Guthrie holds serve...so far
The White Sox gift-wrapped a big inning for the Orioles, but the best thing about the five-run fifth -- in my opinion -- was that the Sox had a no-run bottom of the inning against Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie.
Everybody knows that Jeremy went through a streak where he had a penchant for giving back several runs right after an apparent break-out rally. This time, he disposed of the White Sox efficiently and kept his lead comfortable.
There's still a long way to go in this one, but Jeremy looks like he may have benefitted from the involuntary break he got after contracting a virus. He looked rested and sharp through five, but just walked the leadoff hitter in the sixth.
Comments
Pete,
Its the second season and he looks like a different pitcher! Hope we see a solid second half the season from Guthrie and he leads us to a .500 record!
Posted by: Keith Rowe | July 19, 2009 4:07 PM
He looks more comortable on the mound that he has in some time....
Posted by: Nashville O's Fan | July 19, 2009 4:12 PM
Pete,
Doesn't this have to be one of the biggest positives of the year?
If Guthrie can turn it around in the next few starts do you see him maybe getting traded?
............................................................................................
Pete's reply: It's a reverse Catch 22. If he pitches well, you wouldn't want to deal him. If he doesn't, you can't get enough to justify dealing him.
Posted by: bill frederick | July 19, 2009 4:21 PM
what a play by Zaun running the bases. then an added benefit with the bat. do you give him a few more at bats than once a week?
Posted by: scott | July 19, 2009 5:04 PM
You can put it on the board, YES!
Don't mess with Zaun!
Posted by: birdfanman | July 19, 2009 5:14 PM
Could be a statement game from Guthrie.
Posted by: Sam | July 19, 2009 5:42 PM
Peter,
I don't think Adam Jones will make it the whole year. The way he slides into bases is quite scary. Several times this season his slides almost resulted in major injury. He ate some dirt on his last stolen base.
Posted by: MarkinVA | July 19, 2009 7:15 PM
Interesting performance by Guthrie. I posted earlier this month that Guthrie was overthrowing everything, resulting in lost movement on his pitches and too little velocity difference between his fastball and slider. So what did Guthrie do today? His fastball was running at 89-90 instead of 95-96, had good movement, and his control was far sharper. And he threw very few sliders, the pitch that kept getting hit out of the park.
Now if he can keep his changeups in the park, too, he'll be awesome!
Posted by: Jim | July 20, 2009 12:08 PM