Matusz Tonight

[scOtt]

yada..

[Frobby]

I'll feel a lot better when his strikeout numbers go up. When he has around 7-8 K's a game, that's when we'll know he's back to what made him special in 2010. Until then, just let him pitch down there and regain his confidence. Definitely good to see him have such a dominant performance, though.

I don't care so much about the strikeouts. His K rate was decent enough in Baltimore. That wasn't his big problem.

[theobird]

Got to love those results. Now maybe he can pitch even better in his next couple starts, good enough to become the headliner in a Chase Headley deal. Thats the hope I would have, as I would like to see Headley aquired and maybe Reynolds then traded to the Dodgers for a couple propsects.

[Frobby]

Matusz on his outing:

"I established my fastball early. I was able to get ahead early," said Matusz, who walked one and threw 81 of 114 pitches for strikes. "I made a nice adjustment on my changeup, I was using it effectively on righties, and later on in the game I was able to drop the curveball in for strikes."

The Tides defense, which Matusz credited, provided a late boost, turning double plays in the final two frames.

The Orioles assigned the 2008 first-round Draft pick to the International League following a stretch in which he surrendered 22 runs on 40 hits and 13 walks over 21 1/3 innings in five starts. Overall, Matusz was 5-10 with a 5.42 ERA in 16 starts for Baltimore.

"I've had my ups and downs," he said. "I've had my good starts and I've had some tough outings. There have been some games where it's been some bad pitches that have led to disappointing outings. For me, I didn't feel like it's a huge adjustment I need to make. I feel like I'm one good outing from getting on track. It's a matter of being consistent and getting a little confidence back.

"Anytime you get up there and have a good outing, it's a confidence-booster. It's nice to have a good outing like this, but it's important to follow it up with another good outing."

Establishing the fastball, like he did against Charlotte, is something Matusz hopes to continue to do.

"[Orioles manager] Buck Showalter made the comment that he wanted me to be able to establish the fastball, and I was able to do that tonight," he said. "Everything for me works off the fastball, it really helps me get in a nice groove."

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120706&content_id=34614694&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb

[Flacco Machado]

We really need to stop thinking that pitching is some binary thing, with the head and the body being separate causes for problems. It's great that Brian had a good start, but the fact is, he needs to get to the point where he commands his FB at will and throws his change in any count. That's not going to be a slow process, necessarily. No matter how decent his results are.

Plus, he struck out only 4 in 9IP tonight. That matters.

Agree. If he's not traded, he would not see Baltimore until next April if it was up to me. Look how long Peterson worked with Tillman. And a lot of that success was because Tillman "wanted" to change things. I have my doubts Matusz will ever "want" to do anything anybody tells him to do. We'll see.

[Frobby]

Lets not look too much into this Matusz pitching performance tonight. It is good to see him pitch well but the line up he faced was terrible. The highest average in the line up that he faced was .275 in AAA. Take a look at this line up he faced.

Charlotte Knights

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG

Tyler Kuhn LF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .275

Drew Garcia 2B 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .239

Dan Johnson 1B 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .277

Conor Jackson RF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .259

Dallas McPherson DH 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .236

Jeff Baisley 3B 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .109

Josh Phegley C 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267

Ray Olmedo SS 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .249

Justin Greene CF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .228

BATTING

While I am not going to compare this lineup to a major league lineup, Charlotte has a representative AAA offense. They are 8th in a 14 team league in runs scored and 6th in OPS. It's not like they're the patsies of the International League. That would be Rochester.

[Fan4Life]

While I am not going to compare this lineup to a major league lineup, Charlotte has a representative AAA offense. They are 8th in a 14 team league in runs scored and 6th in OPS. It's not like they're the patsies of the International League. That would be Rochester.

For me, I'd want to know if he changed anything. Because if not, this game isn't good news.

[OFFNY]

It's great to see Matusz get guys out, but right now, Hammel, Chen, MG, Tillman and Britton have been considered first. Brian had his chance, if Britton pitches well, I'd give him a shot at the 5th slot.

Oh, I don't think anyone is arguing that Matusz should be considered as being ahead of any of those pitchers for the starting rotation at the moment. No way. I just think that those of us who are even a little encouraged by his CG-shutout are thinking in terms of down the road IF Brian can consistently pitch well at the AAA-level again. Matusz is essentially in 7th place for the Orioles' starting rotation right this minute (I'd put Steve Johnson in 6th place behind Britton). We're hoping for the proverbial "Deep depth."

.

[Frobby]

Oh, I don't think anyone is arguing that Matusz should be considered as being ahead of any of those pitchers for the starting rotation at the moment. No way.

While I believe Britton will get called up if he pitches well in his next two outings, I don't think it is a foregone conclusion right now that he will be more deserving of a call-up than Matusz. Look at it this way -- Britton has yet to pitch beyond six innings or allow fewer than two runs in his six AAA starts so far. He hasn't yet had two good outings in a row. Meanwhile, Matusz plops in and tosses a 4-hit shutout in his first look at AAA batters. Why should we conclude that Britton is more ready than Matusz to be effective at the major league level?

The way the schedule works out, the O's don't need a fifth starter until July 17. Britton throws today, and then one of the two could throw again on July 12. Then the O's will need to make a decision. Britton's probably the leader right now, but that could change between now and July 17.

As to those who would argue that Matusz needs to stay at Norfolk until he's "fixed," who is to say that Britton is any more "fixed" right now? To me, he needs a good outing today to prove he's on track.

