Rock bottom

A little bounce off rock bottom today. Holy cow they scored 4 runs.

Did they sneak Bibee into town in the middle of the night? Nobody knew he was coming. Good start.

Great debut by Allen
Greater debit by Bibee
Currently rotation is Bieber, Quantrill, Plesac, Battenfield, Allen Bibee
6 is too many
Plesac has a WHIP of 1.83, worse than all but 3 major league starters.
Stick him in the bullpen and see if he has value whatsoever. Battenfield won't necessarily stay in the rotation long-term but with 2 good starts out of 3 he deserves some more opportunities.

On the way: Gavin Williams made his AAA debut today and worked 5 1/3 shutout, 3 hits, bu 3 walks isn't good enough, add in 6 K. Unless he stumbles he should be ready by the 4th of July if not sooner.
McKenzie hopefully will be back by June 1.
That will let them dump Plesac on some unsuspecting team that will deal a similarly limited-ability RH outfielder.
Quantrill will return to the bullpen where he excelled a few years back.

None of that will help a lot if they can't hit, but maybe the batters are just waiting for warm weather. As much as I like small ball, they need to hit the ball over the fences more often than once every two games.

Of the 30 Major League teams, which team is number 29 in HR's?

Yup!

They move up to 25 in Runs scored.

Take away Oscar and the outfield has one home run !

Include Oscar and the outfield has one home run.

Nationals hit yesterday, now the Guardians are dead last

One thing they still excel in is sac flies; they're tied for 3rd with 10. They can't hit the ball over the fence, but getting in close to the fence with a man on 3rd is a useful substitute.

League leader by a large margin in intentional walks, 10 [only 5 of them to Jose], no other team has received more than 5.

7th in doubles; 5th in triples. 2nd in steals

Sure would be nice if they can score some runs for Bieber. Tough pitching when you have no run support.

I had real hope that the arrival of Allen and Bibee as advertised and Battenfileld as more than advertised would shove Plesac into the bullpen. No such luck. He gets to face the Sox and gives up a 3 run first inning homer. Sooner rather than later I hope he disappears. His stats are awful, his behavior patterns have been awful. If not Battenfield, then Curry should fill the 5th starter role until McKenzie returns and/or untilWiliams is promoted. Civale is a lost cayse,

They're wastinbg a good pitcher as long as Curry has to continue in the role of finishing messes Plesac starts.
As usual today, Plesac is out after 3 1/3 8 hits and a walk 5 runs.
ERA reaches 7.59
WHIP balloons to 1.97
Which would rank worst in the league except he hasn't accumulated enough innings to qualify in the rankings.
It would be doing a service to the team if Zach smashed a hand on the dugout walk or the shower stall.

Clase not so classy.

I was wondering why Clase was not charged an earned run. I understand the extra-inning runner scoring is not earned.

The passed ball by Zunnino allowed a runner to third and he scored on a subsequent single. I guess it's up to the official scorer to determine whether the runner would have scored without the passed ball.

Clase would have been hard pressed to match last year's level of near perfection but I hope he can get a little closer. Not a lock-down certainty when he enters this year.

Back of the bullpen is anchored by Stephan. Hentges return will help. Morgan is perfect in his middle inning-to setup role; DeLosSantos has been effective.
Sandlin is iffy. Karinchak is exhausting.

Relievers rated by WHIP hoers allowed and K/IP:
Curry 0.94 1 homer 0.67 k/bb
Clase 1.12 1 homer 0.56
deLosSantps 1.14 0 homers 0.97
Sandlin 1.14 2 homers 1.03
Karinchak 1.14 4 homers 1.14
Stephan 1.22 2 homers 1.14
Morgan 1.22 0 homers 1.18
Herrin 1.34 2 homers 1.24