Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Excellent night

Kudos to John Lannan for an excellent start tonight. While he didn't get the no-hittter, shutout or complete game, he still pitched 8+ innings of solid ball, holding a deadly lineup (in a deadly ballpark) to 5 baserunners. I don't want to jinx him or anything, but Lannan is showing signs of being more than just a future #3 pitcher.

Generally speaking, I am not a huge fan of Manny Acta's in-game management, but he did a good job tonight. I will never advocate starting Corey Patterson at all (don't even get me started...Endy Chavez has a better eye), but if he does, he is to be the CF and Elijah Dukes is to be the RF. Manny made the right move starting Lannan in the 9th and the right move taking him out when he did.

Well done, boys. Play tomorrow like you did tonight and Manny may survive for a while longer.

2 comments:

  1. Devil's advocate POV: All praise to #31, but I'd feel a wee bit more sanguine if Lannan could edge up his K rate some.

    Paradox: High K rates can mean higher numbers of pitches and shorter outings. When batters can be induced to lift or bounce the first or second pitch into the waiting arms of the defense, even a young guy like Lannan can go for eight or nine innings.

    If you think I don't know what I want here, you're right. (Although I lean ever so slightly toward more Ks.)

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  2. I'm getting more and more encouraged by The Gnats, even though they lost last nite. And Zim sure needs to get out of that slump he's in! Going to see The Boyz of Summer play the BoSox tomorrow noches. We'll see how that goes!

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