RHP McClung (Balfour trade) promoted, Villanueva optioned to AAA

[endaround]

Now if McClung was used in the same situation that Balfour was and had the same results he did last night there's be talk of getting rid of him already.

[Baldkin]

I couldn't watch the game, could only listen, and it sounded like the 2 fly balls hit off McClung should've both been caught (one by Jenks, one by Gross) am I wrong on this?

 

It also sounded like only 1 ball was really hit hard.

[Fatter than Joey]

I wasn't real impressed with McClung, he doesn't seem to be much of a "pitcher" -- that said Jenks and Gross didn't do him any favors, and all of our pitchers will continue to "struggle" if those plays are not made in the future. Hopefully he will get more of a fair shake than Balfour did.

 

I still do not see Villy as a starter for 2007 -- I have no problems with his demotion -- but I can't imagine that he will perform better as a starter than Cappy/Vargas/Bush has

[sgtcluels]

Jenks could have dove for the ball, but with a big lead there was no real reason to risk injury for a game that's almost good as done. Now Gross, that was a bad route and completely botched it.

 

27ERA right now, at least he wasn't Yosted and had to deal with the extra pressure of coughing up the game.

[Brian the Automator]

I didn't stay up for the last inning, but from coworkers, it sounded like the hits of McClung were jam jobs. Did he really pitch that badly?

[dpapo]

Hopefully this doesn't show up twice, I just wrote something and it didn't show up. Anyway, I saw a reply of the 9th inning last night. Caught most of the game till the 9th. Those West coast games can be hard to stay up for out East. Anyway, the only ball that was hit hard off of him was the one off of Gross glove, which he should have caught, in my opinion. The Arizona announcers made the comment that they thought Gross was playing too shallow. The ball that went for a triple probably would have been caught be a younger Jenkins. It would have been a nice catch, but he just missed getting to it. The other hit by Byrnes wasn't hit that hard as well. Probably off the bat, but it still landed in shallow leftfield.

[dadofandrew]

Very impressive, especially given the results. You can't teach 101 mph. I see him on the 2008 roster, and they'll make him fail.

 

If he does, someone else will pick him up. Sooner or later, you figure it will click.

[Fatter than Joey]

Did he really pitch that badly?

 

Here is a recap --

 

Cirillo -- Groundout

Young -- FO7 (one pitch)

Hudson --"Triple" on a ball that probably should have been at worse a single (misplay by Jenks). -- This was hit to the opp. field, not a jam job, but a nice piece of hitting.

Byrnes -- single to Jenks -- nice hit, nothing cheap about it, but not ripped by any means. (Byrnes steals 2nd uncontested)

Jackson -- "double" hit the other way to Gross -- Gross needs to make this play -- This looked a lot like Hudson's hit -- not jammed at all, but a nice piece of hitting taking the ball the other way

 

Enter Cordero.

 

Two observations....

 

1.) The Defense did not help out McClung at all -- Most MLB OFs get McClung out of this inning w/o 2 runs being scored.

 

2.) Literally -- McClung threw 100% fastballs -- when he entered the game he hit 101(!) -- but by the time he left he was around 93-94. There was no movement on his pitches, and the Dbacks had no problem putting the ball in play, even though he was gassing it up there. His FB has 0 movement.

[Brian the Automator]

Weird, he has a hard curveball as well. I wonder if he was just put in there to work on something for Maddux or what.

[Fatter than Joey]

The Arizona announcers made the comment that they thought Gross was playing too shallow.

 

This was true -- plus Jenks probably should have been shading over as well guarding against the EBH. In both case the opposite field OF was out of position, given a 5 run lead.

 

Very impressive, especially given the results. You can't teach 101 mph.

 

I disagree. MLB hitters can hit this all day long if you don't have another pitch or an ability to change speeds. -- By the end of the inning he could only hit 93-94.

The Dbacks had no problem making contact even with his fastest pitches, there were not a lot of swings and misses, no one got blown away.

 

It's one inning, and he hasn't pitched in the MLB for awhile, so hopefully he will show more in his next outing.

[JohnBriggs12]

He threw all fastballs and after the first two hitters had little if no command. Jenkins might have been playing a little too deep. I don't fault him for trying to make the catch instead of playing it safe. What difference did it make if that guy ended up on first or third? He wasn't the tying run. A catch there ends the game.

 

Gross had a tough play and the ball glanced off his glove. He might have been a little shallow but that was probably at the behest of coaches who saw the ball to Jenkins drop. Until the tying run comes up, there's no reason to play deep. Play the percentages and prevent the bloops from falling in.

