It’s only game two
It’s game two of the season. There’s no need to overreact to anything we’ve seen to this point. Wilyer Abreu isn’t going to win the MVP. Rafael Devers isn’t going to be DFA’d. I’ve been starved for baseball and want to jump to conclusions, but it’s not the time for that just yet.
The top of the lineup didn’t produce for the second day in a row; that was the story of the day. The two through four spots in the lineup went 1-12 with a single. The lineup as a whole didn’t accumulate a single extra base hit. Jack Leiter wasn’t spectacular, but his fastballs are excellent and were enough to get him through five innings despite shoddy secondary command. Connor Wong nearly broke the game open early with a fly ball to left field, but Wyatt Langford was able to track it down. That’s baseball. The lineup isn’t weak all of a sudden. They’ll be okay.
Tanner Houck, on the other hand, I worry about. He managed to scrape through 5.2 innings with four runs on his ledger, but he may have been fortunate. When Houck was at his best last season, he was throwing his splitter in the zone and getting whiffs. Today, he threw 19 splitters. Four of them were in the strike zone. He didn’t generate a single swing and miss. Houck absolutely needs to be able to get strikes with his splitter, or he’ll be in hell against left-handed hitters. It didn’t necessarily burn him today, but the Houck we saw today won’t be successful every time out.
It’s Walker Buehler versus Tyler Mahle tomorrow. Tyler Mahle stinks. Go score some runs.
Three Studs
Kristian Campbell (2-4)
Yesterday, Campbell looked like the freshman who made the varsity team and doesn’t quite know how he fits in the team dynamic yet. Today, he seemed more composed and put together some nice at-bats. His first hit was just a dribbler to third base that he beat out – nothing special. In the fourth inning, though, he turned around a 97 MPH fastball at the top of the zone. It might not pop off the stat sheet, but it was a great piece of hitting and a display of his ability at the plate. Nothing came his way in the field, but he turned the double plays you’d expect him to and wasn’t a liability on defense. Nice job, kid.
Brennan Bernardino (1.1 IP, O ER)
Bernardino came in to face Corey Seager, got the out, and returned for the next inning and sat down three right-handed hitters in a row. He flashed a new changeup and spotted it well on the arm side.
Wilyer Abreu (2-3, BB)
Wilyer made an out for the first time this season in the ninth inning. He also had the lone RBI tonight in the fourth inning. Skinny Wilyer does not want to hear a word about Roman Anthony.
Three Duds
Rafael Devers (0-4, 4 K)
You don’t need me to tell you that Rafael Devers was an absolute zero tonight. He struck out four times, one of which came with the bases loaded. You do need me to tell you not to turn on Devers. If you were given hundreds of millions of dollars to play baseball and then subsequently told you weren’t good enough at one aspect of your job to complete it anymore, your ego would also be damaged. Devers’ abysmal start to the season doesn’t mean he’s bad all of a sudden, and it doesn’t mean you should label him a bad teammate with a poor attitude. Also, the at-bats looked better today, even if the results weren’t great. He’ll be okay; just give him some time.
Triston Casas (0-4, K)
An 0-4 day from Casas, who’s still looking for his first hit. He’ll be fine, too.
Tanner Houck (5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K)
As I mentioned, Houck was fine today, but I’m worried about what’s to come. He really needs to find his splitter, or else he’ll be in trouble.
Play of the Game
I love it when advanced metrics tell me that Rafaela isn’t a good center fielder.
