Rookie reliever Brandon Morrow walked his 18th and 19th batters yesterday and struck out his 22nd - in only his 20 and two-third inning! His pitches look nasty, and his 1.74 ERA reflects that.
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Kevin Gregg successfully closed out his first save opportunity following the acquistion of Armando Benitez, who successfully did his job in the 8th. Under the pressure of Benitez's breath on his neck, does this conversion indicate an extra moxy that would make Gregg an excellent closer?
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Speaking of closers, Matt Capps closed out his first game following his being named the Pirates closer. Did he step-up, too? With Torres having pitched two scoreless innings on Friday night, I'd like to think the Pirates made a move that will benefit their team more than the previous set-up.
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The A's SP Joe Blanton bounced back from his horrible previous start (6IP, 10H, 2K) to pitch a shutout with six strikeouts. He's on-pace for a 150 strikeouts - a ~40% increase over his first two seasons.
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The Devil Rays' Edwin Jackson pitched another horrible game - 3.1 IP 6ER to bring his season ERA to 7.77. With JP Howell and Andy Sonnanstine already up, Jason Hammel or Jeff Neiman can't be much more than five days behind.