Here's the thread where you apologize for doubting Guthrie

[Carroll County]

Nothing spectacular today, but I will admit I was skeptical going into the year, with his shaky WBC outings, irregular (lousy) spring training, etc.

This guy is solid. He's becoming the Nick Markakis of our pitching staff (don't drown me with stats, I realize he's not as good a pitcher as Nick is a hitter). But, like Nick you know what you're going to get, and when you watch the guy pitch (hit) and see his approach, you can't help but be impressed.

Kudos to Jeremy Guthrie - I, for one, won't worry about him anymore.

[KurtCDavidson]

On 8/23/08 Guthrie's average fastball/slider speed was 93.19/85.56 MPH.

Guthrie's average fastball/slider speed for all of August 08 was 93.40/84.90 MPH

On 8/29/08 - when Guthrie was injured - his average fastball/slider speed was 91.97/82.84 MPH.

On 9/29/08 - when Guthrie returned - his average fastball/slider speed was 91.64/83.13 MPH.

Yesterday Guthrie's average fastball/slider speed was 91.58/83.19 MPH.

Still not worried about Guthrie?

[trk001]

Velocity isn't as important as people think. Location is. Guts did a good job yesterday and the defense showed they were there to back him up. There was never a doubt in my mind.

[Fan4Life]

Over on the MLB.com Yankee forum... a fan had watched Guthrie get hammered in his last spring training outing and started a thread:

Yanks Licking Chops To Face Gutherie April 6th

Enjoy!

http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ml-yankees&tid=395623

[Runs2the1Show]

While I for one don't doubt that Guthrie will be Ok, he didn't exactly prove his doubters wrong.

He let the lead off runner on for three straight innings to begin the game, which obviously is never a good way to pitch. While he did get out of two jams, it finally caught up to him in the third on the sac fly.

Also, he hung quite a few sliders, one of which got absolutely bombed by posada.

One of the most important things a pitcher can do after their team puts up a bunch of runs is to go out the next inning and close the door, send a message to the other team that you're not gonna let them back in the game. Guthrie struggled with doing that.

The point is Guthrie managed to get out of most tough situations today, but he can't keep pitching on the edge like he did. Allowing two baserunners per inning is never a good way to pitch.

[vab]

Hope I do have to apologize about doubting Guthrie but one game ain't gonna do it.

[mattman0182]

Over on the MLB.com Yankee forum... a fan had watched Guthrie get hammered in his last spring training outing and started a thread:

Yanks Licking Chops To Face Gutherie April 6th

Enjoy!

http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ml-yankees&tid=395623

That was great!! I read every post lol

[Frobby]

I was definitely doubting Guthrie, and I'm very glad that he pitched much better yesterday than he had in spring training. I'm feeling much better about the chances he will have a solid year for us. However, I do agree that his velocity seems down a bit from last year, and he wasn't really at his best yesterday. I will still gladly take it, though. The guy is tough and smart and knows how to manage a game better than most pitchers. Hopefully he can dial it up a little more as April progresses, or make other adjustments if he can't. I did think the movement on his fastball looked pretty decent, at least in the first inning, which is all I've had a chance to see.

[Carroll County]

I agree, one game is not enough to really dispel all the doubt that we have, and will have to admit that I didn't know about that issue with his velocity.

Still, the guy is a gamer and I'm a lot more confident at this point that he's going to be the pitcher that we need him to be this year than I was before yesterday.

I'll bump this in a month or two when his ERA is under 4 and he's giving us lots of quality innings. If he implodes or gets hurt, feel free to bump it for me and I will eat my crow.

[Flip217]

Maybe his velocity was down by a couple ticks, and maybe his slider wasn't as sharp as we want it, and maybe he did let too many baserunners on.

But he put his team in a position to win, and for once they returned the favor.

I'm still worried about him (I'm worried about the whole team) but after what I saw in Spring Training and the WBC I thought he'd look much worse than he did. I hope he can build on yesterday's performance and get a little better each time out, and stay healthy.

[KurtCDavidson]

I agree, one game is not enough to really dispel all the doubt that we have, and will have to admit that I didn't know about that issue with his velocity.

Still, the guy is a gamer and I'm a lot more confident at this point that he's going to be the pitcher that we need him to be this year than I was before yesterday.

I'll bump this in a month or two when his ERA is under 4 and he's giving us lots of quality innings. If he implodes or gets hurt, feel free to bump it for me and I will eat my crow.

For the record, I think Guthrie could be effective with slightly diminished velocity.

My concern is that he is not 100% healthy.

[JBugaboo]

[wickedwitch]

Another thing to note is that the umpire had a very small strikezone for both pitchers. He would have almost certainly looked better with a reasonably sized strikezone. He would definately have one less walk and one more K.

[KurtCDavidson]

Another thing to note is that the umpire had a very small strikezone for both pitchers. He would have almost certainly looked better with a reasonably sized strikezone. He would definately have one less walk and one more K.

Yeah, that looks to be true.

[SilentJames]

I don't get why people are concerned about Guthrie's velocity. Roch said his fastball was touching 94 during the game.

That sounds like Guthrie to me.