| Chris Hoyler. 25th July, 2005 - 11:03 pm
 Those who did not see Josh Beckett?s return to the mound can take solace in two things. He had outstanding movement and velocity on his pitches, with his fastball hitting 96 MPH on the gun and reading in the mid-90s all night. Mixing it in with the splitter and the change, Beckett varied speeds en route to striking out seven. In addition, Beckett worked with relative ease, needing just 67 pitches to get through six innings of four hit, no walk ball. For those who watched Florida?s most complete performance of the season in the 16-4 win over San Francisco, just seeing Beckett pitch like the 2003 World Series MVP is enough to briefly forget how terrible Dontrelle Willis and AJ Burnett have been in July. Burnett entered Sunday looking to improve on his 6.33 ERA this month, which sadly is worlds ahead of Willis? 9.41.
Going over the game logs for Burnett and Willis, it is obvious that they have been burned out by Jack McKeon, who ignored their specific circumstances and ran them ragged in the first half. Here are the numbers for Burnett, with all statistics through the All Star Break.
Games/Games Started: 17/17
Innings Pitched: 113.2
Baserunners/9 IP (W+H/IP): 1.23
Strikeouts: 111
Starts with 96+ Pitches Thrown: 15
Starts with 105+ Pitches Thrown: 10
Complete Games: 2
For a pitcher whose career high in innings is 204 (2002) and has thrown just 143 innings in 2 years, McKeon failed Burnett by not planning for the entire season. This is Burnett?s first full season back from Tommy John surgery, and though he threw 120 innings last season, he was shut down on September 12th, throwing only 2 innings in relief in the season?s last game. All these factors and statistics, readily available to anyone with access to a major sports outlet, were ignored by McKeon, who has let Burnett throw high pitch counts in games that he is not completing. It is no surprise that before Burnett?s start at San Francisco on Sunday, which, despite giving up just one unearned run in 7 1/3 innings, saw Burnett struggle with his stuff and only strike out 4, he was having his worst month of the season. After Beckett?s return, McKeon?s words actually contradict everything he is being accused of.
"He was on a roll," McKeon said. "He probably could have went the whole way, nine innings, on less than a hundred pitches. He was feeling good, but we didn't want to overextend him." (Credit: Palm Beach Post)
Great, but McKeon let Burnett throw 102 pitches on Sunday, which raises the question of his intentions in surveying his, the club?s and Burnett?s best interests. Even if McKeon is treating Burnett as if he has already been traded and these innings are another team?s problem, why is he taking the same approach to Willis?
Dontrelle Willis has been labeled by doubters as inconsistent; his 2004 a jumble of gems and garbage, with his failure to put together three consecutive quality starts a sticking point for many who question the hype he received in 2003. He threw 197 innings last season, his changeup becoming a beach ball and his fastball failing to hit 90 by mid-August. While his numbers are not bad enough to label him a second half failure (in comparison to his first half performance), Willis was getting hit harder and allowing many more fly balls late in the season, sure signs of fatigue. Willis? statistically dominating first half of 2005 is well documented, one so good that he merited consideration to start the All Star Game for the NL.
Games/Games Started: 18/18
Innings Pitched: 128
Baserunners/9 IP (W+H/IP): 1.14
Strikeouts: 95
Starts with 96+ Pitches Thrown: 14
Starts with 105+ Pitches Thrown: 11
Complete Games: 4
Willis started the season with 2 complete games and McKeon used him well in April, his other three starts being six and five inning affairs that saw Willis throw an average of 83 pitches. May was the exact opposite, with zero complete games in five starts, an average of seven innings per outing. McKeon let Willis throw 111 and 102 pitches in two six inning starts, a sign of absolutely no preparation in defense of the late season fatigue that hit him in 2004 and the 2003 postseason. He has been abysmal in July, and his performance Friday against the Giants should be a sign for Marlins management. Not only did Willis give up 7 runs in 3 innings, he had ZERO ground ball outs. In comparison, his ground out to fly out ratio in the first three months of the season was 161/94, one of the best in the league for a good strikeout pitcher. McKeon has burned out this young arm, and even assuming that McKeon thinks Burnett is as good as gone by Sunday, Willis is part of the future of the rotation. McKeon should be relieved of his duties before the end of this month to prevent further damage to Willis, Beckett and future Marlins youth like Scott Olsen and possibly Brandon McCarthy or Jon Papelbon (should the White Sox or Red Sox rumor, respectively, come to fruition).
