The kid has been a shadow of his dominating '04 self ... ERA and WHIP up, K/9 and K/BB down ... to the point I've been waffling about keeping him even in a holds league.
Now this, from Matt Romig's 'The Skinny':
Gonzalez may well inherit (the Pirates' closer) job yet, but he has some physical hurdles to clear first. The lefty has suffered knee and arm pain of late, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that his velocity was down about five mph on Wednesday against the Yankees.
I know he had a knee issue that slowed him out of the gate this spring; I wonder if this will be an ongoing deal?
Naturally I watched that game on Wednesday against the Yanks and unless I'm thinking of the Thursday or Tuesday game Gonzalez seemed to be throwing 91-93 mph consistently and his curveball was absolutely baffling people. The curveball that he throws has some of the latest movement on a curveball I've ever seen but he had significant control issues. I have no doubt about his talent and his "stuff" but he needs to seriously work on his control and poise on the mound...
Gonzo has to wear an extremely huge knee brace to pitch. I'm sure this does not help his mechanics or his mindset right off the bat. I heard about some "dead arm" issues also with him, so that doesn't help either.
He's probably not going to be "better" until he has time to rehab all this stuff, but he still has enough to do some damage in the K department. I just wouldn't count on him being as good as last year.
The One, The Only, The Incomparable Mercer Boy.
MySpace blog (updated 6/21 - Pirates walkout.)
Yes, it's a small sample, but the results are sliding the wrong way.
In '04: 43.1 IP, 6 ER, 1.25, 0.88, 55/6 K/BB In '05: 25.1 IP, 9 ER, 3.20, 1.26, 29/13 K/BB
He's given up more than twice as many walks in slightly more than half the innings pitched. And over the past month, his ERA and WHIP are at 4.82, 1.39.
p.s. - thanks for the hometown update, Mercer. I didn't even know about the brace since I never see the Pirates. Nice to have a local reporting from the scene (I'll try to keep shoveling Mariners tidbits, like RSoriano coming through his first rehab outing with flying colors , or Felix Hernandez shelved with shoulder bursitis ).
Ah...yeah, sorry about not making that clear earlier. I don't remember which leg it is on, but if it's on the plant leg, it would probably explain the velocity problems. He's been wearing it all year if I'm not mistaken.
It's one of those big metal ones that goes up from the lower thigh to the shin...we're talking Stone Cold Steve Austin knee brace quality!
The One, The Only, The Incomparable Mercer Boy.
MySpace blog (updated 6/21 - Pirates walkout.)
AKhomebrewer wrote:Yes, it's a small sample, but the results are sliding the wrong way.
In '04: 43.1 IP, 6 ER, 1.25, 0.88, 55/6 K/BB In '05: 25.1 IP, 9 ER, 3.20, 1.26, 29/13 K/BB
He's struggled a bit this year, but it's unfair to compare it to last year as we couldn't realistically expect him to match that again. He rode a hot streak last year and pitched insane.
My apologies. I have a nephew named Anfernee, and I know how mad he gets when I call him Anthony. Almost as mad as I get when I think about the fact that my sister named him Anfernee.
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by AKhomebrewer » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:58 pm 
I know he had a knee issue that slowed him out of the gate this spring; I wonder if this will be an ongoing deal?
, or Felix Hernandez shelved with shoulder bursitis 
).
