Just a quick minor league note (finishing up the Wednesday update). Rotowire is reporting that the Giants' GM Brian Sabean stated that there is nothing physically wrong with suddenly hittable Madison Bumgarner.
Apparently the consensus in SF is that Bumgarner did not do the proper preparation this offseason. He was 'pre-occupied' according to Sabean with getting married among other things.
Ok, at least this is a valid explanation for what the heck is going on with him.
His first two starts of the year were disasters to say the least and it had looked like the wheels had fallen off - he wasn't really throwing well or throwing hard. Everyone was hitting him, and he wasn't striking anyone out.
Start #3 of the year was much better for Bumgarner - 6 IP, 3K, 1BB (his first two starts of the year had yielded 11 ER and 21 hits in only 7IP).
His mechanics were getting tweaked a bit before this start so maybe it was his preparation and mechanics all along - I had one foot off the bandwagon and was ready to jump at the word of an arm injury... this will keep me with just my one leg off the bandwagon for now.
Each start this season, Bumgarner has allowed at least one HR so that trend will need to change to keep things moving in the right direction. His velocity improved to the low 90's in this past start compared to high 80's for spring training and his first two starts - if he can stay in the low / mid 90's then I can see his K's going back up as well, although not quite to the levels they were in A-ball.
Ok, so where do we go from here? Does anyone think this is just a blip on an otherwise disasterous year for Bumgarner or is it possible that he was just not prepared headed into the season and was pre-occupied with getting hitched during the end of last year and this summer?