Random Game Notes That May Only Interest Me
- Marlins fans are lucky to have had great television commentators for years now. Joe Angel was replaced by Dave O?Brien in 2001, both being among the very best in the game right now. O?Brien, who now works for ESPN, is possibly my favorite play by play man, his no frills style fitting perfectly in nationally televised games, which have widely variant audiences every telecast. Len Kasper was fantastic last season, but accepted the high profile Chicago Cubs job for 2005, which includes many national telecasts on Superstation WGN. Rich Waltz has stepped in this year and is much like O?Brien, straight forward and quick witted. Tommy Hutton has been the mainstay in the booth for nine seasons now, to his credit working well with the revolving door of play by play men. He has fantastic insight into Marlins history (as historic as a 13 year old franchise can be) and current storylines. Seeing as this is my first column, I wanted to point out how much I appreciated their work before I went into making game and television observations.
- Brian Moehler was fantastic on Thursday. I gain admiration for his pitching acumen with each passing start. Moehler?s game was umpired at home plate by CB Bucknor, who has a very big strike zone that expands in the low parts of the zone. As a ground ball pitcher, Moehler was throwing 95% of his pitches at the knees (as compared to, say, 75% in a normal outing). He was rewarded with one of his best outings of the year; striking out five and walking zero while scattering ten hits over seven innings. After receiving among the worst run support in the league in the first three months, Moehler has been given an average of nine runs in July, and shock of shocks, he is 4-0. If the Fish get their act together and stay healthy for a run at the playoffs, Moehler should get credit for holding the rotation together in the early parts of the season. He is invaluable as a bottom of the rotation starter and a mentor to the younger starters, who, despite their World Series experience, can still learn from a guy who has suffered many hardships in his career.
- Craig Minervini is another great part of the Florida broadcast team. He did a nice feature on Thursday about the cooling system at Bank One Ballpark. In the midst of the heat wave sweeping the nation, the BOB staff is able to close the roof and cool the stadium 20-30?F in two to three hours. Also, the power bill in the stadium runs from $280,000-$300,000 each month.
-Willis was hitting the inside strike with ease early in the season. The more I watch him, the more it becomes clear that he has no confidence in his stuff at this point. He is nibbling like Mike Mussina, trying to hit the low outside corner with his changeup instead of running it inside to create ground balls.
- Juan Pierre has been playing very well for the past month. His bunt single on Saturday in the 4th started off a huge inning. He now has 14 bunt hits on the year.
- Carlos Delgado?s mammoth blast into McCovey Cove was one of the best moments of the season. It sounded like a shotgun blast on television; I could only imagine the resonation it made throughout SBC Park. Delgado has surpassed my expectations and is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
- Miguel Cabrera is the greatest. No need to analyze any plays, he is just a freak that is on his way to surpassing Albert Pujols as the best under-25 hitter in the history of the game.
- Miggy and Carlos went back to back on Saturday for the 4th time this year and the 2nd time on the road trip.
- According to the FSN guys, Antonio Alfonseca has looked good in rehab and could be back Tuesday.
The Week Ahead (All Statistics through Sunday)
Pittsburgh (43-56) @ Florida (49-47)
Tuesday (7:05 PM, FSN Florida): Josh Fogg (4-6, 4.92) VS Brian Moehler (6-6, 3.38)
Wednesday (7:05 PM, No TV): Zach Duke (3-0, 0.93) VS Ismael Valdez (0-0, 4.50)
Thursday (7:05 PM, I Network): Kip Wells (6-10, 4.77) VS Dontrelle Willis (13-6, 3.23)
Washington (55-44) @ Florida
Friday (7:35 PM, FSN Florida): Tony Armas Jr. (5-4, 4.73) VS Josh Beckett (9-6, 3.33)
Saturday (1:05 PM, Fox Network): John Patterson (4-2, 2.58) VS AJ Burnett (7-6, 3.48)
Sunday (1:15 PM, I Network): Livan Hernandez (12-4, 3.44) VS Brian Moehler |
