1629
by civ ollilavad
Some Tony comments on the games
T.J. McFarland (SP, Akron): 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.
McFarland was at his best last night as he cruised through seven innings on 88 pitches (57 strikes) and got 11 groundball outs to only 4 flyouts. He is now 6-1 on the season with a 2.18 ERA in 7 starts, and he has been a beacon of consistency all season. He is not a sexy prospect with dominating stuff and he will never wow you when he pitches, but he will compete every time out, get hitters to pound the ball into the ground, and when his night is over he will more often than not find a way to put up a quality start. He is locked in right now and is really putting the pressure on the Indians to push him up to Triple-A. At the moment there is no open spot in the rotation, and it is possible right-hander Steven Wright would get the first call to fill a rotation need in Columbus, but McFarland is definitely in the conversation.
Matt LaPorta (LF, Columbus): 0-for-3, BB.
It is not often that a player that is 0-fer on the night and did nothing special is highlighted, but Matt LaPorta has been the hot topic the first five weeks of the season so he is the exception to the rule. He has cooled off considerably of late as in his last 8 games he is just 5-for-27 at the plate and has not homered. And not surprisingly, he has cooled off because the Clippers have been on the road and away from Huntington Park. He is showing some pretty crazy home and away splits so far this season as he is hitting a blazing .397 with 9 HR, 20 RBI and 1.363 in 17 home games, but on the road he is hitting a frigid .255 with 0 HR, 1 RBI and .650 OPS in 13 games. I do not know what, if anything, you can take away from that, but LaPorta has always hit well at Huntington Park over his three year career there. Unfortunately, he has not really hit anywhere else, including Progressive Field. Also, apparently there were some fireworks last night as he was thrown out stealing in the seventh inning and somehow he and Scranton-WB pitcher Manny Delcarmen were both ejected after the play.
Cody Allen (RP, Columbus): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R/ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 K.
“You see, you see! He’s not a machine….he’s a man!” So goes the famous quote that Duke yelled to Rocky after he cut the invincible, machine-like Russian Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. In a lot of ways Allen has been like Drago this season as he has obliterated everyone in his path, and last night’s game was his first hiccup this season. Usually when a reliever gives up 2 runs and 4 baserunners like that in 2 innings this early in the season, their overall numbers take a hit and look ugly. But Allen still has a 1.89 ERA, .159 BAA, 0.68 WHIP, 0.9 BB/9 and 12.3 K/9. Oh, and by the way, those two walks last night were the first two he has allowed all season.