Is Johnson the new Captain Chaos?

[eddie83]

Yes, he got two groundball outs but he had absolutely no control in the rest of the ABs.

When he's on, he's great but something was obviously amiss here tonight and its all the symptoms of a tired arm.

If there was no such thing as a closer or a save, then Tommy Hunter comes in the game bc Buck would have said, 'Gee, I can't use the pitcher who threw 50 pitches in back-to-back games'.

How do you know it wasn't mecanical? People complain when he goes to Strop but then complain when he is overworking someone. As I have said before JJ had 5 days of before this 3 game stretch.

[Jonesy10]

If you watched those last 14 games, youd see he DID NOT regain that control. Just because his ERA and WHIP were down, doesnt mean he cured his problems that lead to that horrid stretch. Instead it just looked like he didnt get as unlucky, used the curve a little more, and got more generous bad swings. Jim really has not looked the same for a while now. Its just the numbers on a one inning a night pitcher really arent going to show you any real substance, just watch the pitch locations

This is pretty much how I feel. I haven't felt completely confident in JJ since he blew that game 1 against NY last year. He's leaving balls up in the zone way more than he did last year. He's giving up less ground balls than last year, more home runs, more walks, and his BABIP is way up (most likely due to leaving more balls up, which lead to less ground balls and more balls hit hard).

[Norfolk orioles]

JJ hasn't been too sharp the last three nights. Still, things didn't quite break his way tonight. I think McLouth could have caught Giambi's double, and the attempt at the inning-ending DP was not the smoothest I've seen. JJ got two grounders, like he wanted with the DP in order, but the O's couldn't quite turn them. It really wasn't that horrible of an outing IMO.

He walked the first batter and gave up a double to the corpse walking around pretending to be Jason giambi.

It was a terrible inning. You really are sugarcoating it.

[Norfolk orioles]

Baseball-Reference has Jim Johnson at a -.259 WPA this year. I really do think Hunter should get a shot at closing.

And there you have it.

Honestly I want a closer by committee.

We play matchup baseball for 8 innings, why completely abandon it in the most important inning of the game?

Use matusz hunter, johnson and O'Day given the matchups over the course of the last few innings.

And yes, that includes the 9th. Using one pitcher to get 3 outs with the game on the line and a 1 run lead is just dumb when matching up would give us a much better chance.

Am I wrong here?

[section18]

Too many things happened in this game tonight that didn't go our way. I agree Manny should have gone home to get the lead run. Did anyone think we were going to blow the lead and possibly lose the game with JJ coming in to relieve in the 9th inning? Walking the leadoff hitter on four pitches is not acceptable. Buck did not look happy walking out to the mound to pull JJ in the 9th. It didn't look like he said anything to him. Not Bucks style. He always says something to them when he pulls them. I would not have gone to him tonight. He had a rocky ninth last night. Some have speculated on a JJ trade. I am okay with it if it helps us land a quality starter. Watching JJ close now for two season it may seem strange to say this but he looks rattled or uncomfortable closing. Not sure this is his best role. Forget the saves. He has many opportunities to save games. Is he still leading in appearances? Maybe he should be the setup guy and let O'Day and Hunter alternate as closers.

[eddie83]

That has absolutely nothing to do with the 50 pitches he threw in the last two games.

He's a sinkerballer, if he is tired and can't get the ball down, he's gonna get rocked. That's exactly what happened and pretty much everyone said as much too. Only buck and a few blind posters didnt see that inning coming.

I think you should manage the team. During JJ's worst stretch he was getting the ball up and yet none of those blown saves came on back to back games. Was he too tired then.

[Norfolk orioles]

You're wrong. In his first 19 appearances this year Johnson had a 0.95 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00. In his last 14 appearances before today, JJ had an ERA of 0.68 and a WHIP under 1.00. He had excellent command for most of that time.

But you are a chronically negative poster so go on putting the worst negative spin every time things don't go the Orioles' way.

In several of those outings, he got guys out who chased terrible pitches. So it shows up great in the stat book, but it still looked like he was struggling for control.

It was a little bit of fools gold, Johnson has looked shaky in several games during that most recent "streak" after the bad streak, so this blown save, after already pitching back to back games and struggling in those, was a surprise to pretty much no one.

[Orioles2012]

Perhaps we should institute a TCFC (Too close for comfort) stat. A completely arbitrary stat in where a game is added if a pitcher causes your heart rate to spike.

[Norfolk orioles]

I think you should manage the team. During JJ's worst stretch he was getting the ball up and yet none of those blown saves came on back to back games. Was he too tired then.

You realize arm fatigue is a real thing right? It doesn't just magically go away after a day or two off.

I legitimately think Johnson could be experiencing that right now. He hasn't looked right for a while.

Since you're looking up when he's pitched, tell me, how many times has Johnson successfully saved a third game in three days thuisseason?

[Norfolk orioles]

This season? Has it even happened once?

[PaulFolk]

You realize arm fatigue is a real thing right? It doesn't just magically go away after a day or two off.

I legitimately think Johnson could be experiencing that right now. He hasn't looked right for a while.

Since you're looking up when he's pitched, tell me, how many times has Johnson successfully saved a third game in three days thuisseason?

Only twice this season (before tonight) has Johnson pitched on a third consecutive day. In one of them, he converted a save (June 11 against the Angels). In the other, he took a loss in an extra-inning game against the Blue Jays (non-save situation).

Last year, Johnson pitched on a third consecutive day three times. In all three of them, he converted a save.

[Orioles2012]

This season? Has it even happened once?

June 9th, 10th, and 11th

[Norfolk orioles]

June 9th, 10th, and 11th

And on the 11th he allowed a run and the tying run was on base and he got out of it.

And he also pitched April 22,23,24.

He took the loss on the 24.

Now tonight he blows a save and takes a loss on his third day of pitching.

So three times this season he's pitched 3 days in a row.

All three games he's allowed runs and two of them resulted in losses.

Need I say more?

[Norfolk orioles]

Only twice this season (before tonight) has Johnson pitched on a third consecutive day. In one of them, he converted a save (June 11 against the Angels). In the other, he took a loss in an extra-inning game against the Blue Jays (non-save situation).

Last year, Johnson pitched on a third consecutive day three times. In all three of them, he converted a save.

Last year has nothing to do with how he's pitching this year. If anything it just provides further proof he may in fact be suffering from arm fatigue.

[WalkingDead]

And on the 11th he allowed a run and the tying run was on base and he got out of it.

And he also pitched April 22,23,24.

He took the loss on the 24.

Now tonight he blows a save and takes a loss on his third day of pitching.

So three times this season he's pitched 3 days in a row.

All three games he's allowed runs and two of them resulted in losses.

Need I say more?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/28531/jim-johnson only pitched 3 days in a row twice.