Jered Weaver- LAA- Hot- Weaver seemed fully recovered from the various maladies (sore shoulder, strep throat) that have affected him over the past few weeks. He held KC to just 1 run on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 6 over 7 innings. Because the Angels couldn't score any runs Weaver took the loss, but you certainly can't say it was his fault. Between injuries and bad luck (.318 BHIP) it's not surprising that Weaver is not dominating as he did in his rookie season. He is still a solid starter, though, as long as health issues don't keep cropping up.
Joey Gathright- KC- Hot- When Gathright's Fantistical Player Charts were last updated four games ago he owned a BHIP of .357. It is likely still very high and playing a major part in his batting average of .340. However, a player with his kind of speed should have a high BHIP and his dramatically improved Batting EYE of 1.14 indicates that Gathright could sustain most of the increase in his productivity. Yesterday he stole his 3rd base in 2 games, so his running game is really getting in gear as well.
Erik Bedard- BAL- Hot- Only once in his last 11 starts has Bedard failed to record a quality start. Even that was one in which he was charged with 2 earned runs in 5 innings pitched. His dominance over the Yankees was just another example of the consistency he has shown. Last year Bedard bucked his trend of the previous two seasons, where his performance took a serious downturn after the All Star break. It will be tough for him to repeat that again this season as he has thrown a lot of pitches, four times crossing the 110 pitch mark in his last 7 outings. The key to whether Bedard has a strong finish to the year will be if he can sustain his vastly improved K rate of 10.85 per 9 innings. If it starts to drop, perhaps from fatigue, then Bedard's other numbers will probably drop as well.
Daisuke Matsuzaka- BOS- Hot- Dice-K is really on a roll (dice...roll, get it?) with his 5th straight quality start, going 8 innings and allowing just 1 run on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 8. He still isn't getting the wins you'd expect from his performances and last night was another example of that. The Red Sox offense let him down and Dice-K ended up with no decision. He has thrown at least 112 pitches in each of those last 5 starts. Normally, that would send me with arms flailing like the Lost in Space robot, going "Danger! Danger! Danger!"However, in Dice-K we may have the possibility of a Livan Hernandez-type situation where there is no effect from high pitch counts that would leave other pitchers with their throwing arms dangling uselessly by their sides. Right now the Red Sox are seeing the Dice-K that they spent a lot of money for, with his 1.59 ERA in the month of June.
Fausto Carmona- CLE- Cold- Yuck. That about sums up Carmona's start, his worst of the season. He was removed after being unable to record an out in the second inning and ended up being charged with 8 runs (all earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks. Oh, yeah, he did get a strikeout. Whoop-di-do. At this point, chalk it up to just one of those outings. There is no indication that he is having any of the jitters that caused his meltdown after being put in the closer role last year.
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