Ichiro Injur Update and Pitching Issues
For those out of the loop recently re-signed center fielder Ichiro was hit by a Justin Verlander fastball during the 5th inning of yesterday’s 11-7 loss to Detroit. Per the ESPN.com he is going to be day-to-day and miss at least today’s game against the Orioles. This is what I call bad times.
Jeff Weaver failed to make it out of the fifth for the first time since his return from the "DL". Must’ve know I was posting again and want me to get bored with all of this consistency and victory. Nothing lulls a fan to sleep like a pennant chase. I think it may be time to send Brandon Morrow back to the minors to polish up his skills. He’s given up runs in less than 3 innings per appearance in 3 of his 4 July appearances and gave up multiple runs twice in June. Worse off he’s starting walk guys (4 BB in 2 IP on 6/11 and he had 15 walks to only 9 k’s in June). It’s getting pretty obvious that he can’t locate his offspeed pitches with regularity so he tries to muscle the fastball over to get outs. Problem is when the hitters know you can’t locate a certain pitch they will sit on the fastball and either take the walk from 4 missed curveballs or launch the fastball into the stratosphere. I think dude needs to to Double AA for a while and get his offspeed pitches tight so he can ge tback to being an effective major league pitcher.
Horatio Ramirez comes off of the DL tonight to start against the Orioles. It is usually better to start a comeback against one of the less successful clubs and he has been lights out at Safeco. I expect a halfway decent start from him (for once). Pennant Fever people, catch it!
Standings: AL West, 3 GB Californiheim. Wild Card, 2 GB Cleveland.
If I have the energy I will finish yesterday’s post and get it up later this evening.
The Drunken Tacoman 