With his recent outings, he had to have a ton of pressure on him in this game, and he also likely realizes the Royals just don't have a lot of alternatives for starting pitchers right now. Still, in a very real sense, he probably couldn't afford another bad outing.
So what does he do? Go out and throw 7 shutout innings, of course.
This was far from a stellar outing, though, despite the results -- Mazzaro only gave up 5 hits, but also gave up 5 walks, and really only avoided giving up any runs because of 5 double plays. In 102 total pitches, Mazzaro threw only 53 strikes. Also, the Los Angeles Angels can't seem to hit their way out of a wet paper bag right now, despite their mini-outburst on Saturday.
Let's appreciate the win, appreciate that Mazzaro found a way to scuffle through it, but realize the next time he toes the rubber we probably shouldn't expect the same results.
Who else is making me breathe a sigh of relief?
- Chris Getz is, that's who. He's hitting some again...although it comes with the caveat that I would like him to stop botching double play balls, which he did on Sunday and he's done a couple other times this season. His OPS for June is still at .394, though, so if he's not going to do all the fundamental things he's supposed to be good at, he'd better hit.
- Blake Wood continues to be dependable, which isn't something anyone probably expected.
- Alcides Escobar -- perhaps he heard me anguishing over his lack of hitting a few days ago?
It looks like Ned Yost is making a concerted effort to get aggressive again on the basepaths, as perhaps is evidenced by the two attempts to steal 3rd base with 2 outs in the game on Sunday. I heard them questioning the moves on the television broadcast, but I'm going to hope the attempts were prompted by how erratic Angels starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood is in general, and specifically on Sunday. The ideas that stealing 3rd is easier with an erratic pitcher, and that if he throws a wild pitch your team can pick up a run for free aren't bad ones, but making the 3rd out trying to steal 3rd base isn't generally good baseball.
And right about now I'm going to leave you with a question -- if you knew Melky Cabrera was going to have this kind of production for the next 4-5 years, would you still trade him and bring in Lorenzo Cain, or would you instead trade Cain?
Melky has enough history to suggest this is about as good as it's going to get for him and he's not likely to sustain it, but the flipside of it is that baseball history is filled with guys that do pretty well in triple-A and don't pan out in the majors. Cabrera hasn't really changed as a hitter, except this year he's hitting for more power than in any previous year. His numbers aren't great, but they're decent for a centerfielder.
Personally, I would still pull the trigger on trading Melky, and I've got to imagine he's going to draw a good amount of interest. But while he's still frustrating in a couple of ways, overall he's having a pretty good season, and he's only 26 (soon to turn 27) -- so it's something to think about.
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