- The latest evidence that Trey Hillman is a joke as a major league manager: Kyle Farnsworth, who had allowed one run in eight weeks, wasn't the reliever of choice with the Royals down 6-2 tonight. Nor was he the reliever of choice with the team down 7-2. No, Hillman waited until it was 11-2 and then brought in Farnsworth to get some work. It was his first appearance in six days.
- Chris Young is still hitting below .200 for Arizona, but he walked three more times tonight, bringing his total of the month to 11 in 54 at-bats. He had eight in 163 at-bats between April and May. He also has three homers and six steals in June, so I hope no one dropped him in mixed leagues.
- Matt Wieters' first big-league homer didn't look like much off the bat, but it was still nice to see him go the other way for a change. He had been taking most everything to right field while hitting left-handed.
- B.J. Ryan sure didn't help his chances of seeing save opportunities by allowing three of the four batters he faced to reach in the ninth against the Phillies. Rather than risk the six-run lead, the Jays opted to replace him with Brandon League, who stranded all three runners to finish out the 7-1 game. Jason Frasor is probably going to be the man in Toronto with Scott Downs out.
- Would it really embarrass any Reds regulars if Micah Owings hit, say, fifth in his starts? They obviously know just how good he is, and it's hardly such a disadvantage to be using pinch-hitters in the middle of the order after Owings departs. Owings, of course, hit his seventh career homer in his second and final plate appearance tonight. He delivered a sac bunt in the first one. I'm holding out hope that he was actually bunting for a hit, but MLB.tv is being a real pain tonight. Anyone see it?
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The main reason that Farnsworth hasn't allowed more than a run in eight weeks is that they've limited him to only the lowest of leverage situations. They don't even trust him when the games only sorta on the line, which is about right. Farnsworth is almost always far worst than his traditional stats would indicate.
That all said, I have no idea why they even gave him $9 million over two years in the first place.
You obviously don't know anything about Kyle Farnsworth.
Oh please.
Kyle Farnsworth is a league-average reliever, who, probably more so than most, exhibits a tendency to excel and suck for months at a time. In 2008, he went four months without blowing a hold for the Yankees, and he had a similar streak two years ago.
The Royals' usage of him has been monumentally stupid since the moment Hillman elected to leave him in to face Jim Thome and blow the game on Opening Day.
Just look at his WHIP since 2005. 1.36 in '06, 1.45 in '07, 1.52 in '08. That's pretty awful for someone who gets good money as a reliever, and appears to be getting progressively worse. He's very hittable and has a propensity to get shelled at the worst possible time.
Wow. That's the first time I've heard anybody bag on a manager for NOT using Kyle Farnsworth. Yeah, he's a streaky guy; yeah, he'd only given up one run in the last eight weeks; yeah, he hadn't pitched in six days...The Royals pen is full of guys who've hardly pitched over the last week, but the problem is, to a man they've been incendiary of late (yes, including Farnsworth in his last outing - by the way, in case you've failed to notice, his hot streak was clearly ending). I fail to see why Farnsworth should have been the reliever of choice. Or how that choice makes Hillman - of whom I'm not a fan - a joke.