Sosa basically pitched 6 1/3 scoreless last night had not the fielding let him down. Joe Smith induced the tailor-made DP grounder, but Reyes dropped the ball on the transfer leaving 2 on and 2 out instead of ending the inning. Next hitter doubled off the wall driving 2 in, both charged to Sosa (earned runs b/c they got the FC on the 4-6 play, even though it should have been a 4-6-3). But by all rights Sosa should have ended the day with no runs charged while pitching into 7th.
I don't want to get carried away, b/c there were points in the game where Sosa could have gotten hurt. The D Backs are terrible and didn't cash in on his mistakes. Tony Clark flied out to center on a middle middle hung slider that should have been T ball. Drew missed a 3 run homer by 2 feet in the first inning because he got in front of a slider. And Sosa had erratic command. Some innings he was hitting the target, and some he wasn't even close.
All that said, Sosa is worth taking a hard look at. His fastball repeatedly hit 94 on the gun and I saw him hit 96 on a couple of occasions. And his main pitch, that slider, is nasty. It has sharp and late down-and-away breaking action to righty hitters, especially when he stays on top of it. And it comes in at 6-10 MPH slower than the fastball, which really keeps the hitters off balance. Apparently Sosa also has a splitter and a change, but I can't see I saw either of them displayed last night.
A very positive start for a guy who's a young 30 (only became a pitcher 7 years ago apparently, so his arm probably has the wear and tear of typical 25 year old who came up as a pitcher). We'll see where he goes from here.
BTW: who kidnapped Shawn Green and gave us this imposter? Attaboys to whoever pulled it off.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It would be an unbelievable stroke of good luck if the Sosa who pitched yesterday and in AAA this year represents a truly changed pitcher and his potential going forward. He would instantly add pop to the starting rotation with his live, Perez-like speed. That said, I am very hesitant to get caught up in the Sosa hype, given his history. In many ways he's exactly like Perez - good speed, but a history of very bad pitching except for one solid year.
On the other hand, the Mets are claiming he's made some changes to his delivery and release that are making it harder for batters to pick up, so maybe he really is different than 4 of his last 5 years and spring training this year. Not to mention, might as well ride the hot hand until it turns cold. And I see no reason to use CHP again, he's done.
Pelfrey still struggling, I'd love to see him finally settle in and find his groove but to be honest I really see no improvement from start to start. He's still not showing the control he needs to get to the next level..
At this stage in his career, the only fair way to judge Pelfrey is month-to-month, not start-to-start.
I agree, although I really have seen no difference between how he pitched in MLB last year vs. this year. He still throws a lot of BBs and HBs. The only time he looked like maybe he had turned the corner was during his first 3 starts in spring training, which is why I was heavily in favor of giving him the 5th spot to start the season. But then he regressed...
We desperately need him to advance and I'm excited for his upside, but I'm still cautiously optimistic at best at this point that he's going to be as good as touted.
Post a Comment