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| Take that Sky! |
There are reasons that baseball fans make terrible baseball managers, and here's one of them.
Sergio Romo who got tonight's save despite some Brian Wilson-esque torture at the end has had a couple bad games.
3 bad games to be exact and there are already people calling for his replacement.
The reason why people have nothing to talk about (myself included) is that this Giants team is so good this year we have to nitpick at anything that goes wrong. Hunter Pence lost his scooter?!?! Get the UN, the President and Bat Kid on the phone!!... See what I mean?
So the thing we can nitpick at right now is, Sergio Romo had 3 bad games. Before those 3 outings, Sergio had a 2.21 ERA and had converted 15 of 16 save opportunities. Of course early in the season, giving up 4 runs in 3 outings is going to balloon your ERA, and for Sergio it has hit 3.52. Pretty easy to figure if you give up 1 run when you're asked to pitch 1 inning, your ERA takes a pretty big hit.
Something might be wrong mechanically right now, but there really isn't any need to panic over 3 games when the guy has been excellent so far this season. Before the Colorado game where he blew his 2nd save of the year, there were rumblings of Sergio making another All Star appearance as one of the premier closers in the NL.
And it's not like there's anyone in the Giants' bullpen who is spectacular enough to knock on the door of the closer's job... right?
*AHEM*
Oh right... Jean Machi has been that spectacular.
Mean Jean Machi has been otherworldly this season... He has given up 1 run this season in 27 innings pitched with 23 strikeouts for a 0.33 ERA at one point he led the league in wins with 5 and he has 2 saves in as many opportunities.
A career minor leaguer who has closed his entire career, Machi has been a great story this season and one of many difference makers on this Giants team you didn't see coming (Hicks, Colvin).
But regardless of how well Machi has played, Romo has done it under the bright lights, he's done it for almost 2 straight seasons now and the job is his until he truly loses it or he is injured. Romo took the job when Casilla lost it due to a blister and Machi definitely has the chops so far to do the same if Romo goes down with an injury. But it hasn't happened and if Romo is healthy, Machi will be Mean Jean Middle Inning Machine.
So sit tight Giants fans, we'll get through the Romo torture together.
Laws of the Day
As a right handed pitcher, Jean Machi strangely has a better stat line vs lefties so far this year. He's faced 29 lefties and they have a shocking .103 batting average against him. Righties have hit .214 against Machi this year.
It's good to have Casilla and Machi in the wings but none of them will replace Romo like you said. The only thing Romo needs to do is have confidence in himself again. Regardless of what he says, you can see he's not attacking the zone like he normally does. Also, he either overthrows his slider (like tonight when he was throwing them way wide) or he hangs them (like what happened in Colorado). Couple that with bad fastball command and you have these torturous games. It's still May/June, so Romo has all season to regain his form. As long as we keep winning... who cares?!?! Haha
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