Dontrelle Willis. . .

   
IP  	H  	R  	ER  	BB  	K  	HR  	SeasonERA 
6.0 	2 	0 	0 	0 	4 	0 	0.00 	

you read that right, ANOTHER shutout (through 6 IP)

String broken at 24 innings.

d-train removed after 6 innings & 94 pitches!

!

1st start: 97 pitches
2nd start: 114 pitches
3rd start: 87 pitches

that NL East race is gonna be a doozy between Atlanta and Florida.

I totally f'd up and missed a foul ball that Juan Pierre hit (the next batter after the FIRST of Dontrelle's hits) that bounced off MY SEAT!!! How embarassing. Closest I've ever come to a foul ball EVER and I BLEW IT. Luckily one of our party (not the Bearman) did wind up with it...

	ERA	WHIP	BAA	K/9
 April	1.29	0.83	.189	6.43
 May	2.06	1.23	.250	8.23
 June	3.32	1.34	.306	5.94

If he keeps up that WHIP & BAA, tho, his ERA's gonna be higher than 3.32.

keep in mind we're only talking abt 3 starts there dave, and this is a guy who's only given up 2 hrs all season.

as far as i can tell, he's a guy who's gotten off to 3 lighting starts, then pitched very well over a couple rough patches for the remainder of the season.

also arbitrary stat that's biased very much in my favor but illustrates my point nonetheless: in 03&04 he had 3 months w/ an era under 3.00 after june, 1 month before. (that was actually june 2003)

	ERA	WHIP	BAA	K/9
 April	1.29	0.83	.189	6.43
 May	2.06	1.23	.250	8.23
 June	1.91	1.23	.273	6.04

And another complete game shutout. And one run over his last 23 innings.

Dontrelle Willis Career ERA:
Pre-Allstar 2.64
Post-Allstar 4.30

and that pre/post all-star split everyone just loves to throw around is pretty much entirely a result of his first season; in fact, he you could easily argue he pitched BETTER in the second half last year.

A) He's a proven quick starter
B) He pitches in a pitchers' park (#5 in the league according to ESPN's ballpark adjustments)
C) His hot start can be easily attributed to 9 of his first 10 starts taking place in the top 5 rated pitchers' parks.
D) 4.08 LUCK

He's a great pitcher and he's improved quite a bit in a couple key areas (pitches/batter faced, groundballs vs. flyballs) but just wait until he goes out on the road some more*.

*unless that's what you're referring to as "regression".

Me: Wow he's pitching great!
Gyg: He's pitching at home soon he'll come back to reality.

Me (couple of weeks later): He's still pitching pretty great!
Gyg: Yeah, but he'll come back to reality soon enough.

Gyg (pointing at mid-June stats): Look he's totally fucking up!

Me (at ACTUAL end of June): Um no he still looks pretty good.
Gyg: Yeah, but he'll fuck after the All Star break. He always does.

What do you have against the guy? I can't imagine anyone I'd rather see doing well than Willis. He's pure likeability!

I realize there is a touchy significance behind the marketing of Dontrelle as he is one of the few young black american stars in the game while there is a true void in that which used to be plentiful and famously-celebrated. That spin may be at work and I respect that but I'm skeptical about the concept of affirmitive active marketing in baseball, a sport recognized today in its racial diversity.

xpost to Gear!: yeah! including starts in such cozy spots such as Dodger Stadium and RFK which are the #3 and #1 pitchers' parks according to ballpark adjustments.

and do you seriously not think it's vitally important to market young black ballplayers?

I remember that being a problem for Willis last year - he was telegraphing pitches, pitching really erratically out of the stretch, and having a hard time stranding runners. I realize his 2005 HR rate is a huge outlier, but his BABIP isn't - and his K/BB and G/F ratios are certainly improving.

I'm probably biased, since he's the only thing keeping my pitching staff afloat at this point, but I just don't think he's gonna come crashing down to 2004 levels anytime soon.

meanwhile webb is looking like a super-lowe. 4.26 g/f (!!) and nearly 7 k's/9ip.

at the same time, carpenter kinda deserves the attention.

authoritative dinger

8 IP, 10 K, 1 BB, 3 ER, and an RBI triple tonight.

<3<3<3<3<3

too bad he's gonna lose

yea sucks that votto-phillips-bruce go 0 for 9

there's only so much you can do off esmil rodgers

just got roughed up in the third and left the game with a hand injury?

3-3 at the plate tonight, now has a 1.250 OPS on the season

#flocka

His current Twitter avatar:

http://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1841935332/l84QWPnf

to the O's minors, poor guy

@jay_jaffe
Dontrelle Willis held LHB to .127/.169/.200 in 60 PA last year. Small sample, but good enough reason to keep giving him a shot. So hush.

AWOL Train

train in vain

...is fucking retired!

signed by the angels, assigned to triple-a salt lake!

5-4, 2.57 in 14 starts for the long island ducks this year

turns 33 today : /

That's pretty amazing.

minor league deal with the brewers!

wowwwwww

BB/9 during last three seasons, since his last demotion, still extremely high.

retiring ;_;

and tonight he's back! (technical difficulties)