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Dr. D missed out on the chance to postgame Nate Karns' last hail of 9mm bullets into the antique shop, which left us decidedly Tackleberrish in mood this past week.  But at least we can take out our frustations on the firing range silhouettes.

LH George Springer stepped in to start the Astros' "attack" last Saturday and the Karnivore chomped him in half on 4 pitches:  95-95-CHANGEUP-95.  Here's the GameDay if you want to follow along.  He gave up a groundball single to Marwin Gonzalez, and then fanned Carlos Correa on 3 pitches:

• Belligerent 94 MPH fastball middle in, 0-1
• 96 ! fastball right on the hands, swing and miss
• Nintendo curve breaking low-away, trash swing, can I get an Amen from the congregation

The Astros' LH cleanup hitter Colby Rasmus went 2-1, and then Karns detonated him with two drop-dead gorgeous CHANGEUPS, one diving like a Zero to the knees, and the second one right down the pipe but pulled on a string like a Yo-Yo.  Karns had fanned 3 men in the first inning without really using his curve.  Dr. D was mesmerized.  Steph Curry had 27 points at halftime -- without shooting any three-pointers.  You can't stop Nate Karns; you can only hope to contain him.

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In the 2nd inning, Karns started Preston Tucker with a sky-high ladder fastball that had Tucker Duckin', confused him with another CHANGEUP that rolled off the table, and then simply threw a series of comet-trail fastballs by him.  Last one popped up defensively.

He then started Carlos Gomez with a high 97 MPH ! fastball, foul-tipped strike one, and sent him back to the bench.

But! when Karns threw back-to-back diving changeups to LH Luis Valbuena to K.O. him, then ESPN should have switched over to the game right then and there.  Dr. D was thinking it was a shame that Gonzalez' groundball had rolled through the infield ...

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In the third inning, Karns blew up Tyler White with a series of 95 fastballs and knuckle curves, the last one a garbage-swing strikeout.  Then he used two Trevor Hoffman changeups to go 1-2 on Juan Castro and easily struck HIM out.

You saw the rest of the game.  Karns had used his 94-97 fastball and CHANGEUP to flip the Astros over into a near-fall by inning three, and THEN he started torturing them with curves.  By the end of the game, Karns had 21 swinging strikes and had topped out at 98.5 MPH.  The Astros' manager had this to say:

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"I thought it was the best stuff we've seen out of any pitcher this season," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Karns. "It was mid-90s, big hammer, he changed the shape of his breaking ball, he threw the curve in fastball counts. He had his stuff going for the first half of the game and we couldn't really get anything started against him."

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Dr. D has had wayyyy too much fun basking in Karns' glory this year.  But we've got to say, none of it was ever based on the concept of Nate Karns throwing an easy 94-98 MPH.  We foresaw the possibility of a John Lackey or a poor man's Mike Mussina, but that guy out there Saturday was nothing less than Pedro Martinez 1999.  Or Tim Lincecum 2008.  Those have been the two right hand studs lately who commanded three near-unhittable pitches.

Leaving us with:

HI - Karns is going to be a joyful Corey Kluber-type discovery (skeptical Dr. D will believe it when he sees it)

MID - He showed us a taste of "upside games" when he's feelin' it, every once in a while

LO - Best Bet

The question is whether Karns has any ability to replicate that kind of performance.  It's too good to be true, so we'll guess not and be pleasantly surprised otherwise.  But what's your guess?  Does Karns have any potential to evolve into that May 7th Allosaurus that sent the Astros screaming madly into all corners of the amusement park?

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NICK TROPEANO and his "Inverted W" pose

Has neatly mixed up a 91 fastball, a plus 80 MPH curve ball (25% usage) and a decent 82 MPH changeup (20% usage) to strike out 74 men in 69 innings the last two years.  He walks lots of guys and gives up lots of homers; his last time out vs the M's his Three True Outcomes were 5K, 4BB, and 0HR in five plus innings.

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Where's Taro when you really need him

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His Shandler Quality Start trends this year, most recent game first:

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Twice in six games, he has been able to marshall "Command" to go with his stuff.  That is, he's been able to hit his spots, make the ball break as he wished, has been able to make the ball do what he intended to do.  The other four times he's been dangerous but unpolished.  

The M's deploy their stock vs RH lineup, with Marte #2 and Seth #6.

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BABVA,

Dr D