An interesting statistic just flew by me. Over the last two weeks three pitchers have blown two saves. While that's not earth shattering stuff, it is odd that two of these three pitchers play for the Seattle Mariners.In addition to David Aardsma and Mark Lowe's inability to close out games over the last two weeks, they've also seen spikes in ERA. Aardsma hasn't had a month yet where his ERA was above 2.25. But, in August he's exploded for a 7.36 ERA. And, his 2.16 WHIP is approaching those low ERA's he enjoyed earlier. Lowe's high ERA of 4.34 from April to June has now risen to touchdown status as his post-June ERA is 6.84. These aren't the trends you want in your late inning pitchers.
Late last week R.J. White asked if Aardsma was getting tired. That very well may be the case. Aardsma was unavailable at times recently due to overuse, which has opened the door for Lowe to fail in the 9th too. There may be another possible reason for Aardsma's degradation, in addition to fatigue.
Aardsma's 56.9% fly ball rate marks him as an extreme fly ball pitcher. However, only 3.8% of those fly balls are actually turning into home runs. Those two figures just don't jive. Eventually, he's going to start giving up home runs. It may have started already. For the season, Aardsma has only given up three dingers, two of them have been in August. If this is the beginning of a downward spiral for Aardsma, you may want to avoid using him for a while. He's only recorded five saves over the past month and his ballooning ERA isn't worth such a small amount of saves.
NL Saves Leader Lives on New Street
Huston Street is having himself a very nice week on the mound. In 5.2 innings Street has recorded four saves and has struck out six while walking none. He's only given up four hits which means his WHIP was great at 0.71. The only blemish to Street's ERA was a meaningless home run given up to Josh Bard. Street's four saves have given him the National League lead in saves, besting Ryan Franklin by one.
Over What's Ailing Him
Rafael Soriano complained of soreness behind his right shoulder and was recently unavailable to pitch in a weekend series. He seems to be past that soreness as he's appeared in four games since and recorded three saves. In those four games he's struck out four, walked one and only given up two hits. Did I mention he hasn't given up a run and sports a 0.75 WHIP over those four appearances.
I'm Not Wrong All of the Time
On August 12th I asked if Fernando Rodney should be worried about losing his job. Since then he's proven that he isn't worried, and shouldn't be. In five appearances he's given up no earned runs, struck out seven while only walking one. He also saved four games.
