Ok, so our pen really isn't mighty. In the Spring Tranining game on right now Phil just said that he has a lot of confidence in Springer and that he's looking for big contributions from him. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have a lot of confidence in Springer, or the rest of the pen past Lidge for that matter. How did we go so fast from having one of the best bullpens in the game to one of the shakiest? Is there any hope down there?
We traded our closer (Wagner) and set up man (Dotel), and made our 7th inning guy our closer (Lidge), and since we haven't added anything to the pen.
Springer? God help us... Qualls, Wheeler, Harville, & Lidge are all excellent. Gallo & Springer are pretty bad.
Yeah listening to the game right now and it definitely is not going well for Wheeler either .. I think his spring ERA is above 8 now. Lets hope its just Spring training, but these guys all have something to prove, and its definitely something to worry about.
That's pretty optimistic beyond Lidge - Harville is about as far from excellent as you can get, Wheeler is not as good as the limited innings in Houston last year showed, Qualls could be a good one but is still young and anything could happen with him. You're on the mark about Gallo and Springer, though.
We did that last year in a Miceli jersey and you saw what happened....... But I like someone creative enough to come up with new ideas............
not really, the "damn good pitching machine" had a 11.57 ERA in the playoffs and a 27.00 ERA in the LCS. I think the parts wore out; it ran on fumes.
Yeah, let's completely ignore the more than solid 77 innings he pitched in the regular season in favor of 1.1 innings in the playoffs. The guy was bad in the NLCS, but he's still better than anything else we have in the pen, save Lidge.
You are right, he was solid during the regular season. But, he was such a disaster during the playoffs -- had three leads in three different games -- blew them all. He had nothing left. Maybe if we brought him back, but cut his innings. After the playoffs, he even admitted that he had little left during the postseason. I share your concern with our bullpen, but I will not lose sleep over not retaining Miceli.
The real culprit in Miceli's downfall was Jimy Williams. He was the ONLY guy he would turn to when the situation was we were losing, but it was still close enough to win (but not close enough to bring in Lidge or Dotel). Also, he was the 6th and 7th inning guy, and Williams found plenty of use for that, especially with no Andy early, Redding still struggling, and Wade Miller's ability to suddenly lose grasp of the strike zone.
I forget sometimes to use the in the posts, as I was trying to be a tad sarcastic. I did not intend to upset Dan's family/agent (aka RF007)...........
Sean Connery: I've got to ask you about the Penis Mightier. Alex Trebek: What? No. No, no, that is The Pen is Mightier. Sean Connery: Gussy it up however you want, Trebek. What matters is does it work? Will it really mighty my penis, man? Alex Trebek: It's not a product, Mr. Connery. Sean Connery: Because I've ordered devices like that before - wasted a pretty penny, I don't mind telling you. And if The Penis Mightier works, I'll order a dozen. Alex Trebek: It's not a Penis Mightier, Mr. Connery. There's no such thing!
