4-15-2012

[Rising O's]

To sweep or not to sweep, that is the fate of the bird unknown.

So I know the Skank series put a damper on things but we are in first place. The team showed some spunk on the road against an opponent we have had trouble defeating (well that's pretty much every team). We are near the top in a lot of categories both in pitching and offense.

I'll be able to watch Sunday's game, not sure who is pitching, think it is Chen. Lets get that 1st career win for him.

[Matt P]

Matusz is pitching, Chen on Monday.

[Rising O's]

Well Brian Matusz, its time to show up. Get us that sweep.

[ofahn]

Well Brian Matusz, its time to show up. Get us that sweep.

So far, so good.

[Rising O's]

He hasn't looked great, lots of hard hit balls but the double plays are helping. Just 1 more inning to get us through after Adam's blast got him the lead again.

[Rising O's]

And bye bye lead. Well done Brian.

[Matt P]

Matusz needs to go to AAA.

Why would Buck bring in Gregg? Let's bring in our worst reliever with 2 men on base ... unreal. Worst starter on the staff followed up by the worst reliever on the staff.

[Old Sneakers]

Message to Buck Showalter: It's ok to pull Kevin Gregg now

[JoseB]

None of the 3 guys who pitched today belong on the team. I would much rather have Neshek, Phillips and Tillman.

[osforlife]

None of the 3 guys who pitched today belong on the team. I would much rather have Neshek, Phillips and Tillman.

Patton is the closest thing we have to a long man. Replacing him with a "barely more than a LOOGY" in Phillips would be a bad move. They seem content with Tillman starting, and even if he would move to the bullpen, I would like him to pitch one inning to show off his lost mid 90's fastball. I wouldn't be suprised if Gregg got cut soon.

[osforlife]

Matusz will get one more start and then get sent down. Wada will replace him. He obviously isn't capable of pitching at this level at the moment. He shouldn't have been on the team in the first place, like I've said all off-season.

[Rising O's]

Had the BSOD before I could post on Gregg. The guy did not want to be in the game, it was clear. He even looked into the dugout looking like he was waiting to be pulled. When Showalter did not make a move the next pitch was up and inside. The guy needs to be cut, he reminded me of Steve Kline today.

[Zach]

I think that a lot of this bad will towards Matusz is a little premature. He pitched fairly well for most of the game. Two mistakes unfortunately were for long balls, but that is kinda to be expected with Toronto. He is obviously pushing it and feels the pressure to go over the top and has been overpitching. If he could settle down I think that he has shown some impressive stuff. AAA might be teh way to do that, but the names mentioned are not better pitchers than Matusz and would not help this team. There would be threads pretty soon after they started that would be reminiscent of this one.

[OriolesRedskins28]

I think that a lot of this bad will towards Matusz is a little premature. He pitched fairly well for most of the game..

I disagree. His fastball command was absolutely atrocious. Heck he even had trouble locating his breaking pitches... There were several occasions where he would miss badly and jump or spin in frustration, he just can't command his pitches right now... 4 walks is way too many, he's lucky he got those double plays or it would have been even worse. That last walk to Rajai Davis was inexcusable, I don't care how fatigued he was. It's clear at this point he should be in AAA, I don't think he's a lost cause or anything because his stuff certainly looks better but he should be in AAA right now working on his delivery and command.

Matusz will get one more start and then get sent down. Wada will replace him. He obviously isn't capable of pitching at this level at the moment. He shouldn't have been on the team in the first place, like I've said all off-season.

I agree, one more start and if he doesn't show significant improvement then Wada should get his spot. Even though Wada isn't expected to be very good as a starter he can't be any worse than Matusz right now and Matusz could benefit from some time in AAA to work on some things in a more controlled evironment.

[osforlife]

I agree, Wada isn't gonna win any Cy Young. Chen will be better in the starter's role. Wada kinda reminds me of Hisanori Takahashi, although alot of asian pitchers have the same windup and stuff. Hopefully, Wada could turn into Takahashi in a starters role.