Pitching: Lester, Lincecum, and Greinke

Yesterday was a good day to watch pitchers---Greinke at 2, Lester at 7, Lincecum at 10. All pitched well—especially Lincecum, allowing only 4 hits and striking out 10, while Greinke didn’t have his normal command, and Lester scattered 8 hits (the last 2 games the Jays totalled 25 hits but only scored 4 runs total) and got the win, while the other guys got NDs, as their teams didn’t hit. Lester does have stuff to rival those 2 magicians, just needs their consistent, unrelenting confidence, command, and unwavering focus. Lester can hit 96 when he needs to, and actually looks like he’s eventually gonna be able to reach back for 97 or 98 in a crisis. Papelbon still effective, but topping out at 95, and mixing in more breaking balls against the fastball feasting Jays.

At the beginning of the season, in Sports Illustrated’s Baseball Preview, the top 10 pitchers (per their Player Value Rankings) were, with their 2009 To-date stats:


……………………………………......……….Won-Lost………..ERA
1. Johan Santana………………..…….……5-2…………...1.36
2. Tim Lincecum………………..….………3-1…………...3.45
3. CC Sabathia……………….………...……4-3…..……....3.43
4. Brandon Webb…………….……………Shoulder Injury…..
5. Francisco Rodriguez…………………11 Saves……….0.92
6. Roy Halladay………………………...…..8-1……….….2.78
7. Jon Lester……………………………...…3-4……….….5.91
8. Joe Nathan………………….………….6 Saves……….3.07
9. Cliff Lee……………………………….......2-5…………..2.90
10. Cole Hamels………………………....……2-2…………..4.95

….46. Zack Greinke………………………….7-1…………..0.82

Greinke of course well overachieving, and only Santana, Rodriguez, and Halladay really pitching up to expectations. Aside from the injured Webb, Lester still the biggest underachiever, at least up until last night.