Steroids helped the pitchers recover. Helps keep them from tiring out. I wonder though if they helped cause some of the numerous arm injuries. Pitchers used to pitch a lot more innings, and get hurt less often.
A lot more innings, yes... but that's also how the game was played back then. They were brought up that way. Nowadays, if you have a quality-plus arm, you're likely going to have a lot invested in you from your draft day... meaning things like IP, pitch counts, and number of appearences will be limited from day one in the minors. As far as getting hurt less often, I don't know if you can really assess that. If anything, with the advent of Tommy John surgery and arthroscopy, pitchers are able to have their careers prolonged (whereas certain injuries would have been career ending in the past). Remember... the human arm was never designed to throw overhand. Throwing a baseball 90mph, or throwing curve balls, is about the most un-natural and harmful thing the human body has to do in all of sports. All pitchers will eventually have some sort of arm trouble if they pitch long enough.
Another strong outing for Jimenez. He didn't let a baserunner get past 2nd or have more than 1 baserunner in an inning until the 8th. He gave up 8 hits but half of them were literally off the ends of bats. He was dominant even though it was against the Mauer-less Twins (until Mauer pinch hit into a DP in the 8th). He already has 13 wins in the Rockies first 66 games. If he stays healthy, he has a reasonable shot to win 25 games, even with him likely coming down to earth in the second half.
So much time left in the season but he has a huge edge. Josh Johnson has been awesome recently, too, and could end up in the mix. With Lincecum struggling to regain his velocity and command, the only other remote threats at the moment are Halladay and Wainwright. Cain should be in the discussion but he only has 6 wins and a weak offense behind him. Unfortunately, voters look too much at wins. I don't see Pelfrey or the young Garcia holding up down the stretch but you never know.
Really unbelievable how little run support Cain has received ever since he came up. Whether his team has been good or bad, whether they've supported their other pitchers or not... he always seems to get screwed.
Agreed. I've watched all or parts of 4 of his starts and his stuff is just amazing. In addition to the high 90s fastball, he is incredible at inducing ground balls. His delivery is beautiful and effortless and all of his pitches have great movement. I don't see him sustaining a mechanics-related injury.
Jimenez getting smacked around tonight by the Red Sox. ERA up to 1.60. He's still the favorite for the Cy but Wainwright has 10 wins and Halladay isn't going anywhere among others. Losing Tulowitzki is also a blow to the Rockies offense.
