July 11th, 2007
Today, as promised I am going to do my 2nd half previews of the starting rotation. I'm doing them in this order: Zambrano, Lilly, Marquis, Hill, and Marshall. Also, remember that tomorrow, in part 3 of 3, I will be doing the 6 relievers on the 25 man roster, Billy Petrick, and Rocky Cherry. Now to the good stuff.
Carlos Zambrano: 10-7 with a 4.03 ERA at the break is good as it is. The weird part about it though is that until June 6th, we had the worst Ace in major league baseball. Since then, we have the best. On June 6th, he went 6.2 innings, yielding 2 earned. Including that game, in his last 7 starts, he has given up 10 runs in 54.1 innings. That is a 1.66 ERA. That isn't even considering that in his most recent start, he went 7 innings giving up 3 earned. Without that start, his ERA over the previous 6 starts would've been 1.33. Look for him to stay hot for most of his last 15 or so starts.
Ted Lilly: Through 18 starts in 2007, Lilly is 8-4 with a 3.67 ERA. His record shouldn't be what it is today and wouldn't if it wasn't for the untouchable offense. He should probably be 7-5, because 1 of his wins came during a 7 game winning streak, in a game where he went 6 innings and gave up 4 earned runs. His ERA on May 18th was 2.69, and then 7 starts later it was up to 4.03. The good news is that he is back to good old Ted Lilly. His last 2 starts he's gone 14 innings and given up 2 earned runs. Look for him to get a little more consistent, whether it be good or bad, and also look for him to get more wins and less losses if the Cubs offense keeps up the way it was in June.
Jason Marquis: He hadn't won since May 9th, until July 1st that is, and as late as June 4th, his ERA was 2.84. In the 6 starts after that, his ERA is up to 3.67, giving up atleast 3 runs in all but 2 of them. 1 of the 2 starts he only went 1.2 innings. The other 1 was his only quality start since May 24th. Could we be seeing the Marquis of 2006? Hopefully we aren't seeing that type of Marquis. Until now, Jason has been a great pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Look for him to stay inconsistent in ERA and quality starts.
Rich Hill: In his last 2 starts he has gone 9 innings, surrenduring 11 earned runs. His ERA on the year is 3.81. It appears to be only that low because in April his ERA was 1.77. In May it was 4.66. June was a little better at 4.32, and after 1 July start so far, he's got an ERA of 9 this month. A lot of his struggles appear to be in the 1st inning. In 17 starts and 17 first innings, he has allowed 10 earned runs, a 5.29 ERA. He is giving the other team the lead early, and I can see that as being a problem, assuming the other 4 starters don't win EVERY time out. The offense may be stronger than ever so far, but it can't come back from a 3-0 deficit in the first inning every time, and it isn't expected. Look for Hill to return to form in the 2nd half, as this was a well needed break for him. Last year in the first half he had an ERA of 9.31, and in the second half had an ERA of 2.92. Look for his ERA to go down, and his big overhand curveball to be in tip-top shape.
Sean Marshall: This year, Sean is 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA. Last year in the first half, he was 5-7 with a 4.80 ERA. It's the second half that worries me. After the break last year, Marshall went into a deep funk, going 1-2 with a 7.88 ERA. Let's hope that Rothschild tweaked something, or that Sean is just, plain and simple, more confident. There isn't a lot to base this on because this is only his second big league year, but look for him to remain consistent- for now atleast- as the splits show that he doesn't struggle much with righties, lefties, home or away so far, he's just pitched good.
Tomorrow I plan to do the relievers unless I get sick or die or something. As I've mentioned before, tomorrow is the 6 relievers, Petrick and Cherry.
Thanks,
Ryan
No comments:
Post a Comment