Just my opinion, but this game was decided by the home plate umpire. He had what we call a fluid strike zone all game but on balance, squeezed Zito in the middle innings and gave Latos a much more generous strike zone, one that Latos did not need as he did have very good stuff. Key Lines:
Barry Zito- 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 6 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.84. Zito had a QS despite losing control of the strike zone in the middle innings. A big part of that was the ump's creative strike zones. I guess he thought the game was boring with the same old K zone inning after inning so he decided to make it more interesting by changing it up from inning to inning and batter to batter, or even pitch to pitch.
Brad Penny- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Penny's FB sat at 90-91 MPH but he had impeccable command. He's not going to K a lot of batters, never has, so he's not going to be your closer, but he can eat innings like crazy and is very nice SP insurance. Another nice dumpster dive pickup for Sabes.
Mat Latos(Reds)- 9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 4.42. Pay no attention to Latos' ERA. He pitches in a bandbox for a home park and he had K'd 13 batters in a CG 4 hitter his previous start.
Dodgers and D'Backs are playing late afternoon games and both trail 2-0 as of this writing, so the impact of this game on the standings remains to be seen.
Ryan Vogelsong tries to be the stopper against Bronson Arroyo tomorrow afternoon.
PS: D'Backs deficit has grown to 8-0 and the Dodgers to 5-0 vs Johan Santana. Good chance NL West standings remain the same tonight.
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Didn't listen to the game, but you can't ask much more from Zito 1 run in 6 IP.. Latos is good but don't like him since his his days with the Friars.. A win tomorrow sends them on the road with a good feeling..
ReplyDeleteOn the minor league front, Zach Wheeler got pounded today 6 2/3 innings 7 runs 6 earned on 9 hits. Even the good prospects have off days.. I can see the debate among Giants fans 1 year from now, did the Giants give up the wrong player in the Beltran trade (G Brown vs Z Wheeler). I hope both of them turn out to be good MLB players..
Any word on the Giants signing their #2 (Martin Agosta), and #3 (M Williamson)? I think the deadline is July 13th.
LG
These Reds are tough on us. Hope Vogelsong puts his game face on tonight and comes ready to salvage a split.
ReplyDeleteWatch the pitch that Zito threw to walk in a run, then watch the pitch to Theriot that was called a strike to end the game. The pitch to Theriot was easily 6 inches further outside.
ReplyDeleteOh I know. There were many pitches like that. Just a terrible umpiring job which was the deciding factor in the game.
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