Rookie Watch | The Baseball Zealot

8/9 Rookie Watch – Felix Hernandez

Felix Hernandez lowered his ERA to 0.69 pitching 8 innings of shutout ball against the Minnesota Twins before turning the game over to Everyday Eddie. The Seattle Mariners and this 19 year old phenom bested tough luck loser Kyle Lohse 1-0. Jeremy Reed doubled with 2 outs in the 7th and rookie Yuniesky Betancourt tripled to drive in the only run of the game. Hernandez has electric stuff, featuring a 97 MPH fastball and a sharp breaking curve. Felix showed amazing poise getting out of a bases loaded jam along the way. Matt LeCroy & Jacque Jones singled opened with singles, Lew Ford attempted to bunt the runners up, but Felix the Cat pounced off the mound & fired to Adrian Beltre to force LeCroy. The kid then struck out Justin Morneau on a heater. Terry Tiffee hit a two out grounder to Beltre, Adrian tried to beat the runner to 3rd before throwing to first too late & off the bag for an error to fill the bases. Hernandez jumped into the air to snag a comebacker off the bat of Jason Bartlett to get out of the jam. Eddie Guardado converted his 27th consecutive save and 28th in 29 tries with a perfect 9th. But the real story was Felix Hernandez who struck out six, walked nobody, and allowed only five singles in eight innings of work.

8/1 Linescore of the Day – Zack Duke

Zack Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates 8.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (Win) Only four games on the docket so I decided to go with one of the pitchers who I’m keeping close tabs on. How long will it be before ML hitters figure him out? How good has he been? … Continue reading “8/1 Linescore of the Day – Zack Duke”

Zack Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates

8.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (Win)

Only four games on the docket so I decided to go with one of the pitchers who I’m keeping close tabs on. How long will it be before ML hitters figure him out?

How good has he been?

He allowed one earned run in 8+ innings and his season ERA went up.

7/27 Linescore of the Day – Zack Duke

Zack Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (ND) This is one of those strange LSOTDs. Rookie starter Duke, who has been on fire, pitched two scoreless innings before there was a rain delay. Unfortunately for the Pirates, he didn’t come back after the rain delay. Reliever … Continue reading “7/27 Linescore of the Day – Zack Duke”

Zack Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates

2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (ND)

This is one of those strange LSOTDs. Rookie starter Duke, who has been on fire, pitched two scoreless innings before there was a rain delay.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, he didn’t come back after the rain delay. Reliever Ryan Vogelsong came on after the delay and promptly gave up 2 runs in 3 plus innings. That was all the Fish needed to win this one.

As for Duke, it is now necessary to use a microscope to view his 0.87 ERA.

7/21 Linescore of the Day

Zack Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates 7 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K (Win) Duke is starting his career so people will notice. In his first 4 starts, he is 3-0 and has allowed 3 earned runs in 29 innings for an ERA of 0.93. Keep an eye on him.

Zack Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates

7 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K (Win)

Duke is starting his career so people will notice. In his first 4 starts, he is 3-0 and has allowed 3 earned runs in 29 innings for an ERA of 0.93.

Keep an eye on him.

7/6 Linescore of the Day

Antonio Perez, Los Angeles Dodgers 3 for 5, HR, 2 runs, 5 rbis LA batted Perez 5th in the order and I guess they knew what they were doing. At least today, he made them look smart. Speaking of Dodger middle infielders, has anyone noticed rookie shortstop Oscar Robles lately? For the last week, he has … Continue reading “7/6 Linescore of the Day”

Antonio Perez, Los Angeles Dodgers

3 for 5, HR, 2 runs, 5 rbis

LA batted Perez 5th in the order and I guess they knew what they were doing. At least today, he made them look smart.

Speaking of Dodger middle infielders, has anyone noticed rookie shortstop Oscar Robles lately? For the last week, he has hit .469 (15 for 32). He currently sports a .333 average and LA is playing him every day now.

Kyle Davies- Maybe He’s Not Superman After All

I’ve been keeping an eye on Braves rookie starter Kyle Davies this season. He started out tremoundously allowing only 2 runs in his first 23 innings. Well, last night proved that he is human. In Texas, he allowed 8 hits and 6 earned runs in only 2 1/3 innings. Add 4 walks to the mix … Continue reading “Kyle Davies- Maybe He’s Not Superman After All”

I’ve been keeping an eye on Braves rookie starter Kyle Davies this season. He started out tremoundously allowing only 2 runs in his first 23 innings.

Well, last night proved that he is human.

In Texas, he allowed 8 hits and 6 earned runs in only 2 1/3 innings. Add 4 walks to the mix and he gets one in the “L” column.

As a result, his ERA “ballooned” up to 3.45, still pretty dang respectable for a rookie. Before this, I’ve sportscasters mentioning him as a possibility for the All-Star roster. Fair or not, this may dampen that possibility.

Not to sound like a broken record but this Kyle Davies guy… is he for real?

Atlanta rookie starter Kyle Davies continues to impress anyone paying atention. Today against the Pirates, he went 7 2/3 allowing no runs. Relatively speaking, he didn’t dominate rather he spread out 6 hits and 4 walks. All the same, no runs. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get the win. Reliever John Foster got the win … Continue reading “Not to sound like a broken record but this Kyle Davies guy… is he for real?”

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get the win. Reliever John Foster got the win when greybeard Julio Franco drove in the winning run with an rbi double in the top of the 9th.

For the season, Davies has allowed 2 earned runs in 23 1/3 innings.

Kyle Davies Redux

Twenty-one year-old Atlanta lefty Kyle Davies is beginning to make people stand up and take notice. In his first career start, he threw five scoreless innings. Then today he continued where he left off. He pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts against the Mets, this time at Turner Field for the benefit of … Continue reading “Kyle Davies Redux”

He pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts against the Mets, this time at Turner Field for the benefit of the home town fans.

Garland/Sox Shut Down by Rook

It took a shutout by Santana to end Jon Garland’s winning streak. The punchline is that it wasn’t Johan. LAA’s Ervin Santana, in his second MLB start pitched a CG shutout to give Garland his first loss of the year. Santana struck out seven and walked one. Let’s put the Santana rook on the Rookie … Continue reading “Garland/Sox Shut Down by Rook”

It took a shutout by Santana to end Jon Garland’s winning streak.

The punchline is that it wasn’t Johan.

LAA’s Ervin Santana, in his second MLB start pitched a CG shutout to give Garland his first loss of the year.

Santana struck out seven and walked one.

Let’s put the Santana rook on the Rookie Watch. Maybe the Angels fans out there can give us the scoop on E. Santana.

Prior Lifts Cubs, Saves Them From Sweep

…and saves me a buck. The Sox went with Brandon McCarthy in his major league debut. All said, he didn’t too bad allowing 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings and striking out six. The Sox could expect good things from this kid. I’ll put him on my Rookie Watch. Offensively, the Cubs have rookie Jason … Continue reading “Prior Lifts Cubs, Saves Them From Sweep”

…and saves me a buck.

The Sox went with Brandon McCarthy in his major league debut. All said, he didn’t too bad allowing 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings and striking out six. The Sox could expect good things from this kid. I’ll put him on my Rookie Watch.

Offensively, the Cubs have rookie Jason Dubois to thank for the win. He had a key 3-run homer in the 6th.

Well, it looks like I owe Teddy B a buck.