Friday, June 03, 2011
Lance Lynn debuts for St. Louis
Posted by Harry PavlidisHe gave up some runs and took the loss, but Lance Lynn's debut for the Cardinals was actually pretty good. Working into the sixth inning, Lynn didn't walk a single Giant, hit one with a pitch and allowed four base hits. Everyone who reached base scored.
Digging into the game story reveals just how good Lynn actually was, and offers a familiar but pleasing nugget for this Cub fan.
Lynn's first hit allowed also was his first run allowed as Huff cracked the rookie with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Huff only batted in that inning because a potential double-play ball was bobbled by shortstop Ryan Theriot.
Been there, seen that, got the t-shirt.
In the sixth inning, two defensive plays hastened Lynn's departure from the game and allowed the Giants to take their first lead. Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez lofted a ball toward left-center field that Allen Craig and [Colby] Rasmus saw drop between them and bound over the wall. Rasmus said it was his ball to catch.
Good stuff.
Talking about stuff, Lynn only needed 64 pitches to get into the sixth inning. He used four different pitches, mostly throwing hard stuff. The following pitch classifications are my own, not Gameday's.
- Four-seam fastball 92.9 mph (23 thrown)
- Two-seam fastball 92.4 (23)
- Curveball 77.7 (9)
- Change-up 83.5 (9)
Lynn only threw his change-up to left-handed hitters, but they only saw one of his curveballs.
Harry Pavlidis admits he has a baseball problem. He is the founder of Pitch Info LLC, His pitch classifications power the player cards at Brooksbaseball.net. Feedback, questions and comments are appreciated - Email harrypav@gmail.com and Twitter @harrypav
You really call this a good performance? If Koufax and Gibson were dead, they’d be spinning in their graves over what constitutes a “quality” start in this day and age.