As you've probably heard by now, Matt Morris is a home run machine with a miraculously low ERA of 4.27. He's given up 24 longballs this year, and he's on pace to surrender 51 (!) in 233 innings. All but three have been solo or two-run jobs. He's given up 100 hits in 110 innings so far, and of those 100, he's allowed 42 extra-base hits. He's a flyball pitcher so he's going to give up home runs. The strange thing is more homers (24) than doubles (18). In every other year, he's given up about two doubles for every home run. I'm guessing Matt Morris is pretty sick of hearing about this and won't give up any home runs for a couple of starts.
His strikeout rate has really come down over the last few years and his walks have stayed about the same. So when he's on and accurate, he's not going for the strikeout like he once did. He's brought his pitches per inning down under 15, which is good, and means he's a lot more likely to give you seven innings on 100 to 110 pitches. That's also good because he appears to be limited to something like 220 pitches for any two consecutive starts. If that pattern holds, since he went almost 120 the last time out, he may only go 100 this afternoon.
The lower K rate makes Morris a finesse pitcher, and that's also trouble since the Pirates haven't hit much off finesse guys this year. Even worse, his track record against the Pirates is outstanding. The current team is a collective 21-for-105 with only three extra-base hits off him.
In contrast, Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen are card-carrying members of the Kip Wells fan club.
Kip and the Bucs have their work cut out today. Go get 'em, Bucs.
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