Barry and C.C.’s Loss Factory

One is 6′4″ and 205.  The other is 6′7″ and 250.  One is Caucasian.  One is African-American.  One plays in the National League.  One plays in the American League.  One didn’t make it to the playoffs last year.  One made it to his league’s Championship Series.  However, there is one thing that unites Barry Zito and C.C. Sabathia so far to this point in the season.  They both have not recorded a win.  This is pretty amazing considering the talent that both pitchers have shown during their careers.

Barry Zito compiled a record of 112-73 in his 7 years with the Oakland A’s, led by an astonishing 23-5 mark with an almost unheard of 2.75 ERA in the homer happy American League.  After the 2006 season, Zito signed with the San Francisco Giants.  Logically, the National League is supposed to be an easier league for pitchers.  The ability to face the opposing pitcher once every 9 batters assures any hurler of an almost automatic out every time through the order.  There is also no designated hitter in the National League, so there are usually less power threats to worry about as an NL pitcher.  Zito, however, has not found this to be true.  After last night’s 4-1 loss to the Diamondbacks, the San Francisco lefty’s record as a Giant has dropped to 11-17.  His ERA last season was 4.53, which was the highest of his career.  That is pretty remarkable, considering his whole career had been in the American League prior to that point.  After his 4 starts so far this season, Zito has a 4.50 ERA, and an unfriendly 1.682 WHIP (Walks plus hits divided by innings pitched).  In other words, he is letting too many runners on base, and if his WHIP stays where it is, it becomes more and more unlikely that his ERA will trend down during the season.

Sabathia’s case is very different.  C.C. has been very good the last couple of years, culminated with the AL Cy Young in 2007.  In his 7 years in Cleveland, C.C. has posted a record of 100-63.  However, a turning point may have come last year in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox.  In two starts, he only lasted a combined 10.1 innings, surrendering 12 runs, all earned.  The Indians would go on to lose both games, critical losses in a 7 game series won by the Red Sox.  Those two losses seem to have taken a heavy toll on Sabathia, however.  After last night’s 4 inning performance where he allowed 9 earned runs, Sabathia’s record has dropped to 0-3 and his ERA has ballooned to 13.50.  His WHIP is a miserable 2.556, nearly double what his previous career high had been.  For C.C., there is also the pressure of not knowing where he will play next year.  His contract expires at the end of the season, and the Indians have made no apparent effort to sign him, even as they locked up fellow hurler Fausto Carmona in a multi year deal.  If Sabathia wants a big money contract at the end of the season, he will need to turn things around quickly.

Both players are more than capable of turning their seasons around.  Zito may have more difficulty, as word is he has lost quite a bit of velocity on his fastball the last couple of seasons.  In Sabathia’s case, however, expect different outcomes from his starts soon.  He is too good of a pitcher to fail so miserably, as his track record clearly indicates.  It is well known around baseball that the Giants do not have what it takes to contend for anything meaningful this year, but the Indians do, and they will need Sabathia to step up if they still have World Series aspirations.

Putting the “O” in Detroit

I realize that the title makes no sense, but it could not be more appropriate than it is after the last two days. The Detroit Tigers won again tonight, beating the Minnesota Twins 6-5. The Tigers also completed their second late inning comeback in as many days. The Tigers rallied from 9-4 down yesterday to win 11-9, and today they came back from a 4-2 deficit after 6 innings to win 6-5. Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera each had two RBIs, with Cabrera raising his average above the Mendoza line to .213. This has to be a welcome sight to Tigers fans. Their hitting will come around, there is no question of that. However, for the second night in a row, it was a comeback that led to the win, which seems to be indicative of the Tigers to this point. Their starting pitching has been inconsistent, if you want to be polite about it. The Tigers rotation must stabilize, which will be even more of an uphill battle with Dontrelle Willis recently put on the 15 day disabled list.

In other news, Ken Griffey Jr. is now a mere 5 home runs away from 600 after blasting number 595 tonight. It is absolutely scary to think where he would be with his career totals now if not for all the injuries. From 1996-2000, Griffey averaged 50 home runs and 137 RBI. Griffey would then go all the way until last year, 2007, without playing in more than 128 games in any one season. Compare those statistics in that 26-30 age range with those of Alex Rodriguez in the same span.

AVERAGES for ages 26-30
Griffey – 50 HR 137 RBI .289
Rodriguez – 47 HR 123 RBI .299

Numbers like that make the unbiased observer sit back and marvel. At his current pace, Alex Rodriguez will hit home run number 600 by the time he is 34 years old. It might take him until he is 35, if you want to be conservative. Ken Griffey is about to reach it at the age of 38. In four of his seasons, he played under 83 games due to injury. Also negatively impacting Griffey is the strike year of 1994, which Rodriguez did not have to deal with as a full time starter. Ken Griffey Jr.’s numbers for the strike shortened season are impressive, to say the least.