[tntoriole]

Who is this Matusz kid tearing up AAA? Maybe we should give him a shot. In all seriousness though, he should stay down there for about 3 weeks and do this every time. He never looks like he has any fire in him when he pitches, does he have any documented anxiety disorders? Dont the O's have a psychiatrist on staff this year?

No, but I would be happy to provide my services.

Orioles Psychiatrist : What were you thinking when you threw that pitch to Pujols right down the middle? Are you crazy?

Matusz: Yes.

[OFFNY]

While I believe Britton will get called up if he pitches well in his next two outings, I don't think it is a foregone conclusion right now that he will be more deserving of a call-up than Matusz. Look at it this way -- Britton has yet to pitch beyond six innings or allow fewer than two runs in his six AAA starts so far. He hasn't yet had two good outings in a row. Meanwhile, Matusz plops in and tosses a 4-hit shutout in his first look at AAA batters. Why should we conclude that Britton is more ready than Matusz to be effective at the major league level?

The way the schedule works out, the O's don't need a fifth starter until July 17. Britton throws today, and then one of the two could throw again on July 12. Then the O's will need to make a decision. Britton's probably the leader right now, but that could change between now and July 17.

As to those who would argue that Matusz needs to stay at Norfolk until he's "fixed," who is to say that Britton is any more "fixed" right now? To me, he needs a good outing today to prove he's on track.

Frank, those are good points ......... maybe it's no so much that Britton deserves a slot in the rotation over Matusz, but in terms of practicality, it would probably be better to put him in there right this moment, even if he only gives us a solid 5 innings for his first few starts until he continues to build up his stamina and his confidence. The reason being is that I'm thinking in terms of the long-haul with Matusz, and right now I think it best that he stay down in AAA-Norfolk for at least 3 or 4 more starts, maybe more. Not so much as a punishment, but more so because I would like to see him work with Peterson, and to do that at the AAA-level where there is much less pressure than there is than at the major league level. In other words, I would like to "protect" Matusz more than anything by keeping him at AAA for a while.

[Frobby]

Frank, those are good points ......... maybe it's no so much that Britton deserves a slot in the rotation over Matusz, but in terms of practicality, it would probably be better to put him in there right this moment, even if he only gives us a solid 5 innings for his first few starts until he continues to build up his stamina and his confidence. The reason being is that I'm thinking in terms of the long-haul with Matusz, and right now I think it best that he stay down in AAA-Norfolk for at least 3 or 4 more starts, maybe more. Not so much as a punishment, but more so because I would like to see him work with Peterson, and to do that at the AAA-level where there is much less pressure than there is than at the major league level. In other words, I would like to "protect" Matusz more than anything by keeping him at AAA for a while.

It is a reasonable way to look at it, but I do think Britton needs to pitch decently between now and July 17 to take that approach.

As I've mentioned, if Matusz stays in Norfolk though August 6, he won't be a free agent until after the 2016 season. One more reason to keep him in Norfolk for a while. Of course, so long as the Orioles are in contention, that is a very secondary issue. The O's should be doing whatever it takes to win the most games possible right now.

[whynot38]

While I believe Britton will get called up if he pitches well in his next two outings, I don't think it is a foregone conclusion right now that he will be more deserving of a call-up than Matusz. Look at it this way -- Britton has yet to pitch beyond six innings or allow fewer than two runs in his six AAA starts so far. He hasn't yet had two good outings in a row. Meanwhile, Matusz plops in and tosses a 4-hit shutout in his first look at AAA batters. Why should we conclude that Britton is more ready than Matusz to be effective at the major league level?

The way the schedule works out, the O's don't need a fifth starter until July 17. Britton throws today, and then one of the two could throw again on July 12. Then the O's will need to make a decision. Britton's probably the leader right now, but that could change between now and July 17.

As to those who would argue that Matusz needs to stay at Norfolk until he's "fixed," who is to say that Britton is any more "fixed" right now? To me, he needs a good outing today to prove he's on track.

I'm not convinced that Matusz can "handle" major league pressure right now. Britton has proven he can. So even if mechanically and physically Matusz is "more fixed" I'd still rather have Britton pitch since I think he will handle it better. May be totally unfair but what else can you make the delta in Matusz at the majors and Matusz in the minors?

[Frobby]

I'm not convinced that Matusz can "handle" major league pressure right now. Britton has proven he can. So even if mechanically and physically Matusz is "more fixed" I'd still rather have Britton pitch since I think he will handle it better. May be totally unfair but what else can you make the delta in Matusz at the majors and Matusz in the minors?

I think people overrate the psychological part of this. Matusz had a respectable 4.41 ERA as of June 2, having thrown 6 quality starts in his previous 8 outings. Then things went off the rails. I don't think the explanation is necessarily psychological, he just lost a bit of command and that is all it took for him to go from a solid starter to a guy who needed to be sent to AAA.

In case anyone's forgotten, Britton had a 10-game stretch last year (May 29 - August 4) where he pitched to an ERA of 8.00. The last two of those starts were after he'd spend 3 weeks in the minors. It's not like he never had his own rough patches. (Admittedly, that streak of 10 games was wildly distorted by two games where he allowed 13 ER in 1.0 innings. But his ERA was a non-stellar 5.52 in the other 8 starts in that stretch.)

[OFFNY]

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BRIAN MATUSZ and NATE McLOUTH are Named International League Players of the Week

http://orioles-nation.com/blogs/minor-leagues/brian-matusz-nate-mclouth-named-il-players-of-the-week/