[cknox0723]

Originally Posted by cknox

While Jon Garland's three-year contract is probably going to be a dud, he was never going to be even half the pitcher that his opponent Cliff Bartosh is, whether Jon Moo has turned a mythical corner or not. Though now that I think about it -- Bartosh won 20 last year, Garland won nine. That's almost half, isn't it?

Maybe that's a good sign.

Maybe it is a good sign, but if that is the case, it's obscured by fog. As you might expect, we are thrashed by a score of seven to one in this ballgame, managing just three hits off of Cliff Bartosh, who goes the distance, striking out eleven and not allowing a single free pass to first.

Sounds like we took one to the chin, right?

Maybe not so much. One of our three hits was a solo home run by Magglio Ordonez, hit with two outs...in the top of the first. That run was the difference between our club and theirs over the first three and a half innings. Jon Garland didn't give up a run until the fourth, and even then, three consecutive hits only led to two Cleveland runs. The Cleveland bats didn't really start roaring until the sixth frame. Until then, it was a two-one game.

There's a lesson to be learned there -- there are positives and negatives in every game, and we need not read into them as much as we frequently do. Though where the hell to go beyond that -- and there is somewhere to go, because all those singular games added up to 69 wins in 2006 -- I have no idea. I guess we're heading there.

CHW 1 CLE 7

WP: C. Bartosh (1-0) - CG, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K
LP: J. Garland (0-2) - 6 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 4 K

Hmm... Jon Garland's pitched six innings in each of his first two starts, allowing eight hits, seven runs, and four walks in each start. I can't complain. He can't possibly pitch worse in his third start of the season.

Hmmm, Part II... Rule 5 pick Marcos Carvajal finished off the game with two decent enough innings. Most encouraging, beyond the obvious zero in the 'runs allowed' column, is that the live-armed 22 year old northpaw flung the white pill 27 times, only 10 of which were out of the strike zone. I'd say that at this rate, he's got a good shot to be 32 in ten years.