Last night Victor Zambrano finally threw the game we've been waiting 10 months for. Eight innings, three walks, five hits, five strikeouts, one run (thanks Loopy). One good start doesn't mean hooey overall, and it will take many more of these before I think Zambrano is even a decent pitcher.
In today's New York Post, Mark Hale points out that Zambrano has had a few good starts in a row.
Believe it or not, Zambrano might be blossoming. In his past three starts, he's allowed four earned runs in 191/3 innings, a 1.86 ERA.
Earned runs don't exactly tell the story. Including last night, Zambrano has a May/June ERA of 3.10. His TRA (total run average), which includes earned and unearned runs, is 3.77 over that same span. That's a difference of two-thirds of a run, which is substantial.More troubling is that over the last month+ he has walked 20 batters and struck out 19, an absolutely horrible ratio.
The biggest difference between April, where Zambrano posted a 5.81 ERA, and May/June is that he's suddenly giving up a fewer number of hits. In April he gave up 1.32 H/IP, and since then he has only given up 0.71 H/IP.
What conclusions can we draw from this? Unfortunately nothing too concrete. It could be that he's been locating the ball better of late; hitting his spots (or close to them) instead of hucking the ball wildly and allowing it to fall where it may. It could also be that he's just getting luckier now that hits aren't falling in as they were earlier in the season. Needless to say it will take some time before he begins to convince us that he's not a terrible pitcher.
In other news, Miguel Cairo is apparently day-to-day after hurting his leg running to first last night. This could end up being good news for the Mets, because if they have any designs on trading Kaz Matsui, he's not likely to increase his value sitting on the bench. He needs to play every day and hopefully hit a hot streak, at which time, if they are so inclined, the Mets can begin shopping him.
In the best news of the day (for us), Felix Heredia will have season-ending surgery today to repair an aneurysm in his shoulder. Bartolome Fortunato will also have season-ending surgery today, his to repair a herniated disk.
Amazin' Avenue Daily Web Links
- MetsGeek.com: Draft Primer, Part I (Michael Oliver)
- MetsGeek.com: Minor Talk (OFF)
- MetsDaily.com: Game Highlights (6.1.2005) (.wmv format)