Someone will say Brandon Morrow’s game was a bad one, I’m sure

The Blue Jays Brandon Morrow just completed his against the Blue Jays.

His line was pretty amazing.

9 innings, 1 hit, 2 walks, 17 strikeouts, a complete game shutout and a complete of a sweep.

And he did it against the second best team in baseball (but evidently the easiest team to no hit in baseball). And it was a pressure packed 1-0 game to boot.

But with all the new ways to measure stats and a pitchers effectiveness, I am sure there is some blogger out there who will write about how bad this game was.

There will be some measurement that I’ve never heard of that will be flung and me to show that this game was actually a poor start.

“He nearly threw a no hitter!”
“Yeah but did you check his “NOBOGH” percentage?”
“His WHAT?”
“His Number Of Bounces Of Grounders Hit percentage. The more bounces a ground ball takes, the more likely the ball will be picked up. His grounders have a low NOBOGH, which is bad.”

Think I am joking? When Edwin Jackson threw his labored no hitter earlier this year (against the Rays) I heard people call in to shows and write on their blogs “Was it even an effect start?”

Um… He threw 9 innings, let up no runs and no hits.

So YES!!!
I don’t care how many ways you bend the stats and how much origami you do with the numbers… throwing 9 innings, giving up 0 runs and 0 hits and getting a 1-0 victory IS A GOOD START!

Maybe it isn’t a glamorous perfect game, but shouldn’t he get CREDIT for working out of tense jams?

So prepare yourself for the craziness.
There will be someone out there shaking their head at any adulation of Morrow’s performance.

We’ll be looking at the runs, the hits and the results… yet someone will be counting the bounces and saying “Tsk tsk tsk… too many.”

Yeah Pirates… the problem was Joe and Gary

The Pirates have 52 games left and if they lose 11 of them, they will clinch their 18th straight losing season… a pretty safe bet I would say.

Well finally the Pirates are saying “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” and diagnosed the problem as being pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and bench coach Gary Varsho. So they were fired.

A couple of baseball lifers (who each served as an interim manager in the big leagues) are shown the door… and not a minute too soon.

Clearly THEY were what was keeping the Pirates down. They are one Orioles winning streak from being the worst team in baseball, but with all the talent on this roster, it is clearly the COACHING staff’s fault.

I mean with such pitching studs as Charlie Morton, Brad Lincoln and Brian Burres in the staff, they should be shutting down opponents left and right. It’s kind of like looking at the Braves staff in the early 1990s… so much talent that it isn’t even fair.

And they have veterans to give the team some stability. Heck they just brought in Chan Ho Park. He’s always good.

Meanwhile the line up… wow! When you have Ronny Cedeno, Andy LaRoche and Jeff Clement coming up to bat, who can you pitch around?

Clearly the talent is there… and the front office has done all they can to make the team better. Last year I pointed out all of their recent first round pick disasters… and GM Neal Huntington has managed to trade the likes of Jason Pay, Nate McLouth, Adam LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez and get virtually nothing in return…

And the Pirates non tendered Matt Capps, who went on to be an All Star for the Nationals and netted a great catching prospect in Wilson Ramos for Washington while the Pirates go exactly gotch.

But those are flukes. It’s obvious the talent is there and the GM has done THEIR job.

So let’s shake up the coaching staff!

No doubt this will help lead the Pirates to the promise land.
(But not to .500… let’s not go crazy here.)

I hope Carl Pavano’s agent has a pair

Carl Pavano pitched a terrific game today against his former team, the Indians. He went 7 strong innings letting up only 2 earned runs. Along the way he won his 14th game (tied for most in the AL), lowered his ERA to a respectable 3.28 and his 1.08 WHIP is third in the league.

He is also in the top 5 in innings pitched and complete games.

And did tonight sporting a porn stache and wearing the uniform of the old Negro League St. Paul Black Gophers.

Carl Pavano will probably get a few points in the Cy Young vote this year.

And guess what? He’s a free agent after this year.

Now I am not sure who his agent is right now. (Evidently he’s changed representation a few times over the last few years.) But I remember one of his agents called him a 1 or 2 starter good for 200 innings a year as he was wrapping up his Yankee tenure where he made nine starts total over the final three years of the contract.

Well whoever is making calls for him now, I hope he has the stones to call the Yankees for a new contract after Pavano became the poster child for ill conceived gluttony by Steibrenner.

How amazing would that call to Brian Cashman be?

“I got a guy… he’s a Cy Young caliber guy. He’s a World Series winner. He’s one of the top winners in the league and a HORSE. He’s a perfect fit for the Yankees.”

“Who is it?”

“Carl Pavano… hello?… HELLO?… I think we got cut off.”

Getting TWO obscene contracts from the Yankees would have to be the agent’s legacy.

How would it be any less likely than the Yankees trading to get BACK Javier Vazquez?