Tuesday, April 05, 2011

On the Tigers' starting pitching and Rodney Stuckey

There have been many disappointing aspects to the Tigers' 1-3 start, but I think the most disturbing is the starting pitching. Brad Penny's disastrous start in New York aside, much more was expected of Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello. And I'm not just referring to their final line in regard to runs and hits, but their balls and strikes ratio. Both should win in the major leagues consistently, but won't if they don't start commanding the baseball better and get ahead instead of behind in the count.
These are two former No.1 draft picks, who have pitched in the major leagues awhile with some degree of success. Time to put the learning curve behind them and start pitching quality baseball. Yeah. Even on the road against tough lineups (Yankees) and hot teams (Orioles).


Random Thoughts

- Seems like the Pistons' problems with Rodney Stuckey began when they didn't extend his contract, which made business sense because of the upcoming collective bargaining agreement showdown between the league and its player's association.
It now makes basketball sense to discard Stuckey.
A. Because he isn't that good of a player.
B. When the going got really tough and the Pistons needed him to be a solid leader, he was anything but one.

- Brayan Villarreal has a chance to be very effective in a long relief role for the Tigers this season. He keeps the ball down, throws hard and isn't afraid to throw strikes. He has been impressive so far.

- Kemba Walker was the best player in college basketball this season, not Jimmer Fredette. UConn deserved the NCAA title on that kid's grit alone.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pat,
The Tigers slow start is not surprising to me. Going back to 2006 since Jim Leyland took over, his teams has exhibited two disturbing patterns.
1. They fade in the 2nd half of the season.
2. They don't play well when there are expectations of success.
#2 is playing out the 1st week of the seaon this year. I hope they get it together but if history is an indicator, here we go.

Alan

8:02 PM 
Blogger Pat Caputo said...

Alan,
You are right. Tigers have been their best under Leyland when the pressure has been the least. Good point.
Caputo

8:08 PM 

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