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Otherwise, you probably know that Kason Gabbard struck out 7 in 5+ innings pitched yesterday to get his first win of the season. He now has more wins than full days on the active roster (since he was optioned back to AAA right after the game). Though this looks like a demotion, its actually a good thing, as they feel he is too valuable to put in the bullpen and they want to keep starting games.

The hook looked great yesterday too - not quite the big looping curve ball you see from guys like Rich Hill or Barry Zito, but very effective nonetheless. Andruw Jones looked like Pedro Cerrano a couple times out there, swinging and missing on 3 straight pitches to strike out. He may hit the straight ball very far, but he isn’t hitting anything that moves right now. Gabbard did struggle with his control a bit, but at the same time, it also gave him an advantage when throwing the curve. He was missing off the plate quite a bit with his straight fastballs and change ups, so the hitters were sitting on a lot of the pitches he threw and weren’t really swinging away. Now, when the big curve comes in looking like an inside changeup, they hold off, and it cut across the plate for a strike. This is how you throw the curve effectively - you have to fool the hitters (This is also what Josh Beckett is doing a much better job of this year).

Gabbard gets bonus points for not letting the 2.5 hr rain delay bother him either. The way baseball players prepare these days, everything always seems to be mapped out just so, so when you are ready to go and have to sit around for a few hours, I imagine it can be difficult.

I think the overall conclusion is that next time we need a spot starter, its going to be Gabbard instead of Hansack. I guess Theo and the boys were right about last year - one step backward really was required in order to move the (dynasty?) franchise forward. Gabbard probably wouldn’t have pitched as well if he didn’t have the experience of last year to grow with.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 1:45 pm and is filed under General Postings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.