 

It's easy to understand though why the Brewers wanted this guy. Heck he did hit 101. But the league is littered with hard throwers that aren't consistent enough. Still if he ever harnesses his stuff and shows me a second pitch who knows.

 

As for his velocity dropping to 93-94 that was because he was taking stuff off to throw strikes. He had started missing wildly with his 98+ one.

[Fatter than Joey]

Weird, he has a hard curveball as well. I wonder if he was just put in there to work on something for Maddux or what.

 

Yeah -- Maybe Estrada called 14 straight FBs just to keep the Dbacks guessing -- I bet though Maddux may have instructed him to just throw strikes, let them hit it, and get out of the inning. I think there was also some difficulty in getting McClung to AZ on time as well. A better defensive effort gets him out of that inning with zero or one run being scored.

 

That 9th inning was a good illustration on how our D isn't helping any of our pitchers.

[Roscoe Chill]

I shared Al's excitement....for a little while. Then I found myself wondering out loud for a breaking ball of some sort...it never came. As others have pointed out, the luster of hitting 101 on the gun wore off soon when he couldn't throw strikes, and the MPH got lower and lower as the inning went on. I don't know how you can say very impressive other than his velocity, which does no good if you can't keep it up, and you can't throw it for strikes, and you don't mix in anything else. Potential...but as someone else said, not really a pitcher, just a large man with some heat.

[aracko]

I personally think that he didnt have his best stuff. He couldnt hit the zone at 100+ so he toned it down to a more controlable 93-95. I really dont think he got tired. If you make them put it in play odds are still in your favor that they make an out. If you walk them you give free base runners.

 

He should have been out of that inning and I would have total confidence the next time we choose to go to him. Its too bad he couldnt have gotten out of the inning, cause CoCo could use the rest.

 

I think McClung could have a pretty valueble role if he gets it down - pitching the 8th while TBOW and CoCo alternate save Opps in order to rest their arms.

[homer]

I'm not going to pass judgement one way or the other on 2/3 inning but the reason I asked if he had a pitch other than a fastball was because that's all he threw last night.

 

Jenkins should have played that on a hop and Gross took a horrible route - granted it was over his head but a good right fielder makes that catch. Not sure if Hart makes it or not but I bet it's more than 50/50 that he does.

[lukevan]

Those wondering why we picked up McClung... I don't know how much more Grant Balfour would've netted. This was more a flier, just hoping maybe that Maddux could "fix" him and if he can't be fixed, he's a free agent next season.

[Roscoe Chill]

I'm not complaining why McClung was acquired at all, in fact like I said, I was wondering why he was traded to the Brewers after his initial display last night. I'm just saying I quickly had my answer. Mike Maddux, let's see what you got...

[HebrewHammer]

I agree with aracko. I don't think he tired down at all. He couldn't throw strikes at 100mph so he sort of relaxed off of it a little and just threw fastballs down the middle.

 

I think the idea was to not try and be fancy. Let them hit the ball. Walking batters is about the last thing you want to do at that point in a game.

 

It probably wasn't a fair game to judge him on, really. His goal was to essentially let them put the ball in play and not walk batters. His defense didn't do him any favors. We game the dbacks 4 outs and a couple extra bases.

[lukevan]

yeah, wasn't pointing you out Ndog.

[hauser42]

Note - he did start on Friday so I thought it was odd he was pitching on 3 days rest (not that this is an excuse, but I was just hoping Ned wouldn't use him last night).

 

Actually, he probably could have been available to pitch an inning or two on Monday if necessary. That would have been his normal between starts side session.

 

Lot of would should of could in that statement. A lot of pitchers get hurt and you even stated it limiting his innings is not a lock to save Yo from arm injury.

 

Anyone can get struck by lightning when the conditions are right. Playing golf in a thunderstorm increase the odds that can happen but doesn't make it a certainty. Whether or not a player gets struck by lightning playing golf in a storm or not is irrelevant when trying to decide if it was the right thing to do or not.

 

I see him pitching in the playoffs if they make it.

 

Do you really see him pitching, or is that what you'd do? The Brewers have been pretty consistent about this issue; if he's got innings/pitches left they'll use them, and if not they won't. I haven't seen anything to indicate they'll change that stance.

The Brewers are doing a job right now of limiting his innings so I think they will do the same thing if they make the playoffs. I would pitch Yo in the playoffs but keep him on a strict pitch count. Problem I think where an injury would occur if he is put in a game last in the season and allowed to go 8 or 9 innings this what would cause an injury not a couple of well managed games with days of rest in before.