Caught Up in the Pennant Race

It’s been a while since the Giants were in contention this late in the season and had a record above .500 (the NL West has been pretty weak the last couple of years), so you’ll have to forgive if I write about the Giants a lot.

They got murdered by the Braves today.  Jonathan Sanchez actually pitched well enough to win.  He basically shut down the Braves for six innings except for homeruns by Chipper Jones and Garrett Anderson, which scored all three of the Braves’ runs.

When I see a young pitcher with Sanchez’s stuff taken down by a couple of crafty old veterans, at least one of whom (Anderson) really shouldn’t be a starter any more, I have a gut feeling that both veterans were sitting on a particular pitch, gaging it as Sanchez went through the line-up, and didn’t miss it when they got it.

Garrett Anderson hit a first pitch of the AB for his HR, probably a get-it-in-there fastball; and Chipper was sitting on a 3-1, most likely also fastball.  With both first and second open (McClouth was on third) with two outs, Sanchez should have thrown more than another get-it-in-there fastball, but he was probably worried about Brian McCann in the on-deck circle.  Oh well, Sanchez has to learn eventually, right?

Is there something wrong with Sergio Romo?  Romo missed almost the first two months of the season with an elbow sprain.  He allowed two earned runs in his first appearance of 2009.  He then allowed only one earned run over his next thirteen appearances (11 IP). His stuff was absolutely wicked.

He’s now allowed seven earned runs in his last four appearances (2 IP), the last six of those runs without recording an out.  The Pirates got two hits from the two batters he faced on Sunday, and the Braves had four consecutive hits against him tonight before he was mercifully pulled.  Given the stuff he was throwing ten appearances ago, it’s hard to imagine any team getting four consecutive hits against him under any circumstances, let alone the six consecutive hits he’s now allowed.

It could be the law of averages, but I doubt it.  Either he’s got another injury, his arm is dead tired, or he’s lost his release point.  In other words, his pitches can’t be moving the way they were a few weeks ago.