Volquez

[Phhhl]

LOVED the way he fought through the ballgame today and gave the team 6 innings. In the first inning, he threw some good pitches to both Weeks and Gomez in those ab's. Unfortunately, he grooved a fastball to Weeks and Gomez just hit a good pitch. That kind of threw Edinson off and drove his pitch count up early in the game, something nobody wanted to see. From my seat, his changeup was not on point all day, and he absolutely requires that pitch to be dynamic. It was fat, more often than not, when it might not even be a strike when it is "on". But, it is a "feel" pitch that conditions in Arizona and cold weather environments may effect detrimentally. Braun drilled him for a gargantuan home run later, and a talented hitter is going to even do that to Roy Hallady once in a while. But, all in all, I would have to say that Volquez overcame a lot of adversity today (not the least of which being an umpire unwilling to give him the outside corner) and kept the team in a game that was obviously winnable by virtue of the fact that it was ultimately won.

I thought this was an encouraging effort by a guy everyone wants to become the ace of this staff. I expect him to get better and better as the weather turns.

[Homer Bailey]

Before I clicked on this, I was afraid it was going to be more whining about him. I listened to the game on radio today, and it sounded very bad early, but pretty good late. I watched the game when I got home, and I was actually decently impressed. A few guys got good wood on some balls, but there were some seeing eye hits as well. He was missing some bats, and wasn't too wild. I'm much more confident in him turning it around after seeing him today than I was 10 days ago.

Probably sounds weird after a game in which he gave up 5 runs, but that's how I feel. That pitch to Gomez was not a bad pitch at all. That home run was just a miracle.

[membengal]

91 pitches and 63 strikes. Said this in the postgame thoughts thread, but I am really happy with that ratio given how little work he had this spring and how wild he was during the work he did have. I hope this is indication that his feel for his pitches is coming back a bit. The Reds need him. That three missed weeks messing around with his visa really set him back. If he could catch up quickly in April, that would be a bonus.

[redsmetz]

Sounds like folks assessment of the second home run is on with mine. That pitch tailed down and in and Gomez just hit it out somehow.

My son commented late in the game that he hadn't been able to get a read on the umpires strike zone; that it was all over the place for both teams. That lack of consistency makes it hard on both pitchers & batters because you don't know what to expect. I saw pitches that were a strike one time and a ball another time.

[cumberlandreds]

Sounds like folks assessment of the second home run is on with mine. That pitch tailed down and in and Gomez just hit it out somehow.

My son commented late in the game that he hadn't been able to get a read on the umpires strike zone; that it was all over the place for both teams. That lack of consistency makes it hard on both pitchers & batters because you don't know what to expect. I saw pitches that were a strike one time and a ball another time.

I DVR'd the game and watched it all last night. That was a good pitch to Gomez. Like you I don't see how he hit it out?
I will just chalk up the first two innings to Opening Day nerves and go on. He settled down nicely after that and was good. The next game will be a better judgement of him. The nervous factor should be gone.

[oneupper]

Ditto on the Gomes HR. A great pitch. Give Gomes credit.
As for Weeks' HR. Well, that's what you get for giving him a fastball. Weeks is pure FB hitter a la Pedro Cerrano. Throw him something squiggly and he squirms. It'll be interesting to see how Arroyo deals with him.

(Weeks is 3 for 25 lifetime v Arroyo). FWIW.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Regarding the Braun HR, the guys on the MLB network were making some really good points about that. They pointed out how badly he looked on the first pitch (change up) and how out in front he was. They said that you should force the hitter to make the adjustment (they were using Maddux as an example) instead of you adjusting yourself and trying to fool the hitter. You keep pounding the off speed stuff until the hitter is forced to change his tactics. Because it was blatantly obvious that Braun was sitting on a fastball. Just thought it was an interesting discussion on the subject.

[RedsManRick]

Volquez's FIP last night was 7.56. But his xFIP was 2.88. Obviously one start is in absolutely no way predictive, but HR are flukey. 3 HR on 6 FB wont' happen very often. If he keeps up a 2.5 K:BB ratio and a 2.0 GB:FB, he's going to have a very good season.

Regarding his change, he only had about 10 mph of spread between his FB and CU last night. Historically he's been around 12.

I HIGHLY recommend people check out Fangraphs' Pitch/FX section. It's a fascinating.

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxg.as...11&date=0&dh=0

[bucksfan2]

Volquez's FIP last night was 7.56. But his xFIP was 2.88. Obviously one start is in absolutely no way predictive, but HR are flukey. 3 HR on 6 FB wont' happen very often. If he keeps up a 2.5 K:BB ratio and a 2.0 GB:FB, he's going to have a very good season.

The 3 HR's that Volquez gave up were absolute shots. I realize that if you break it out over the course of a season things will begin to average themselves out. But there was nothing flukey about those HR's when you look at them individually.

[paulrichjr]

I DVR'd the game and watched it all last night. That was a good pitch to Gomez. Like you I don't see how he hit it out?
I will just chalk up the first two innings to Opening Day nerves and go on. He settled down nicely after that and was good. The next game will be a better judgement of him. The nervous factor should be gone.

Amazing but I noticed the exact same thing last night. I can't think of very many times in my life that I have said out loud, "how did he hit that pitch out?" but I did while watching the highlights of that at-bat. The pitch was really moving in on him. I didn't get to watch the game so I am glad to hear others say that Volquez looked better than the results.

This sort of reminds me of the last game he pitched in (don't like to think of it). A lot of his pitches just seemed really nasty to me and seemed to not be bad pitches at all but they were moving so much it seemed like the umpire was not giving him anything (on the corners) while Halladay would throw a pitch that looked to me to be outside but get the call.

[OnBaseMachine]

From Tom Groeschen:

Baker said that early on, Volquez’s fastball was coming back over the plate.

"He had better location than he had had in spring training," Baker said. "The main thing is, he kept us in the game. I didn’t go to my bullpen early, and he gave our offense a chance to come back."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...news|text|Reds

Volquez was awful in the first inning...at one point I wasn't sure if he was going to make it out of the first inning. I was really encouraged by his final five innings though. He looked like a totally different guy after the first inning. He located his pitches well and kept the ball on the ground (except for the Braun HR) and was pitch efficient. Hopefully he can carry that success into his next start.

[membengal]

Jon Lester gave up three homeruns today and struck out no one. Red Sox should proably cut him.

[Phhhl]

Jon Lester gave up three homeruns today and struck out no one. Red Sox should proably cut him.

Here here.