Buck Farmer with 6 straight balls to start the 8th. Then he throws 3 straight strikes past McCutcheon for out #1, another by Freese to go ahead 0-1 and then gets an inning ending 6-4-3 on the 5th straight strike. Nice. Only threw 11 pitches, so he should be clear to finish.
It's probably not going to work out for us because bullpens just don't seem to work out for us, but at least Wilson has gotten off to a strong start after what was apparently a less than stellar spring.
I'm optimistic without good cause. Dombrowski took the jinx with him. Wilson, Lowe and even Rodriguez will pitch to their capabilities, the other Wilson, VerHagen and Hardy will be assets, and the bullpen will be neutral to moderately positive.
This Zimmerman guy is pretty good. I like him. Would be nice to dig into the Pirates bullpen right about now, after they pinch hit for Gerrit Cole in the bottom of the 6th with Cole at 83 pitches.
VerHagen gets dinked and dunked around to the tune of 3 runs on 5 hits and a BB in 2/3rds of an inning - 2 infield singles and a bloop in there. ERA goes from 0 to at least 5, and he's still on the hook for 2 more runners with Lowe coming in.
Damn, AL Central, you scary. Assuming the afternoon leads for the White Sox and Tribe hold: CWS: 7-2 Detroit: 6-2 KCR: 6-2 C'land: 4-3 MSP: 0-9 Three teams at .750 ot better, another above .500, and a 0-9 team? Hmmm.
It goes without saying, but not having to watch Verlander hit or get pulled this inning is far preferable to pitchers batting. I keep forgetting Houston is AL now.
He assumed it was through so he was jogging and preparing for a lazy turn at 1st on a base hit. How did that ump miss that call at second?
That was the best bullpen work we have had in years. What did those guys combine to throw, like 20 pitches in three innings?
Wilson 7 pitches, Lowe 9 pitches, FuckRod 10 pitches. 9 up, 9 down. Tigers fans have PTSD and expect the worst.
I'm not sold KRod is any better than Valverde when he was living dangerously, but usually getting the job done. I don't think this current pen is any different from the ones we've had for most of the last 5 years. I think the difference is guys like Fulmer could potentially come up at some point and give us some depth that we've never had back there.
I agree on KRod, but disagree with the rest of the bullpen. At least once Wilson and Hardy are back. In previous years it was Benoit and Smyly and pray, or AlAl and Benoit and pray, or, in one memorable season, Dotel and Villareal and pray. Last year it was Hardy and Wilson and pray. Justin Wilson and Lowe are best non-closer duo we've had in a long time, which moves Hardy and Wilson into the range where they are good, rather than merely adequate. When Fulmer ends up in the bullpen in August, I think it will become a legit "very good" bullpen. KRod being the reason it won't be great. Also, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but I think Kyle Ryan is going to be a very good lefty reliever.
Hardy's numbers are better than my brain tells me they should be while Wilson is probably the opposite. But they are both better than the 4th and 5th guys in the bullpen we've had in a while, imo. Also, I believe in Kyle Ryan, Relief Pitcher more than anybody not named Kyle Ryan.