well at any given time.
The Bullpen:
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
HR
ERA
WHIP
Luis Ayala (R)
2.2
2
0
0
0
3
0
0.00
0.75
Craig Breslow (L)
2.2
2
0
0
1
2
0
0.00
1.12
R.A. Dickey (R)
0.1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0.00
6.06
Matt Guerrier (R)
3.0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0.00
0.67
Jose Mijares (L)
2.0
1
0
0
0
2
0
0.00
0.50
Juan Morillo (R)
0.0
1
4
4
3
0
0
INF
INF
Joe Nathan (R)
1.0
1
0
0
0
2
0
0.00
1.00
Totals:
11.2
10
4
4
5
10
0
3.08
1.29
Week 1: 4.66 ERA and 1.24 WHIP
Week 2: 9.30 ERA and 2.07 WHIP
Talk about going from one extreme to the next. Last week they couldn’t get anyone out and had an ERA approaching 10.00. This week, outside of Morillo’s outing the bullpen didn’t give up a run. In his first 2 appearances, Mijares has resembled the guy we saw in September of last year instead of the guy we saw struggle in spring training. Nathan and Mijares are the only relievers on the staff with an ERA under 5.00. Breslow and Guerrier have pitched better than their ERA would suggest, while Dickey and Ayala have pitched worse than their ERA would suggest. It is too early to tell with Morillo, but the experiment may not last that long. Of the 30 pitches Morillo had thrown by the end of the week, only 14 of them were strikes.