What happened to Eric Gagne?

August 2nd 2007. Eric Gagne appeared in his first game with the Boston Red Sox. His ERA was an impressive 2.16 ERA, and he had blown just one save all year. He appeared to be resurrecting his once dominant career, following his second Tommy John surgery of his career, and coming off back surgery.

But something went wrong. Gagne was thrown right into the heat of a pennant race, pitching meaningful innings for an already deep Red Sox bullpen. And the results he would give the Red Sox were horrendous. His 6.75 ERA and 1.88 WHIP certainly didn't help the Sox. And in early 2008, he isn't helping the Brewers either.

Since that first appearance with the Red Sox(8/2/07), it appears all has gone wrong. He has been credited with 6 blown saves, while grasping only 6 saves. His 7.18 ERA is scary, and his walk rate is high(4.1 BB/9). He has allowed far too many baserunners(47 in 26 innings). Long story short, horrendous.

What's my point here? I don't really know, his blown save on 4/20 led me to look this stuff up. But I really feel this is a significant storyline. I feel that way because this is a guy who had some of the most dominant seasons as a reliever in history. In 2003, he had 55 saves. In 2003, he blew ZERO saves. In 2003, batters posted an OPS of .381 against Gagne. In 2003, Gagne's WHIP was 0.692. In 2003 Eric Gagne had a k/9 of 15. In 2003, Eric Gagne was the Cy Young of the NL.

Where did this guy go? I suppose the surgeries may have turned him into a shell of his former self.

Video of Miguel Tejada getting busted about his age.

WOW. Who does ESPN think they are. That's trashy. That interview was simply a bullshit expose. FUCK THAT.

Photo from COL @ SDG 22 inning game

22 innings, and over 600 pitches thrown... DAMN. And the game was only 2-1? That's the score in the 1st inning of the Yankees-Red Sox games!

Pitchers who can't find the strike zone.

Pitchers with struggling with their BB/9 rates, followed by their ERA's:

Fausto Carmona: 9.37 BB/9 / 2.20 ERA
CC Sabathia: 7 / 13.50
Adam Loewen: 6.89 / 6.32
Chris Young: 6.89 / 5.17
Jon Lester: 6.64 / 5.31

With the exception of Carmona, the high walk rates are killing their performances... Compared to the leagues top 5 ERA leaders, with their bb/9 followed by ERA:

Zack Greinke: 1.88 BB/9 / 0.75 ERA
Cole Hamels: 2.86 / 0.82
Brian Bannister: 2.14 / 0.86
Kyle Lohse: 2.59 / 1.04
Ben Sheets: 1.56 / 1.17

See a correlation? I do. And the amazing thing here is that the pitchers having success essentially have this in common: CONTROL. None of the leagues ERA leaders have k/9 over 8. The key to success in this league is control -- giving your opponents baserunners via walks wastes pitches and leads to runs.

Remember the panic?

Remember the panic after the super slow start for the Tigers???

Well it looks like the panic might be able to diminish a bit. Detroit has won 3 in a row and are close to escaping the division cellar. They are about to pass the now panicking Indians who are just 3-10 in their last 13 contests. Joe Borowski is out with an injury, and the offense is underperforming. These factors have led the Indians to losses in every series since the opening series when they took 2 of 3 from the White Sox.

Other teams who should begin thinking about pushing the big red panic button:

*The Nationals, who have lost 9 of their last 10 games. YIKES.

*The Reds, who have lost 5 in a row. Worst of all, Dusty Baker is their manager. Mr. OBP-Is-Bad.

Then again why panic if you are perennial losers?

Remarkable Statistics

WELL, sorry for disappearing for a while. School's busy, and the Yankees were depressing me. Well I'm back and felt I need to catch back up with everything. So here are some REMARKABLE STATISTICS!

*Albert Pujols has reached base safely 29 times in 13 games. He is the only qualified batter in the MLB with an OBP OVER .500(2 others are AT .500; Chone Figgins and Pat Burrell.) Another notable fact about pujols: He's walked 13 times, and struck out just 4 times.

*Carlos Pena is 9-47 on the season... Sounds terrible, RIGHT? Well not so much -- 6 of those hits were HR's. With 13 RBI's, he's just 2 behind league leaders Joe Crede(WTF?) and Mark Reynolds(WHO?!?)

*The New York Yankees have no player in the MLB top 40 leaders in AVG, OBP or OPS. Alex Rodriguez has the 40th highest SLG in the league. Of the many reasons to disregard certain aspects of April, this bullet point shows you why you shouldn't pay too much attention to numbers after April.

*David Ortiz continues to hope people aren't paying attention to his numbers in April: 5-48, .104/.246/.167 1 HR and just 3 RBI's. Nothing to look at here, he'll be fine. That's my guarantee.

*The leagues highest batting average belongs to... A.J. Pierzynski. He's batting .421 ... So get this. The White Sox have the leagues RBI leader and the AVG leader on the team. OMG April makes me confused.

*The Arizona Diamondbacks have hit as many homeruns as the Yankees and Tigers combined.

*The Detroit Tigers have allowed the most runs in baseball (87 in 13 games played. 6.69 RPG) The next closest teams have allowed 17 fewer runs (Marlins and Nationals at 70)

*And not to pick on them, because they deserve to enjoy last nights comeback... BUT The Tigers have allowed an eye opening 11 unearned runs in 13 games.

More later, maybe.

Sorry for lack of posts. I have been mired in a deep depression as my beloved Yankees are dealing... have a bunch of... Dammit. Every damn April.

How do you know it's April in New York? Fuck the weather -- It's a lock that the Yankees will be injured and not hitting. The Bronx IS Hurting.

Both Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter have injuries that could send them to the DL

Peter Abraham says the Yankees have 4 options:

1. Put Jeter and Posada on the disabled list, call up replacements.

2. Put Jeter or Posada on the disabled list, call up one replacement.

3. Give Jeter and Posada a few extra days, option Shelley Duncan and call up a catcher or shortstop.

4. Do nothing.

All of those options suck.

On top of that, the Yankees offense went back into its slumber as A Rod struck out 4 times against the Royals, resulting in a Yankees loss. A Rod described the Yankees early season situation "very frustrating

Maybe I'll post something later about some around the league stuff. Oh BTW, for those who care, the NHL Playoffs start tonight. LETS GO RANGERS!