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Is 2012 the Year of the Endless Blown Saves? If you haven't been watching, it is. Not many days go by where there is not a blown save. Yesterday, we saw blown saves from John Axford, David Robertson, and Steve Cishek, and we almost saw two more from Joel Hanrahan and Jonathan Broxton. I'd like to know what the save percentages look like at this point in the season. It has to be pretty bad.
Speaking of blown saves, Blue Jays closer Francisco Cordero blew up on Tuesday night, giving up 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th in the loss to the A's. Yesterday afternoon, we learned that the Blue Jays named Casey Janssen as their closer, and he proceeded to throw a scoreless 9th to earn his first save, and make manager John Farrell look like a genius.
Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow had his 4th straight quality start yesterday. He gave up just one run on 4 hits, 4 walks and 10 strikeouts. He usually induces plenty of ground ball outs, but yesterday got just one ground ball out. Over his last 4 starts, he has a 30-5 strikeout to walk ratio over 27.2 innings. He is now 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP.
Brewers ace Zack Greinke finally had the kind of start that I have been waiting for since the season started. Greinke shutout the Reds for 8 innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 11. He got 13 swinging strikes and induced 6 ground ball outs. After his horrific April 12th start where he gave up 8 earned runs in 3.2 innings, Greinke has up 8 earned runs in 27.1 innings, striking out 34 and walking 9. For the season, he is 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.
More Roto Roundup after the jump:
The Twins have demoted starter Francisco Liriano to the bullpen, where he will work as a long man now. Yes, you can cut him.
Is it time to start grabbing Cubs starters off the waiver wire? On Tuesday, Ryan Dempster tossed a gem where he gave up one run in 7 innings, and yesterday we see Paul Maholm shutout the solid Braves lineup for 7 innings. Maholm gave up just 3 hits, 3 walks and struck out 3. He is now 4-2 with a 4.05 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP.
It didn't take long for Yankee fans to start wishing Mariano Rivera never decided to shag fly balls last Thursday. A night after earning his first save, David Robertson got just two outs in the 9th, as he gave up 4 runs on 3 hits, a walk and a HR to Rays outfielder Matt Joyce. Guy was unhittable pitching the 8th in front of Rivera, and has proven to be human pitching the 9th. How many blown saves before we see Rafael Soriano closing?
White Sox DH Adam Dunn showed why he is one of the few Three True Outcome hitters in baseball last night. He went 1-3 with a walk, a strikeout and his 10th HR of the season. Dunn is having a bounceback season after his horrific 2011 season, as he is hitting .234-.384-.586 with 10 HRs and 26 RBI.
Ike Davis has struggled in a big way to start the 2012 season. But, he reversed the bad luck last night in Philadelphia, as he went 2-4 with a double, a LONG home run and 3 RBI. For the season, he is hitting just .179-.237-.311 with 4 HRs and 12 RBI. What is holding him back is his terrible 32-8 strikeout to walk ratio in just 106 at bats. He will have to start making more contact or else risk losing playing time.