Brian Matusz tonight (3/13/13)

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

I'd love to see the mix of pitches. Largely how his change up looked.

Me too. Stats are one part of it, but our eyes tell us that Matusz 2010 is different than Matusz 2011/2012. And to me, that had almost everything to do with his loss of the change up.

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 think the good thing about some of Buck's comments is that it seems like he has an open mind to Brian being a starter. If he's effective, he'll get the shot. Even if he doesn't win the fifth starter job right now, I don't think Buck will be close minded about giving him more shots down the line. And we've also seen that pitching in the bullpen hasn't exactly effected Brian in a negative way. I think it's helped him.

[sfosfan]

The one stat that to me, suggests this start could be a fluke: 0 fly outs. Brian is not a groundball pitcher. As much as I like Brian and the awesome line he made today, I need to see it at least once more before I'm sold. But as they say, you got to start somewhere and this was certainly a great start!

[Il BuonO]

Very, very nice. Let's see what he does next time out. It's all about consistency.

Right, like it was for Jake. And like with Jake vs the Pirates, this was vs the Twins. Their lineup features names like Hicks, Parmalee, Arcia, Escobar and Florimon. Yeah, there's Willingham, but I'm still not convinced Morneau is the same hitter he was pre concussion.

It will be nice if he can go out and do this a few more times. I won't say it's early but there's still time.

[scOtt]

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.

This is going off what Roch posted today (and my memory...) Brian has pitched three two-inning appearances before tonight. He gave up 3 runs in one and none the rest of the way. Then this gem tonight. Sounds to me like the consistency is building.

[xian4]

Arrieta and Matusz could just be benfitting from the changes in the organisation, the pressure has been lifted from them. They are members of a successful team rather than the saviours of an underachieving team, this could easily lead to breakout seasons.

[Frobby]

I get the point about wanting to see Matusz do this consistently, but the same applies to every guy fighting for that 5th spot. I'm very encouraged by this start. It's going to be very interesting following what goes on the rest of ST. As I said earlier this week, I think the next round of starts beginning on Saturday will be really important because after that there are going to have to be decisions about who gets stretched out further or not. Britton goes Friday but that will be his first shot at 4 IP so I consider that the end of this round, with the next round starting Saturday.

[SpinJr]

I'm torn here. Best case for the Orioles as a organization is that Jake is awarded the fifth spot. If Jake pitches well he stands to gain much more value as a commodity than Brain. Brain has the advantage of being left handed and has shown good ability to work in the pen. Jake certainly needs this opportunity to build back up his value.

[malkusm]

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!

I don't have the numbers on that, but from listening to the radio broadcast I can tell you that many of his strikeouts were on well-located fastballs which he set up with the changeup and breaking ball. He was only hitting 91-92 but guys were late on it and according to Joe Angel all of his pitches had quite a bit of movement.

[canonfaz]

The one stat that to me, suggests this start could be a fluke: 0 fly outs. Brian is not a groundball pitcher. As much as I like Brian and the awesome line he made today, I need to see it at least once more before I'm sold. But as they say, you got to start somewhere and this was certainly a great start!

If his change up is on, then he would be more of a ground ball pitcher. I look at it as being encouraging that there were 0 fly outs. Granted, it's an extremely small sample size, but no doubt that its a confidence builder for him and a good sign for the team.

[flashjordnk]

Yeah...end of the day a couple more performances like this could mean a lot. But Matusz has 10 IP so far in ST. So let's not get too carried away.

Also, Miguel Gonzalez spot might be on notice. I don't think it's completely crazy that BMat and Arrieta could both be in this starting rotation. How crazy would it be if the OD rotation looked like Hammel, Chen, Tillman, BMat, Britton.

How'd that be for the cavalry making an impact?

[weams]

Yeah...end of the day a couple more performances like this could mean a lot. But Matusz has 10 IP so far in ST. So let's not get too carried away.

Also, Miguel Gonzalez spot might be on notice. I don't think it's completely crazy that BMat and Arrieta could both be in this starting rotation. How crazy would it be if the OD rotation looked like Hammel, Chen, Tillman, BMat, Britton.

How'd that be for the cavalry making an impact?

You think that Gonzalez pitching in minor league games to hide him from AL East opponents means his spot is in jeopardy? I read that differently.

[Can_of_corn]

You think that Gonzalez pitching in minor league games to hide him from AL East opponents means his spot is in jeopardy? I read that differently.

I think hiding pitchers from AL East opponents is pretty pointless.

[weams]

I think hiding pitchers from AL East opponents is pretty pointless.

They are doing it with Hammel as well.

[Can_of_corn]

They are doing it with Hammel as well.

I know. I think it is doing a disservice to the fans who are paying good money to go to the spring training games.

Pretty sure the rest of the AL East has plenty of film on Hammel.

[Frobby]

I think hiding pitchers from AL East opponents is pretty pointless.

Buck clearly doesn't. He did it last year, and he's done it this year.