Maxbialystock

As I understand it, FIP excludes balls in play, which I think is dumb. Last night, for example, ERod gave up 11 hits, including 4 doubles, which, according to FIP, are utterly meaningless and inconsequential. On the other hand, he had just 1 BB and 6 K's, so, according to FIP, he pitched a whale of a ball game. That is just crazy. I personally think ERA already favors pitchers too much. For example, if a pitcher makes a really dumb error and that results in 3 runs, they are all unearned because his fielding is irrelevant. If a pitcher simply doesn't cover 1b on a routine grounder to the right, and the batter gets on base, that is counted as a hit. So to me his ERA of 4.70 speaks volumes about where he is this year. I think ERod's pitches this year have all been suspect. Last night, the changeup looked pretty good, but wasn't always in the best spot and probably wasn't used enough. His fastball and cut fastball are both very hittable unless outside the strike zone. The slider might be OK, but it breaks in on righties (the Jays had 8 in the lineup last night) and therefore needs to be low and/or hitting the edges of the strike zone. In his defense, he was pretty darn good in 2019, and last year he had COVID, which affected his heart, which seems to me to be pretty serious. Coming back from something like that can't be easy. Didn't he also report a "dead arm" right before the season started?

Actually, I completely agree with you. Good pitching almost always trumps good hitting, and last night Ryu pitched with authority. He threw 7 shutout innings.

My screen has a message from MLB.TV: "Thank you for watching." That makes up for everything.

Painful, but also somewhat hilarious to watch "hitters" tonight just roll over and play dead, especially with men on base. Clueless in Seattle. Anyway, game over, but I will continue to watch Fever Pitch on STARZ.

Decent 8th inning, but, honestly, I'm delighted he can't pitch tomorrow.

Ahem. His ERA is 4.70. What he did in 2019--which was impressive-- is getting to be more and more irrelevant.

Wow, and I missed it. My bad.

No, he wasn't better in 2018 when he pitched 129 innings with a WAR of 3. In 2019 he pitched 201 innings with a WAR of 6, which is unlikely to ever come close to again.

Absolutely true. I'm just picking on Andriese because he continues to stink. At least this time Cora didn't put him in when the Sox had a lead.

Ryu is a pitcher, and ERod I'm afraid is just another thrower.

Gotta love Matt Andriese. He gets two quick outs and decides, what the hey, let's walk this next guy on 4 pitches. Before you know it, a nice little rally for the Jays. Whatever he might have had in April is gone, gone, gone.

Feel free to cite some stats to back that up. He was pretty good in 2019, no question, but not before and certainly not since.

That K against Bogie underscores the difference between Ryu and ERod, who has never, ever been able to keep working the edges of the strike zone like that. It is just not in his makeup. And here comes Matty!!

ERod and Eovaldi now fighting for 4th best starter, and it looks to me as though ERod is being edged out and with be 5th. W-L record is so misleading. Seriously, what does it mean when a pitcher's main claim to fame is the lineup scores runs when he pitches?

Walking off the mound at the end of the 5th, Ryu looked really worried. Not.

Behind 4-0 and Renfroe tries to make up for the stupid throw with stupid baserunning.

Meh. There is absolutely nothing predictive about the support ERod has received. The Sox lineup has very obviously struggled against Ryu tonight.

Game is about over. No hitting and ERod about out of gas. Renfroe didn't help. Ditto the flukey hits. But that double was real enough. Two games in a row when ERod gives up 4 or more runs.

Ryu 63 pitches in 4 innings, so 7 innings might be reach.

ERod has hung in there thru 3 and despite the 6 hits, including 2 doubles. GIDP in the 3d really helped.

OK. Time for Devers to earn that incredible salary he hopes to get someday. Yeeccch. He works him to a 3-2 count and reaches for a ball a yard outside the strike zone.

Good quote.

Will he or won't he come out?

Wicked, wicked curve by Ryu, but a ball, but then a wicked changeup.

Hanging changeup, great double by Verdugo. Need this run. Wake up JDM. Whoops, another GIDP by JDM except Verdugo was already on 2B.