Chris Tillman 6/23/09 start

[QBsILLEST1]

He got out of the 1st inning w/o giving up a run. Lately that had seemed to be his weakness, giving up a run or 2 in the 1st, but settling down for the rest of the game.

1IP 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 1K

[QBsILLEST1]

Mr Tillman is now through 2IP 1H 0R 0ER 0 BB 2K

He is facing a pretty good Boston AAA squad. It has Chris Carter and Lowrie as well, its nice to see Tillman do well against other prospects. I am really amazed by how well Chris has fixed his control issues. I have a feeling that when he finally settles in as a major league pitcher, he will be known for having good command of his electric stuff. He already got by before with co command of his electric stuff, now he has command of his electric stuff and developed his change up even further.....

[waroriole]

Mr Tillman is now through 2IP 1H 0R 0ER 0 BB 2K

He is facing a pretty good Boston AAA squad. It has Chris Carter and Lowrie as well, its nice to see Tillman do well against other prospects. I am really amazed by how well Chris has fixed his control issues. I have a feeling that when he finally settles in as a major league pitcher, he will be known for having good command of his electric stuff. He already got by before with co command of his electric stuff, now he has command of his electric stuff and developed his change up even further.....

Does Lars Anderson play for them?

[orioole28]

Does Lars Anderson play for them?

No, he's in AA ball.

[QBsILLEST1]

Yep, AA and last I had heard, he wasnt doing to well this year

[orioole28]

Mr Tillman is now through 2IP 1H 0R 0ER 0 BB 2K

He is facing a pretty good Boston AAA squad. It has Chris Carter and Lowrie as well, its nice to see Tillman do well against other prospects. I am really amazed by how well Chris has fixed his control issues. I have a feeling that when he finally settles in as a major league pitcher, he will be known for having good command of his electric stuff. He already got by before with co command of his electric stuff, now he has command of his electric stuff and developed his change up even further.....

Actually Tillman isn't doing well against those two. Carter is 2-2 and Lowrie is 1-1 against him.

[waroriole]

I thought Lowrie was out for the season, or at least until September. Is he on his way back to Boston? I guess you can tell that I don't follow the Sox much.

[Sports Guy]

Well, he went 6 IP...only K'ed 3 but didn't walk anyone.

Allowed 7 hits and 2 runs.

Threw almost 66% of his pitches for strikes.

Good command tonight.

[orioole28]

Wolf has to be the weak link to that bullpen. How many times does he come and give up runs that he inherited or his own?

[Tidesfan]

I was at the game. Tillman sat between 90-92 on the fastball, but got up to 97 according to the gun.

He pitched ok, but seemed a little off with the command. I was impressed for the most part though. He did change his arm action on the changeup and tipped it off.

[Frobby]

Yeah, he's not walking guys but that doesn't mean he has good command yet. Still a little bit of a work in progress.

Clearly he is making improvements in that area, but let him keep working on it.

[Sports Guy]

Yeah, he's not walking guys but that doesn't mean he has good command yet. Still a little bit of a work in progress.

Tough to say the command isn't there...Not only didn;t he walk guys, he threw 66% of his pitches for a strike.

I am not sure what that oercentage is for the year but I am pretty sure you want to be around 63%.

Maybe this guy Griffin is the real pitching coach in this system....Did a good job with the Bowie guys last year and Tillman and Hernandez have made larger strides this year.

[Frobby]

Tough to say the command isn't there...Not only didn;t he walk guys, he threw 66% of his pitches for a strike.

I am not sure what that oercentage is for the year but I am pretty sure you want to be around 63%.

Maybe this guy Griffin is the real pitching coach in this system....Did a good job with the Bowie guys last year and Tillman and Hernandez have made larger strides this year.

Griffin's doing a very good job. Look how quickly Albers and Ray got turned around in Norfolk. I'm not saying Griffin necessarily is the reason, but it seems likely he had a role. And every pitcher he's sent to Baltimore has seemed prepared. I'm glad Arrieta and Patton are in Norfolk working with him now.

[Sports Guy]

Griffin's doing a very good job. Look how quickly Albers and Ray got turned around in Norfolk. I'm not saying Griffin necessarily is the reason, but it seems likely he had a role. And every pitcher he's sent to Baltimore has seemed prepared. I'm glad Arrieta and Patton are in Norfolk working with him now.

Yea...We have talked about the player development and things like that...maybe they just finally have a pitching coach in the system who has a freaking clue as to what they are doing.

[Frobby]

Yea...We have talked about the player development and things like that...maybe they just finally have a pitching coach in the system who has a freaking clue as to what they are doing.

I always had some doubts about Scott McGregor, who was at AA before Griffin. Probably because of the comments Gaz made about how he messed up Loewen's mechanics. But also because the guys who came through Bowie while he was there, like Olson and Liz, seemed extremely unprepared when they got to the majors. I'm not saying McGregor is a bad coach, but Griffin seems to be more effective with the guys at the upper levels.