Today, I decided that I wasn't going to start Orlando Hernandez against the Rockies in Shea Stadium, and Plundo chose to not start Scott Kazmir against the Yankees at Tropicana Field. Here are their lines:
Kazmir - 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Ks, no decision
Hernandez - 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks, no decision
In retrospect, we both should've played our respective starting pitchers. But we can't go back in time to change it, so what do you do?
I'll tell you what you do. You look back at the game, and figure out if you should've known better. Kazmir, for example, has put a lot of runners on base all year, and has yet to have one of his classic breakout games. In fact, even in this game, he gave up 5 hits and 2 walks, so it was by no means a shut-down performance. Plus, let's be serious here, it's the Yankees. There are maybe five starters in all of baseball that I run out against the Yankees. Scott Kazmir, for as good as he might one day be, is not one of those five. Benching Kazmir for this start was the right move, Plundo. Stick to your guns.
Now, let's look at Hernandez. El Duque has been decidedly better than Kazmir thus far this season, giving up only 1 earned run in three of his four starts before today. (Confusingly, it was his start against the Nationals in which he got tagged for six runs). Shea Stadium is a pitcher's park, which should cancel out some of the talent in Colorado's lineup.
So why didn't I start Hernandez? Because the Rockies tagged my "ace" Brandon Webb in both of his outings against them, and I got scared. There's no logic to that decision, and I paid the price. Lesson learned.
Holding strong in first place, by the way. But I've got to be more sensible about my starters if I want to stay here. Go Riders!
1 comment:
As we continue along the Riders, well ride, to a championship we come across a rough no start. Of course what we know, but 2007 Joe doesn't know, is that he would go on to finish in first or second in four of the five pitching categories, with wins being the exception to his pitching dominance. So luckily this decision didn't have any real ramifications on the championship hopes. We'll have to keep a look out to see if 2007 Joe gets caught in any more Webbs of deception as we continue our journey through 2007.
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