There were several interesting pitchers going last night. The most-watched was rookie Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds. He threw 114 pitches in just five innings of work but left with his team ahead 4-2. I'm not sold on how valuable he will be in 2007, but his debut wasn't any worse than Tim Lincecum's or Phil Hughes'.
The Angels' Bartolo Colon returned from arm issues to face the Cardinals in the NL park. This would seem to be a good place to comeback strong, but he did not. He was hit hard allowing 7 hits and three homeruns, one of which was to C Kelly Stinnett. He did strikeout four and only walked one.
JP Howell's second start wasn't quite what he did in his first. Howell was rocked for six earned runs in five innings. Allowing eight hits and three walks only makes that worse. He did strikeout nine though. But doesn't everyone strikeout the Marlins?
Tim Lincecum was as bad as fellow rookie Homer Bailey. He didn't last five innings and walked more batters than he struck out. With 92 pitches in that short outing, I will be interested to see if the rest of the league begins to wait him out and to see how he adjusts.
Don't look now, but the Blue Jays may have found another legitimate 3/4 in Dustin McGowan. He pitched a gem against the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine. I know that qualifies the good start, but this is his 4th good start in a row. Over that period, he has thrown 27.2 innings, allowed 10ER, 23H and 6BBs while striking out 19.
A's reliever Jario Garcia nee Santiago Casilla pitched effectively last night. It wasn't late in the game so the save earlier this week didn't indicate more than the resting of the regulars, but Casilla has struggled in his previous major league stints. Putting back-to-back quality appearances together means something.
The Red Sox's J.D. Drew broke into the 2007 Pro-Rated Double-Digit HR Club with two three-run HRs last night. Does this mark the beginning of something better for Drew owners? Or is it a dead cat bounce?
Something of pure fantasy joy occurred last night. Giants' 3B Pedro Feliz made an emergency appearance at catcher. In traditional Rotisserie formats, that makes him catcher-eligible. That AVG/HR combo plays much better in the company of Kelly Stinnett, Brad Ausmus, Brian Schneider, etc than it does with Miguel Cabrera, Dave Wright and Ryan Zimmerman.