Has Jim Johnson fully regained your confidence?

[OriolesFaithful]

I'm getting there. As another said, the movement is back but the command is not where he has been. However I do have a lot of faith he will reach full potential.

[BohKnowsBmore]

To me, even with the long save streak, he's never been the same since last years playoffs. Two blown saves there really broke his invincibility

in my mind. He was pretty good today, kept the ball on the ground, but hitting a batter 0-2 is ridiculous and perhaps a better hitting lineup might've

taken advantage. Color me skeptical still. I still feel O'Day could be every bit as good, maybe better.

While there are some valid points to be made on this front, I certainly think there is some "the most popular player in town is the backup qb" at work here.

[isestrex]

Yes. But one must define "Confidence".

My "confidence" in a closer can be defined as a good pitcher that gets the job done 85%+ but isn't a flawless robot. I think JJ is good enough that I trust him to get the job done most of the time and just shrug when he doesn't get it done.

However... most posters, team owners, fantasy owners, even managers look at Mariano Rivera as their "confidence level". If that's what you expect of your closer, you are going to be disappointed. No one is that good.

[RichmondVA Orio]

To me, even with the long save streak, he's never been the same since last years playoffs. Two blown saves there really broke his invincibility

in my mind. He was pretty good today, kept the ball on the ground, but hitting a batter 0-2 is ridiculous and perhaps a better hitting lineup might've

taken advantage. Color me skeptical still. I still feel O'Day could be every bit as good, maybe better.

I wouldnt count him out just yet. Seems like he might have something to prove. The talent is there. He had a similar hiccup last year during the regular season. Lets just hope that he wont have one again in the playoffs. I dont think he will now that he has been seasoned.

[birdcrazy]

Honestly, most closers with "nasty" stuff cannot consistently control it. Right now I am happy with JJ. He has what the 2nd most saves in the league?

[luismatos4prez]

I still feel O'Day could be every bit as good, maybe better.

I think Matusz is the best of the bunch.

[fansince71]

As long as Buck still has confidence in him that's all i care about.

[Il BuonO]

Couldn't agree more. Johnson was pretty much automatic the first month and a half of the season, and just about all of last year (3 blown saves total). Two bad weeks and people are ready to trade him.

I doubt it, as there would be little in return for him right now. The time to trade him was in the off season.

[Il BuonO]

I think Matusz is the best of the bunch.

I'll take Hunter. I think Matusz should be given another shot at starting. The Freddy experiment will shortly have run it's course.

[O's84]

To me, even with the long save streak, he's never been the same since last years playoffs. Two blown saves there really broke his invincibility

in my mind. He was pretty good today, kept the ball on the ground, but hitting a batter 0-2 is ridiculous and perhaps a better hitting lineup might've

taken advantage. Color me skeptical still. I still feel O'Day could be every bit as good, maybe better.

I don't think it was the playoffs last year, he was actually becoming more hitable

towards the end of the regular season last year. I think it just carried over to the playoffs, and adding to the fact that the Yanks had a good offense to take

advantage of it. He started of well this season but recently has gotten out of

whack and still isn't getting the ball down and where he wants hit, though as

someone mentioned earlier he's starting to get the movement back on his FB. He

hasn't been able to match what he did the first half of last year when he was an

AS. He was just plain sick then, power sinker down in the zone with great

movement.

[something is screwy with my computer's formatting]

[PeteCanes]

Nope, he's always been very scary. Been good and all that, but has always been a nailbiter type.

[scOtt]

Never once lost it.

Never.

Once. Not even live.

[Tx Oriole]

Regardless of whether you supported leaving JJ in the closer role or not after he'd blown 4 saves out of five, you had to be nervous when he took the mound. Now he's saved 5 in a row, allowing only 2 hits and one walk while striking out five. Today a runner reached on an error and then JJ plunked the next guy to put the tying run on base, but induced a DP to close the game.

So, is your trust level back to where it was before the meltdown? Or is JJ still making you nervous?

I'm somewhere in between. I didn't see the game today, but in the others, I saw: good movement on the fastball, good command of the curve, but command of the fastball not quite at JJ's normal levels, and no real use of the changeup. He's gotten good results lately but my confidence is not all the way back to normal.

Your thoughts?

I don't know Frobby. I hope he is getting back to where he was. I understand

having some concern.

[DrungoHazewood]

While there are some valid points to be made on this front, I certainly think there is some "the most popular player in town is the backup qb" at work here.

Yes, I think that's always true. Not only that, but in MLB one of the unstated elephants in the room when you talk closers and their setup men is that the setup job is often just about as important as the closer job. O'Day probably pitches less often in a none-out, none-on situation. If you flip Johnson and O'Day you've just pushed Johnson into a role where he's got to shut down a lot of 7th-8th inning rallies with men on, and let O'Day get 80% of his work starting an inning with nobody on and nobody out.

[Moose Milligan]

Yeah, I think he's regained mine. I don't think you save a ridiculous amount of games last year and have a bunch this year before these meltdowns and ruin it all in a week.

What's apparent is that when he blows a save, you can count on him blowing another one right away. Happened last year in the playoffs and it happened this year. I guess other closers can blow a save and get one the next day like it never even happened. That's not JJ.