John Means 2023 (finally)

[Tony-OH]

17 hours ago, e16bball said:

One of the wild things about looking back on that no-hitter (all 27 outs HERE if you want to see a condensed version) is how far the team has come in about 28 months. That day, we had:

Pedro Severino catching. 

Pat Valaika at 2B. 

Ramon Urias at SS. 

Maikel Franco at 3B (replaced by Rio Ruiz for defense).

DJ Stewart in RF. 

Jorge Lopez starting the previous game.

Matt Harvey following him the next day. 

The team John Means is about to walk onto is totally different than anything he’s ever seen or played with before. I know he’s been there for lots of it, just as a teammate — but I think it’ll be totally different to finally be a part of it. I’m really excited for him. 

Imagine throwing a no-hitter with that defense? He should get a gold star next to that no-hitter.

[BohKnowsBmore]

10 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Imagine throwing a no-hitter with that defense? He should get a gold star next to that no-hitter.

Esp. since it was defense specifically that cost him the perfect game (dropped strike-3). Hard to be too down on Severino there, though, given the pitching performance as a whole and the part he necessarily played in that overall.

[SilverRocket]

The Statcast comparisons to "Yr-Avg" (which means last year's for his first start) are telling. Both breaking balls were very subpar, with the curveball being especially poor. The changeup looks like mostly like his old self. The 32% whiff rate on the changeup is a positive sign and in line with his career numbers. The fastball whiff rate is lower but the velocity is there and he got some called strikes.

I'm optimistic about this, though I hope he finds a breaking pitch soon. I'll call the Goldschmidt HR a fluke. The other HR was on a hanging curveball but wasn't even hammered.

[Three Run Homer]

6 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

He threw a lot of strikes but only 1 K and didn’t miss many bats. That needs to improve to be part of the postseason roster imo.

He only needs to be our fourth best starting pitcher to make the playoff roster.  The bar is not high.  

[jabba72]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Imagine throwing a no-hitter with that defense? He should get a gold star next to that no-hitter.

That was back in the days of spider tack, when anything was possible. Also in Seattle, a notorious pitchers park. Agree that it was a 110 loss lineup fielded that day.

[CaptainRedbeard]

8 whiffs on 75 pitches is not great, but not alarming. The 1 K is a bit misleading.

Means has better stuff than people give him credit for, because he doesn’t have big velo or an impressive breaking ball. His fastball spin rate is pretty exceptional. Stuff+ likes him, he was 115 last night and 113 in 2021. 

[FlipTheBird]

1 hour ago, jabba72 said:

That was back in the days of spider tack, when anything was possible. Also in Seattle, a notorious pitchers park. Agree that it was a 110 loss lineup fielded that day.

Wet blanket much?

[Billy F-Face3]

I don't like that they optioned Irvin. He has pitched well for us these past couple months. I hope he will be back up ASAP. I think he should be in the back end of the starting rotation.

[Billy F-Face3]

Just now, Billy F-Face3 said:

I don't like that they optioned Irvin. He has pitched well for us these past couple months. I hope he will be back up ASAP. I think he should be in the back end of the starting rotation.

Oops, wrong thread.

But while I'm here, I think both John Means and Irvin should be in the rotation to sprinkle in some left handed pitching into the rotation and keep the opposing lineup off balanced.

[Pickles]

So John Means is done for the night.

Solid start.

5 IP 1 ER 4 H 3 BB 1 K

Was heavy on the breaking ball.

An observation I made and am wondering if anyone else shares it:

He's doing that "flutter" "play" with the ball in his glove prior to starting his windup.  Does anyone else agree/disagree?

[Bemorewins]

Solid start tonight. I probably trust him more in the postseason than Gibson and most certainly Flaherty.

[Pickles]

14 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

Solid start tonight. I probably trust him more in the postseason than Gibson and most certainly Flaherty.

Don't provoke Sports Guy.

[banks703]

There was no reason to pull Means from the game tonight after five with the bullpen usage in the Tampa series. Means was in complete control of the game. Can’t understand that move, especially with this four-run sixth by the Astros. WTF. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by banks703

[Aristotelian]

1 minute ago, banks703 said:

There was no reason to pull Means from the game tonight. He was in complete control of the game. Can’t understand that move, especially with this four-run sixth by the Astros. WTF. 

I have no problem taking him out but they shouldn't be bringing in Fuji after he threw 20+ yesterday

[banks703]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

I have no problem taking him out but they shouldn't be bringing in Fuji after he threw 20+ yesterday

Means was cruising at 86 pitches. Give him a chance to get through six. He’s never going to throw 100 pitches in a game if they don’t let him get there.

I don’t hate being overly cautious but the pen was taxed yesterday and Fuji has shown that he’s not awesome when having to pitch back to back games. I don’t understand the logic behind the pen usage sometimes.