Brian Matusz tonight (3/13/13)

4 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 7 K (4 to righties, 3 to lefties)

5 groundouts (4 to righties, 1 to lefties)

0 flyouts

64 pitches (42 strikes, 22 balls)

Not bad against what was, for the most part, the Twins' Opening Day lineup.

4 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 7 K (4 to righties, 3 to lefties)

5 groundouts (4 to righties, 1 to lefties)

0 flyouts

64 pitches (42 strikes, 22 balls)

Not bad against what was, for the most part, the Twins' Opening Day lineup.

Reports had him hitting 91 regularly. He was much more pitch efficient until his last two batters, issuing a walk to Willingham to foil the perfect line and then finally retiring Morneau on ground out after a 10 pitch AB.

Nice little outing and surely keeps him in the hunt for the 5th spot.

Jeez, that's very impressive. Glad to see BMat keeping himself in the running.

4 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 7 K (4 to righties, 3 to lefties)

5 groundouts (4 to righties, 1 to lefties)

0 flyouts

64 pitches (42 strikes, 22 balls)

Not bad against what was, for the most part, the Twins' Opening Day lineup.

The Righties would be Hicks, Willingham and Doumit. This is huge for Brian.

I know how he might be ideal for the bullpen, but man, I'd love it if he made his mark going forward as the starter we all dreamt he would be.

The two most impressive things about Matusz' night were his pitch efficiency the first time through the order and his ability to get swings and misses from RHB. Both will be crucial in determining his future as a starter.

The only blemish was a somewhat shaky end to the outing, walking Willingham and issuing about 18 pitches to his final two batters. I'd like to know if this was more a function of tiring after being pushed the farthest yet this spring or of good ML hitters picking up on his stuff a bit more the second time around.

Either way, he pitched as well as one could have hoped.

Impressive outing for sure for Brian. I'm sure that will keep him in the 5th starter's competition. Not going to change my mind overall, but its always good to see.

Reports had him hitting 91 regularly. He was much more pitch efficient until his last two batters, issuing a walk to Willingham to foil the perfect line and then finally retiring Morneau on ground out after a 10 pitch AB.

Nice little outing and surely keeps him in the hunt for the 5th spot.

Yep - I had him at 38 pitches through 3 innings. 26-pitch 4th inning, but most of that was after he recorded the first 2 outs quickly. I think probably 8 pitches to Willingham (who walked on a borderline 3-2 pitch) and 10 to Morneau, who fouled off 5 pitches in the AB.

I picked Matusz as the guy to land the 5th spot in the rotation in the poll a few weeks ago. Boy he looked the part tonight. I'd love to see the mix of pitches. Largely how his change up looked. If he was striking guys out at 91 my guess is that he may have rediscovered it. Regardless it's nice to have a little good news today. way to go Brian!

4 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 7 K (4 to righties, 3 to lefties)

5 groundouts (4 to righties, 1 to lefties)

0 flyouts

64 pitches (42 strikes, 22 balls)

Not bad against what was, for the most part, the Twins' Opening Day lineup.

Great thread. These numbers are so good, they need to be in lights, though.

.

BRIAN MATUSZ O(vs. TWINS, 3/13) O[spring Training]

IP:O 4

H:o. 0

R:O. 0

BB:. 1

SO:. 7

2013 ERA: 2.70 (Spring Training)

I still have high hopes for Matusz. I truly feel like sending him to the bullpen this year is selling him short. He is young, left handed, and has had stretches of dominant pitching. If he needs time in Norfolk then he should be given time in Norfolk as a starter and not thrown in the pen as a lefty specialist, no matter how effective he is against right handers.

I'm really happy to see such a good outing. Though, the Twins lineup looks even weaker than a lot of the Orioles lineups 2000-2011 so I can't get carried away.

Reports had him hitting 91 regularly. He was much more pitch efficient until his last two batters, issuing a walk to Willingham to foil the perfect line and then finally retiring Morneau on ground out after a 10 pitch AB.

Nice little outing and surely keeps him in the hunt for the 5th spot.

Good for him and for the O's. But I still rather have in the BP. IMO

Good for him and for the O's. But I still rather have in the BP. IMO

Me too... unless he consistently does this start after start. At that point, you have to admit you'd want that type of performance in the rotation. But like RZ said... it's ALL about consistency.

Matusz and Arietta. We wrote em off at one point last year. They helped us then. They are BOTH going to help us big time this year too. Trust me.

...perhaps in the returns they'll bring in a trade