UGLY^2

The Big Ugly was U-G-L-Y last night. The Crockies whacked him all over the place. Our offense was, well, offensive. But we knew that.

Check our old guy's game-by-game log:

#1 start) 5 IP, 4 ER, loss
#2 start) 3-2/3 IP, 7 ER, loss
#3 start) 7 IP, 0 ER, win
#4 start) 3-1/3 IP, 2 ER, ND
#5 start) 7 IP, 0 ER, win
#6 start) 5-2/3, 7 ER, loss

Johnson's ERA is 5.86 and his FIP is 5.68. That's ugly no matter how you slice it. When he's good, he's very good, but when he's bad, he's very bad. If he can make 24 starts (he made 25 last year), and manages only 2 good ones in every 6, that's only EIGHT good starts. That means 300 could be a looooooong wait. Let's hope Randy rights the Good Ship Johnson and pitches well more consistently. I, for one, was not against the Johnson signing. I thought he had some quality starts left, and with Lowry down and Sanchez a question mark, we needed another guy. It never hurts to have an all-time great around, and the youngsters we had last year (Hennessey and Correia) didn't cut the mustard. I've been reluctant to brag about our supposed "pitching depth." Yes, we have God Himself every 5th day, and Studly Young Matt as well. But a "resurgent" Zito is still a huge question mark, and if any of the Five get hurt we will be in big trouble.

Here's an idea--let's make MATT CAIN our "number two starter." He deserves that, don't you think? At least he'll get the chance to show us today. Colorado is a tough place to pitch, and he probably won't get the action on his curveball, so he'll have to pound them with the fastball and slider and hope the changeup is working.


UPDATE 1022: WOW.