Numbers Can Be Deceiving

Yesterday Freddy Garcia got the start against the Blue Jays and was pulled after 6 innings after allowing 5 earned runs.  On the surface you would think he pitched poorly, but the numbers were a little deceiving.  Garcia didn't have a flawless game by any means, but there were some great signs.

Garcia retired the first nine batters in order and dominated the first time through the Blue Jays lineup.  It was a great start following his previous appearance where he struggled to make good pitches.  In his last start, he got himself in deep counts and struggled.  Yesterday though, he was ahead in most of the counts and had an extremely low pitch count through 6 innings.  His slider was working well and his accuracy was impressive except for an occasional curve ball that would get away from him, and of course the slider in the 6th inning to Cooper who took him yard.

During the second time through the Jay's lineup, Garcia had a little struggle in the 4th inning.  He allowed three hits and three runs.  The positive thing to take away from that was he quickly rebounded.  Garcia retired the next three batters in order with a fly ball and two strikeouts.  Garcia then struck out the next two batters in the fifth inning, essentially striking out four batters in a row after giving up three runs.  Garcia had a total 6 strikeouts in yesterday's game.

After getting the first two outs in the sixth inning, Nunez who was playing left field misplayed a ball that easily would have been caught by Gardner.  If Nunez caught the ball, Garcia would have gotten through 6 innings with only 65 pitches and 3 earned runs.  Instead, Garcia had to face left hander David Cooper and made a bad pitch.  He threw a slider down and inside to Cooper who golfed the ball out for a two-run home run.  Girardi made mention that if this were a regular season game, he would have put a lefty reliever in to face David Cooper.  Bottom line, it was one bad pitch that hurt his line for the day.  Everyone would have been happy with 6 innings with 6 strikeout and only 3 earned runs, especially the way Garcia rebounded after allowing the 3 runs in the 4th inning. Instead Garcia has now pitched 13.2 innings and has a 5.93 ERA.

On a side note, this Blue Jays team is pretty good.  Last year they kicked the Yankees butts.  The Yankees were 8-10 against the Jays last year and it seems like the Jays got younger and faster.  The AL East was a tough division last year (4 Teams played over .500 ball) and it looks like it will be just as tough this season.