In only 111 games, he hit 40 home runs and drove in 90 runs. If you translate those numbers into a full season (based on number of games he played the previous year, 156), you would end up with –

56 HR 126 RBI

As I am writing, Jason Varitek has just hit the 2nd Boston 9th inning home run in as many nights, to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Varitek did not start, due to Tim Wakefield starting. Kevin Cash is Wakefield’s designated catcher, so he was in until the pinch hit home run that just went out off the bat of the Boston captain.

A Coco Crisp single and Dustin Pedroia double later, David Ortiz comes up with 2 on and one out. Ortiz simply has not been himself so far this season, but last night he had two hits and seems to be getting better swings on the ball against Cleveland than he did against the Yankees. Regardless, all Ortiz can muster is a meaningless pop out to 2nd base. Now the Indians are faced with the exact same decision that Joe Girardi faced in the Yankee-Red Sox series. Manny Ramirez at the plate, 2nd and 3rd, two outs, Youkilis on deck. Girardi pitched to Ramirez and gave up a two run double. Eric Wedge chooses to walk Manny and face Youkilis with the bases loaded.

Well, the strategy kind of worked. Youkilis drove in Crisp with the 2nd run of the inning to give the Sox a 5-3 lead. However, Pedroia was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. The game will go to the bottom of the 9th and the new Sox pitcher will be Hideki Okajima, as Jon Papelbon is not available after last night’s save. In the middle of June, you would have to think he would be usable for consecutive games, but this is April, and it is Cleveland, and it is intensely cold for a baseball game. If you can remember, last year around this time, the Indians had to play a series against the Angels at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, because of the torrential snow in Cleveland. It is not quite that cold this year, but temperatures yesterday and today were both in the low to mid 40s.

Okajima strikes out Travis Hafner looking.
Okajima strikes out Victor Martinez swinging.
Jacoby Ellsbury makes a great catch down the right field line in foul territory, reaching into the stands.

The Red Sox sweep the short two game series, and due to Toronto’s 11-3 win over Baltimore tonight, Boston is in first place in the American League East for the first time this season.

The Ghosts are Alive and Well…

I love Joe Borowski. The Indians closer once again was unable to make a save, which has a tendency to happen when you throw 83 mile per hour fastballs as a closer. With the Red Sox trailing the Indians 4-3 going into the 9th, Borowski was summoned. Julio Lugo led off with a double. This was interesting in itself because the Indians were in a no doubles defense (guard the lines and play the outfield deep). However, in this case it was the exact opposite of what could be considered wise as Lugo ripped a line drive past drawn in third baseman Casey Blake and into the left field corner. The outfield was effectively too deep at this point, and David Delucci’s wet noodle of an arm had no chance to catch Lugo at 2nd. Coco Crisp followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Dustin Pedroia continued his trend of taking 300 pound man swings despite the fact that he is about half of that…with 20 pounds of scuba gear on…soaking wet…at the bottom of the ocean. Regardless, his fly ball to the wall scored Lugo and tied the game at 4. Kevin Youkilis was next and laced a double down the familiar left field line, which must have been tiring of having its paint drilled by shots of Sox bats. Good ‘ol Joe then decided it would be prudent to throw Manny Ramirez a belt high fastball. Home Run…6-4…goodnight Indians.

The difference between Borowski and Jon Papelbon is stunning. 83 miles per hour vs. 95 miles per hour on the fastball. Fear of getting taken out of the park vs. the ability to intimidate the batter so much they want to run out of the park. Blown save vs. Save. It could be that this matchup was and is a microcosm of the Indians/Red Sox ALCS and subsequent encounter this evening. The Red Sox overpowered, and the Indians were left to pick up the pieces.

In other random baseball news…

Eva(n) Longoria hit the first home run of what will almost certainly be his rookie of the year campaign for the Tampa Bay Rays, and almost sparked a Rays comeback in the process, as they fell to the Yankees 8-7.

Derek Jeter made his return to the Yankees, driving in two, and again proving his worth and necessity to the New York club.

Detroit scored 11 runs, which was a mammoth outburst, considering they had not plated any runs for 24 consecutive inning before their first run crossed tonight.

As of this writing, Randy Johnson is into the 4th inning in his first start of the season, and has given up 3 runs as his Diamondbacks lead the Giants 4-3. Randy sits 16 wins away from the 300 plateau.

UPDATE: Johnson pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 runs, striking out 7 batters, but Chad Qualls came in and allowed two runs as the D Backs lost 5-4 and Johnson was robbed of win 285.