Way to go Everett. Fouled off some pitches before getting ball four to plate the runner at third for the lead.
Let's see if Wags can save this. Whoops. Just kidding. I root for him and the Stros; his stuff just isn't as dominant as it used to be.
Silver lining from the loss: Roy Oswalt continues to be impressive. He might be the best pitcher in the National League. Too bad the bullpen couldn't hold the lead. As for Wagner, he seems to always have trouble when he's brought in mid-inning. He's more effective when he just comes out and pitches the 9th. A guy like Rivera can come in early and work the team out of a jam with men on base, but that's not Billy's forte.
If Wagner can't handle getting saves unless he comes in, pitches one inning and doesn't inherit any runners then he is NOT an elite closer in the league and doesn't deserve the contract he was given.
Oswalt is still a pretty distant third to Johnson and Schilling. I blame Jimys hook for this loss. Oswalt should have pitched the eighth. Through seven, he was only at 86 pitches, and still going strong with a 2-0 lead. Then if all goes well he might stay in for the complete game, or you hand it over to Wagner for the save at the beginning of the ninth. He (Wagner) is much more efficient when not forced to clean up somebody else's mess.
Schilling? Why don't we look at his ERAs from the last 3 seasons. 2001 2.98 2000 3.81 1999 3.69 Schilling has a career ERA of 3.39. Roy had an ERA of 2.73 last year. So far, from what we know, Roy has performed better. If you want to say, "well, Roy's still young, while Schilling is a proven commodity..." fine. But that also means that Roy could also be even better than what he's demonstrated. And it seems he's already a better pitcher. Even if you disagree with that, there's no way in hell he's "distant" from Schilling. Johnson is the best pitcher in the NL. Schilling and Johnson are the best 1-2 punch. But Schilling is not the 2nd best pitcher in the NL.
I'd say its debatable whether Schilling has ever had a better season than Oswalt's career numbers. Sch 1992 14-11, 2.35ERA, 26 starts, 42 games, 147 K's, 226.1 inn OS 16-3, 2.74, 23, 31, 166, 160 Sch 2001 22-6, 2.98, 35,35, 293, 256.2 I am in the boat that says Oswalt's career is better than Schilling's best season.
The majority of closers are 1-inning men. Rivera and a few others are the exception. I'll agree with you though that his lack of versatility is a minus. I don't know that precludes him from being a dominant 9th inning guy - which is a role that is important. How much that role by itself is worth, I don't know.
The biggest different between Oswalt and Schilling today, of course, is that Schilling has no pitch-count limits and would have been able to pitch all 9 innings if he had a 7-inning shutout going.
Why do you always have to spoil things with facts? I'd say Oswalt 7, Dotel 1, Wags 1 will usually win.
Why do you always have to spoil things with facts? I'd say Oswalt 7, Dotel 1, Wags 1 will usually win. Don't get me wrong -- I *love* Oswalt. I would have liked 8 from Oswalt and 1 from Dotel. My problem is more with Wagner. I cringe everytime he comes in, rightly or wrongly. Today, when Wagner came in with 1-on, 2-out, my first reaction was "this will be a 2-2 game in a sec". After the first walk, it was "oh hell, now it's going to be 3-2". I just am not a Wagner fan. I loved him in '99, but I got annoyed with him when he refused to admit injury in 2000 (and blew like 8 saves insisting he was fine), and then something about him last year made me nervous.
Pitching even someone like Schilling as much as the d'backs do is wreckless. Though, of course, someone his age should have a much higher limit. I'm clueless as to why Oswalt was yanked, though. Maybe he said he was tired, or something. But after 80-something pitches, that would be unusual. He did allow two singles in the 7th... but it's not like he was being hit hard... and our relievesr suck.
Pitching even someone like Schilling as much as the d'backs do is wreckless. Though, of course, someone his age should have a much higher limit. The Dbacks haven't really used him that much, to be honest. He's throwing fewer pitches per game thus far this year than anytime in the last 10 years. Last year, he threw 105 pitches per game -- he's had 8 separate years that he threw more per game. (He did throw quite a few in total because he had so many starts.) It probably just seems like so much because he's finally out of the obscurity of being on a mediocre team. He did allow two singles in the 7th... but it's not like he was being hit hard... and our relievesr suck. Agreed -- I couldn't figure out that move. I understood the Dotel -> Wagner move, but I still didn't agree with it. Dotel should have finished that inning. Of course, that's all easy to say in hindsight, I guess.
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/n...recap&ymd=20020418&content_id=10845&fext=.jsp Oswalt quote about leaving after the 7th inning: "I was wearing down a little," Oswalt said. "They asked me if I wanted to go one more inning, but the thing is that if I go back out for one inning I want to go back out for two. They decided to go with Dotel and Wags. That's pretty much what we do all the time."
Major: Oh, my bad... for some reason I thought Schilling was getting a ton of pitches. Should have checked first...
Oh, my bad... for some reason I thought Schilling was getting a ton of pitches. Should have checked first... You would think so with the number of innings he seems to pitch. Apparently, he's just really freaking efficient.
i agree with what granato was saying in the post game show, that the mistake was putting cruz in with the 4-3 lead. he is still in his spring training and that was probably not the situation to put him in. we had stone who came in anyway and also puffer whom the reds have never seen.
