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Cowboys and Indians of the Texas and Cleveland variety, of course. Wouldn't want to stand around in those woods hoping something good will just happen to you by accident.
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SMOKE BILLOWING FROM UNDER THE HOOD
Wednesday May 25, ten days ago, the Mariners beat the Orcs by 13-3. They were sitting on a 28-18 record, +1.5 games in the division, and they had a 120 ERA+. Unfortunately Leonys "MothaLode" Martin tweaked a hammy in that game.
Since then, the 120 ERA+ Mariners have coughed up the following run totals, game-by-game: 7. 6. 5. 3. 4. 14. 13. 7. 10. In ten days their ERA+ has gone from 120 to 104.
In Dr. D's mind, the situation passed from "a passing slump, one of the things you see in a marathon 162-game season" to "admit the patient to the hospital" on Saturday. When he watched Taijuan Walker limp painfully through five innings in Texas. Having a bad game is one thing; a young gun like Taijuan steering 91 MPH puffballs down the pipe like he's 35 years old, that's another thing.
If you look at Iwakuma's and Miley's statistics, you could talk yourself into the idea that they're victims of circumstance. For example, Miley has 6.8 K and 2.4 BB this year, compared to 6.8 K and 2.9 BB last year ... and every year. He's had some extra pitches fly over the fence. But is that luck or .. ?
On a deeper level, Iwakuma and Miley don't seem to have the same juice in their arms as last year. And if that's true, and Taijuan needs the DL, and Felix is aging fast ... where are you? How did six exciting starters turn into zero, in one week?
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DR. D's VISION
The best vision is just for everybody to pitch gud. But supposing all your worst 'mares are true, and all these guys have deep-seated problems, here's the SSI Road Map to a Playoff Rotation:
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#1 FELIX - they say it really is just a calf. The great huge happy realization here is that --- > Felix' floor is still TOR. He might be worse than himself, but he still won't be worse than many others. He's thrown 8 really good starts in 10 attempts. Getting him back, in about a week, is getting back your Opening Day Starters.
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#2 NATE KARNS - Dr. D stoutly maintains there is nothing to fix here. Just let him pitch. He isn't going to win the Cy Young, but he's looking at 15-9, 3.75.
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#3 JAMES PAXTON - Take a breath. Take a second breath. Playoff teams are fine with volatile young lefties. If Paxton has a "young Gio Gonzalez year" we're fine with that.
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#4 HISASHI IWAKUMA - threw that 13-3 win against Orkland. Has allowed either 3 or 4 runs his last five starts in a row, but it's been more like "let's try to hold them to three" than "huh!, that lucky double ruined my stats."
#5 WADE MILEY - at least he's not laboring to get the ball up there.
Actually the two vets look pretty sweet if you think of them as BOR. They're maybe a notch down from last year, but they both rank Bill James Top 60. The fact is, Iwakuma and Miley are problems that ought to fix themselves. That's one of the reasons you pay vet starters their money; they're capable of adjusting on the fly and figuring out ways to get six innings.
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AAA TAIJUAN WALKER - here's to either they put him on the Disabled List, or in Tacoma, or something. And the last few postgame quotes -- from him and from Servais -- weren't far off of that scenario.
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Bat571 pushes the intriguing idea of putting Guillermo Heredia onto the ballclub for Stefen Romero, even after Leonys is back. Personally I love it; I've got a real soft spot for the glove wizard whose main skill is OBP (Heredia is hitting a good .300 with a 1:1 EYE in AA).
In Sunday's game, the leadoff hitter for Texas hit a "marginal" single that Leonys Martin would easily have caught; also that inning there was a ridiculous popup that fell on the grass out behind the shift. If either play had been made, Texas' first three runs wouldn't have scored on Karns. In other words, these starting pitchers need max defense behind them right now. One or two key base hits, that could have been caught, have been the difference in several of these starts.
BABVA,
Dr D
