Fausto Carmona- CLE- Cold- Carmona raised his record to 7-5 last night, pitching the Indians to their 10th straight win. It was not a performance to write home about, though, as he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in 6 IP while striking out 3. That’s too many baserunners and having an equal number of walks and strikeouts is not good. Control is an issue for Carmona as his 18 walks in 29-1/3 IP this month is not a good ratio. Possibly even more troubling is that he has walked two more in August than he has struck out. On the season Carmona has 60 walks and only 43 strikeouts in 96 IP. Until he gets those BB and K numbers in the correct order, he is going to struggle to produce.
Zach Miner- DET- FYI- Fantistics’ Tony Zoppo noted earlier this week that Miner could have some value in favorable matchups. His matchup tomorrow can’t be more favorable. After shutting out the Royals for 7 innings on Sunday he gets to go at them again, this time in Detroit. For the season he has posted a 1.20 ERA in 3 appearances against KC (2 starts) allowing just 2 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks in 15 IP while striking out 7.
Paul Konerko- CHA- Hot- Add together some regression to the mean and a sky high Batting EYE and you get a big month for Konerko. He had been fighting against an abysmally low BHIPx this year so a rebound is not unexpected, but when he walks 19 times and only strikes out 9 this month, his .339 average is virtually guaranteed to happen. Konerko has hit 4 homers in August and posted a .500 OBP for the month and definitely has the potential to keep this up into next month.
Mark Kotsay- BOS- Trade- Kotsay comes to the Red Sox with a 2-for-21 stretch over his last 7 games. However, this may just be a little bit of regression to the mean happening, as he had a BHIPx of .269 before this span. Kotsay’s Batting EYE was a solid 1.00 during the slump, so he is likely to bounce back, particularly in Yankee Stadium. He will be starting in RF today and will probably stay there until J. D. Drew returns from the DL. With Kotsay in the fold, that return will not be rushed.
Radhames Liz- BAL- Cold- Yes, he ran his record to 5-3 with a win over the White Sox yesterday and yes, he allowed just 2 runs on 3 hits over 5-1/3 IP. However, Liz had horrible control, walking 5 and throwing 47 of his 101 pitches for balls. He has now walked 38 in 57 major league innings this year, barely below the 40 strikeouts he has recorded. Liz has not been able to duplicate his success at the AAA level, where he walked 32 and struck out 85 in 87 IP while posting a 3.62 ERA. Consider him, like many of the young Baltimore pitchers, a work in progress.
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