It's hard to say he's been anything but a #3 starter. Heck, so far he's looked better than any starter on the team. Not really expecting him to continue that trend, but he's been great so far. Hopefully he can keep it up.
This is a terrific thing to see not just for the obvious reasons, but more for the reason that this possibly could establish some confidence and help to limit some of the personal head games we all know that he is prone to put himself through, we all also know that he has the talent and perhaps more potential than anyone but if he can perhaps establish his head in the manner that he knows he can dominate, than perhaps he will. And even if he comes back to earth a little bit, he can help to keep himself in control and confident, and in the long run that could win us alot of games. I just hope we can score more runs behind him to get him a few more wins under his belt.
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Strikeouts are boring - besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. More democratic. ~Bull Durham
I admit that I've been a non-believer in Lohse to the point that I lump him with Milton when thinking about the Reds rotation. I want him to emerge as that number 3 very badly but just can't get past his history in Minnesota and the fact that he was dumped from the rotation, sent to the minors and deemed not only expendable but viewed as a guy who had to be moved (addition by subtraction).
Last night, in pretty good hitting conditions, he pitched real well. But when I look at those stats I see a guy who had a decent first time around the league hot streak last year and some cold weather dominance early this year when offense has been down in general. I'm enjoying this run from Lohse, but just can't buy into him yet. There are reasons to think that these stats are a little artificial and that Lohse is pitching above his head due to these other factors. But last night, in warm weather against a team that has faced him, he was pretty darn effective. If he is still on this roll at the end of April, I may just buy in.
Last edited by mth123; 04-21-2007 at 08:18 AM.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
I like what Lohse has done too, but I'm a little skeptical along with some of you. Chicago was missing Ramirez in their lineup, and the Phillies were missing Howard in their lineup last night. Granted, that's only 2 bats, but those are 2 huge bats.
As long as he keeps ahead in the count and throwing a ton of first pitch strikes, he'll be okay. I'm slowly moving towards optimism for each game he pitches, but there's still a little doubt in the back of mind. Call me cautiously optimistic.
As I said much earlier and many days ago in this thread, never underestimate the contract drive in a free agent walk year. Never.
Right now Lohse is pitching the best of anyone on this current staff. I am kind of curious as to why people are just waiting for him to fall on his face instead of saying maybe he finally "gets it." Yea the Twins wanted to get rid of him but that was more due to a falling out between him and his manager. Lohse has pitched back to back games where he has only allowed one run and last night was a big outing because the reds had come off two straight losses.
His Reds tenure has had some extenuating circumstances (first time around the league, cold weather) that could help him be successful. His history suggests he isn't this good. I hope you are right that he has gotten his stuff together.Code:Year K/9 BB/9 HR/9 FIP ERA WHIP 2001 6.38 2.89 1.59 5.31 5.68 1.45 2002 6.18 3.49 1.3 5.01 4.23 1.39 2003 5.82 2.01 1.35 4.46 4.61 1.27 2004 5.15 3.53 1.3 5.22 5.34 1.63 2005 4.33 2.22 1.11 4.73 4.18 1.43 2006 6.89 3.13 1.07 4.39 5.83 1.53
I get the whole "salary drive" thing, and the whole "maturing as he ages" thing, and the whole "he's in his prime now" thing, but lots of bad pitchers have had good stretches. I need to see a more sustained success to wipe out the 5 years of bad or iffy at best shown above.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
This is the time. The real Reds organization is back.
Unless you're Johan Santana, every pitcher is a mix of good and bad nights. You can't discount the streak of 16 scoreless innings unless you similarly discount that 4 IP, 6 ER outing he surely has coming up at some point. However, you can start to judge pitchers by their aggregate performances. At this point, Lohse looks like Milton with a higher top end, thus making his overall numbers a bit more palatable.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
I'd take a duplication of any of those years, but even in 02 his FIP shows his results may have been a little lucky (BABIP of .287, the best of his career). Looking at the WHIP and HR numbers suggests a Miltonesque type of pitcher. A full year in Cincy when the weather warms up may prove it. I hope I'm wrong.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
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