Check out League's innings pitched since being sent down.
His outings have been 1.1IP, 1IP, 2IP, 3IP and 3.1 IP, in that order.
It looks like they are stretching him out, something advocated by the likes of Razzer and Canate for a few years now.
That, combined with Eckstein batting 9th and being replaced by McDonald in the 9th, as well as the awesomeness of our pitching has me very, very happy.
4 comments:
Well spotted.
His 5+ ERA and 1.6 WHIP suggest there's still work to be done, but it's a good move. I'd like to get to the point where an injury to a starter would be an annoyance, not a tragedy. Although I think Purcey has good stuff, it sure would be good to have two options ready to go at AAA should the need arise.
How do you explain Gibbons change of heart:
John McDonald came in to play shortstop for Eckstein in the ninth, a defensive replacement some have been calling for in recent weeks. "That's something we'll probably do," said Gibbons. "He may be the best defensive shortstop in the game. If he was just very good we probably wouldn't do it, but the way he can take away runs, it's the right thing to do."
Why is it suddenly the right thing to do today and not in April? This was not a hard decision. Did we really have to see Eck bow a game to know McD has the better glove. Colour me confused.
Also his last 3 starts have been on 4 or 5 days rest. I think they are trying to stretch him out. A quick look at his peripherals sugest he's pitching well excapt, and this is a big except, for his walk rate. 6 walks in 10.2 IP. But I have hope. I really do.
Finally using McDonald correctly is a sign of progress, but I don't like this Stewart/Lind thing. At the very most, they should be platooned, but it sounds like Stewart may be the every day LF for a while. I just don't understand how you can make a decision like that based on six games.
A couple of other notes, that I picked up this morning. Reed Johnson is now hitting .274/.355/.316 for the Cubs (Stewart's batting an almost identical .257/.338/.329). Granted, Johnson also has some value in the field. Glaus is batting .228/.323/.360 for the Cards. I've been harsh on JP lately, but it's possible he made the right call on those moves (I supported both at the time, but in hindsight think Johnson would have much more value to our team than Stewart, b/c he's a good right-handed platoon mate for Lind).
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