Yall have heard this story HOW many times this year?

Roger pitches his usual fantastic 7 innings, with 4 H, 1 HR, 1 ER, 2 BB and 7 K. Because of Morgan Ensberg’s GS, we’re leading 5-1 when he’s done.

Then the bullpen blows it. THIS time (you’ve heard THIS before, too) because Phil STILL ain’t figgered out that Franco is a bad pitcher and basically can’t get righties out.

So here’s how it went -
Qualls in, gets single, out, single. With Aaron Miles up, Phil decides to pull Qualls for Franco? WHY??? It’s not like Qualls can’t get lefties out. So a righty comes in when Franco is put in, and there is a FC, then Helton hits an RBI single. So Springer comes in with 2 on, walks Wilson, then gives up a GS to Garrett Atkins. Rockies win 6-5

First, there was NO reason to pull Qualls for an inferior pitcher in that situation. Phil needs to get over this putting in a lefty to face a lefty if he has a righty who gets lefties out. If Phil thinks that Qualls stuff ain’t working, he should have put in Wheeler, our second best pitcher. And since Phil DID make the BAD mistake of putting in Franco, when Franco let a run score and left with 2 on, we are ahead by 3 now, and it’s COORS, remember, and it was most DEFINITELY time to put in a better pitcher, Wheeler. Or even Lidge. So what POSSIBLE reason could he have to put Springer in?

Poor bullpen management. Again. I’m getting tired of having to write this so often… And the starters are getting TIRED of having to deal with this so often…

Poor Roger. According to Lee Sinins, Roy and Roger should be leading the NL in neutral wins with 12 each…

So today, it’s Roy Oswalt, RHP vs : BK Kim, RHP

Roy this year: 9 – 7 in 16 GS with 2 CG and 1 SO – 9 HR, 24 BB, 76 K over 113.1 IP with a 2.70 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, .234 BAA
Please do note (sez Roy fangrrrl) that Roy is #5 in the NL in ERA and WHIP and #3 in total IP. He’s in the top 10 in baserunners/9 IP, walks/9 IP and K/ 9 IP – although his K/9 is down from last year because he’s getting a LOT of GB outs.
Every NL pitcher must grit his teeth every time he has to pitch in Coors and tell hisself that giving up 5 or 6 runs and a few HRs is GOOD here…
vs.COL: 4 – 0 in 4 GS – 4 HR, 4 BB, 21 K over 27.2 IP with a 1.95 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and a .214 BAA
@ Coors: 1 – 0 in 1 GS – 3 ER, 2 HR, no BB and 6 K in 7 IP
—-

Byung-Hyun (BK) Kim, RHP

Time for the strange story of BK Kim – should name him the rollercoaster cuz that’s what his career has looked like. Anyway, he was an undrafted FA from Korea, who was a starter there even though he’s right handed and 5’9″ (or so they say) and taken by Arizona, who wanted to use him strictly as a reliever. So relieve he did – 27 IP in 99 and 70.2 IP in 2000 – 11 HR, 66 BB and 142 Ks – had a relatively high ERA of 4.52 and low BAA of .204 because of a lot of Ks, but too many walks. He became the closer in 01 because Matt Mantei, as usual, was injured and did pretty well, with 19 saves, 10 HR, 44 BB amd 113 K over 98 IP with a 2.94 ERA and a .173 BAA.

Note the fairly low homers allowed, because yall remember what happened in the WS against the Yankees – blew/lost 2 games because of HRs, but he didn’t go down in infamy because the Yankees closer blew/lost the game and Series with a single, error, double and bloop single…
So of course in 02, even thought he was “promised” a chance to start, he was kept as the closer – 36 Saves over 72 games with a 2.04 ERA and a .164 BAA

So he begged and pleaded and moaned and finally the Dbax agreed to let him start, like they’d been promising him since he came from Korea and things don’t always turn out the way you planned – went 1-5 in 7 GS, lasting about 6 IP/ start – HR ratio went up, K/9 went down, he had a 3.56 ERA but a .214 BAA and he was traded to the Red Sox in June for Shea Hillenbrand – you know, the third baseman who has a decent glove, hits over .300, don’t ground into too many DPs but is not really a walker and is not real too appreciated by a statty team like the Sox.

Anyway, Boston was supposed to let him start there too, but hey, they hold the whip hand and they used him mostly in the bullpen – he appeared in 49 games and started 5 – went 8-5 with 16 saves over 79.1 IP with a 3.18 ERA and a .230 WHIP (remember, he’s facing Yankees a LOT). So of course, he got a contract, then in 04, heck broke loose. He was, um, hurt, got to start only 3 games, gave out fingers to needy fans, etc and ended up pitching only 17.1 innings with a 6.23 ERA – he was still on the DL (ahem – missing finger???) during the WS. Of course he was on the SL big time in Boston and they didn’t want him there, so they traded him to the Rockies for a few pieces of gum and are paying his salary too.

Don’t guess the Rocks are real too picky as long as they have arms throwing the ball…

Curiously enough, he’s pitched better at Coors this year than on the road -
2 – 3 in 4 GS and 7 in relief – 2 HR, 15 BB, 29 K over 31 IP with a 4.35 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and a.229 BAA
overall, this year: 2 – 6 in 6 GS with 2 QS – and 17 G in relief – 7 HR, 31 BB, 45 K over 51.2 IP with a 6.27 ERA, 1.66 WHIP and a .270 BAA
vs.HOU: 0 – 1 in 1 GS with 11 in relief -4 saves – 4 HR,11 BB, 22 K over 20 IP with a 5.85 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and a.213 BAA

Does anyone reading this blog think the possibility exists that Phil will ever figger out that Franco isn’t very good and quit using him unless it’s a blowout?????

Tags: Houston Astros Rockies, MLB

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 29th, 2005 at 8:36 am and is filed under Morgan Ensberg, Phil Garner, Qualls, Roger Clemens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.