Never thought I'd see the day when someone was begging for Jason Hammel to pitch a playoff game.

Posted by Jtpsops on 10/4/2012 8:14:00 AM (view original):
You going to tell me you'd start a guy in a do-or-die game who has been destroyed in his career at that ballpark? Especially when you have other options? It would be like Girardi starting Nova in a wildcard game right now. Yankee fans would have his head.

Hammel has a career 4.78 ERA. You want him pitching a do or die game?

That said, you should be babbling about the 9.38 ERA Saunders has in that park. It does appear to be a dumb decision.

Edit: His last bad start there was 2009. He pitched well there in 2010. I probably retract the above statement.

Os now saying Steve Johnson may be an option. Saunders has a 6.48 ERA in 11 starts against Texas and is 0-6 with a 9.38 ERA in Arlington. That's just plain ugly.

You beat me to it burnsy. Hammel has turned a corner this season. Coming off the DL in August, he dominated the Yanks for 5+ innings. Is he Cy Young? No. But he's clearly better than Saunders. Whoever starts will have a very short leash.

Posted by Jtpsops on 10/4/2012 8:14:00 AM (view original):
You going to tell me you'd start a guy in a do-or-die game who has been destroyed in his career at that ballpark? Especially when you have other options? It would be like Girardi starting Nova in a wildcard game right now. Yankee fans would have his head.

I'm not disagreeing or agreeing with his choice of pitchers.    I'm saying he's done a hell of a job in guiding what many thought might be a .500 team into a team that forced his division to play the full 162 AND locking down a post-season game.     I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt.

I think the better way to look at it is Buck has pushed all the right buttons this, meaning he's likely not foolish enough to start Saunders in that game. I'm banking on Johnson at this point. You need a hard thrower against Texas.

I think, if I was an O's fan, I'd be debating whether or not to erect a statue of him not who he's starting in the WC game I never expected to see.

I'll be happy about the season once it's over. Right now, I want a World Series. I'm not interested in what was predicted.

Well, trust the guy that gave you the chance and quit second-guessing him before his decision plays out.

Saunders official. Buck is a great manager, but he clearly does not follow history.

Posted by Jtpsops on 10/4/2012 11:25:00 AM (view original):
I think the better way to look at it is Buck has pushed all the right buttons this, meaning he's likely not foolish enough to start Saunders in that game. I'm banking on Johnson at this point. You need a hard thrower against Texas.

You realize that Saunders throws harder than Johnson, right?  Maybe you don't.  But he does.  I suspected it, just looked it up on FanGraphs, and I was right.  Only very marginally harder - a couple of tenths - but harder nonetheless.

Maybe it's pitch selection then. Saunders is known as more of a finesse guy. Either way, I'd feel a lot better with Johnson starting this game. I hope Joe proves everyone wrong, myself included

I frankly don't feel that comfortable with Johnson doing anything which will get 2 days of dedicated film study.  I don't see him being a successful Big League pitcher in the long term.  I'd love to be wrong, but I don't see it.  He has great control, but I'm afraid he just doesn't have enough stuff to stick in the long run.  Right now he strikes out more than half the guys he Ks on high fastballs.  High fastballs at 89 miles an hour.  It's awfully hard to make a career out of that pitch.  Chen gets a lot of guys on fairly slow high heat as well, but at least in his case he has the threat of much crisper breaking stuff than anything Johnson features.

I do think Miguel Gonzalez has a good shot to stick.  I've liked him just about every time I've seen him (except the time he was sick).  He has a really sharp curve, great fastball command, and a decent change.

I really liked Chen early in the season, but he just looks gassed now. Or maybe it's that MLB hitters are figuring him out. He just looks so hittable lately, even in his last start when he only gave up 1 run before that error opened things up - he just didn't seem strong.

One thing that makes me feel a lot better about tomorrow is Wieters. There's no catcher in the game I'd rather have getting a pitcher prepared than Matt.