Miguel Gonzalez Tonight

[Ampontan]

Pretty impressive no doubt, but I think teams are going to learn to stop swinging at the filthy slider at their shoe tops after awhile.

Maybe so, but maybe they don't. They kept swinging at Steve Carlton's filthy slider in the dirt for 23 years.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Maybe so, but maybe they don't. They kept swinging at Steve Carlton's filthy slider in the dirt for 23 years.

Maybe so. Can't hurt to find out, that's for sure.

[Il BuonO]

Well I just got back from the game and we were impressed. CA the seats are good. I thought we were about halfway but it's closer to the left field foul pole. Great thing was Pearce's HR went flying right by us....smoked it. Gonzo looked very composed and between he and Tillman that is one of the biggest differences between them and Matusz and Arrieta.

[Va Beach O's fan]

Wow.....what an impressive outing that was!

He fought a very tough lineup, on the road, in a game we needed BADLY in his major league debut as a starter. He also broke his professional career longest number of innings pitching by going 7 against the playoff bound (most likely) Angels.

What's not to love about that outing?? He looked absolutely fearless on the mound and wasn't afraid in the least to challenge hitters. Great outing Gonzo 2.0!

[bobmc]

I hope so. It's easy to get hopes up after a start like that, but let's not get carried away.

That's your job - the rest of us can gloat and pump up our respective chests...

We had a power outage and couldn't watch game.

[Frobby]

Not all year, but definitely a lot of the year. To be fair, each of those pitchers has pitched a few gems apiece this year:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=matusbr01&t=p&year=2012

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=arrieja01&t=p&year=2012

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=hunteto02&t=p&year=2012

Clearly not enough to keep them in the starting rotation in the majors, though.

But a good reminder that making one good start doesn't prove too much. Jake looked good in his first outing this year, as did Hunter. I do have a feeling that Gonzalez is going to be effective for at least a while as the league sees him for the first time. After that, we'll see.

[gallden]

His ability to throw strike one and get ahead was obviously so important. He did it with two pitches also. Did he do this in the minors?

[weams]

His ability to throw strike one and get ahead was obviously so important. He did it with two pitches also. Did he do this in the minors?

Yes. His start was almost a pitch by pitch example of the script that Rick Peterson gave us at his Analytics Presentation.

[primetime]

I agree completely, Tony. He was at 86 pitches after 6 innings, and Buck gambled by trying to get an additional inning out of him, and it worked. There is NO WAY that Buck should have sent Gonzalez back out there for the 8th inning. He was missing pitches, tiring, and fortunate to have had the inning-ending double play that he got.

Also, the 6-inning outing that you were referring to as his previous high this season wasn't even in the majors, it was at AAA-Norfolk. We squeezed every possible drop that we could have out of Gonzo Part II tonight.

I don't think the 7th was a gamble, per se. Buck said before the game that he was planning on giving Gonzalez 100 pitches, provided the Angels cooperated. And as a beautiful conclusion, pitch number 100 was an inning ending double play.

Also, given the shaky performance from the pen the last couple of games, I was all about taking Gonzalez as far as he could go, provided he was effective.

[BmoreMatt]

He got a few outs on a high heater as well, mostly pop ups. That pitch makes the filthy slider even... filthier!

[OFFNY]

I don't think the 7th was a gamble, per se. Buck said before the game that he was planning on giving Gonzalez 100 pitches, provided the Angels cooperated. And as a beautiful conclusion, pitch number 100 was an inning ending double play.

Also, given the shaky performance from the pen the last couple of games, I was all about taking Gonzalez as far as he could go, provided he was effective.

Oh, I was definitely all for bringing Gonzalez out for the 7th inning, particularly for the reason that you stated about our bullpen having struggled so much recently. As far as calling it a "gamble" is concerned, I do think it was a gamble, but it was almost a gamble that Buck may have had no choice but to take (although ........ does that by definition make it not a gamble ? ). A pitch-count is a pretty good marker, but it doesn't tell all. Buck may have said that he was planning on giving Gonzalez about 100 pitches, but there are other circumstances to consider ....... such as the importance of giving our struggling bullpen a "clean inning" to start with, which was guaranteed after Gonzo had completed the 6th inning, but not necessarily guaranteed when Buck sent him back out there for the 7th. So for that particular reason, there was a risk (and subsequent gamble) by sending Gonzalez out there for the 7th.

Also, as Tony had pointed out earlier in this thread, Gonzalez' longest start this season before last night was 6 innings, and that wasn't even here at the majors, it was at AAA-Norfolk. So, even though Gonzo Part II had a quick 9-pitch inning in the 6th which put him at 86 pitches overall, we were still treading on thin ice when Buck sent him out there for the 7th. And when Gonzalez walked Trumbo on 4 pitches to start the inning, I think Oriole fans everywhere were fretting and wondering if we should have just started the inning with either Strop, O'Day, Linstrom, or Patton, and/or brought one of them in right then and there before things got worse. But the chips fell in our favor even though Gonzalez had walked the lead-off batter and was tiring, hence the gamble paid off.

.

[OFFNY]

.

MIGUEL GONZALEZ O(vs. TIGERS 7/14)

IP:O 5.67

H:o. 6

R:O. 3

BB:. 5

SO:. 3

Pitches: 100 (59 Strikes, 41 Balls) *[/b]

2012 ERA: 2.59

**********

GONZO PART II BY INNINGS

11

17

12

8

24

28 * Gonzalez got 2 outs in the 6th inning before he was squeezed on the 3-2 pitch by the umpire.

[LookitsPuck]

Too many walks, but aside from that loud home run in the first, there were just a couple dinks and donks that scored the other two. Encouraging outing against a very good hitting team, too bad he drew Verlander.

[OFFNY]

Too many walks, but aside from that loud home run in the first, there were just a couple dinks and donks that scored the other two. Encouraging outing against a very good hitting team, too bad he drew Verlander.

Also, he was robbed of a strikeout on the 3-2 pitch to Santiago which would have ended the 6th inning. It was only 1/3 of an inning and Ayala finished the job anyway, but still, it would have been nice to see him leave the game getting himself out of the inning and completing 6 frames with 4 strikeouts and 4 walks, instead of 3 strikeouts and 5 walks ....... and the quality start which would have accompanied it, as well.

[OFFNY]

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CLEVELAND NAPS O(July 20th)

Shin-Soo Choo - RF

Asdrubal Cabrera - SS

Jason Kipnis - 2B

Michael Brantley - CF

Carlos Santana - C

Travis Hafner - DH

Johnny Damon - LF

Casey Kotchman - 1B

Jack Hannahan - 3B

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php