Ripping Livan Hernandez

[jamastaballa]

Most people know that he's a train wreck, but the 6-1 start might have some thinking... hey, I could pick him up. Don't do it.

He's been VERY mediocre this year. He's been pretty damn lucky, actually. His numbers SCREAM "I'm not for real!!!" and "I'm going to screw this team!!!"

Just consider all of this:

- Livan pitched pretty well in his first three starts, I'll give him that, but the man is extremely susceptible to the long ball, and he's starting to show it. He's given up nine homers in his last six starts and remember: He's NUMBER TWO in HR's allowed over the past three years (2005-2007) with 29 given up per season.

- His WHIP (Walks + Hits Allowed/Innings Pitched) is pretty much atrocious. His 1.440 will haunt him soon enough. Explosions are very likely with this guy on the mound because he gives up numerous baserunners.

- He doesn't strike people out, which makes the previous stat even more scary... he has to rely on batted balls (that can, and will, find holes) to get people out. He's got a K-Rate of 3.31 so far this year... among the worst in the major leagues.

- Last, he's not just getting "decent run support", he's getting an ABUNDANCE of run support. An amazing 6.31 runs per start! The Twins score 4.42 runs a game, so you know this isn't going to last. Just for kicks, here's the run support for the other Twins pitchers as of May 14:

Slowey: 3.00

Baker: 6.66 (yikes! Maybe that's why he's on the DL!)

Bonser: 3.10

Blackburn: 4.50

As you can see, the team is able to score sometimes, but it's also easy to see why a guy like Bonser (who has pitched better than Livan) has a 2-4 record.

Thanks... now you can get back to your regularly scheduled forum posting.