Friar Watch

Chris Young: CY’s best outing so far. His slider was really breaking and he threw a lot of them along with his fastball. He was in the strike zone all night long, 72 out of 101 pitches were strikes leading to 7 Ks and 0 BBs.

Matt and Mud mentioned that Darren Ballsley noticed that CY was flying open in his delivery in his last start and they corrected it during his side session. Looks like it worked. They also mentioned that Ballsley said Clay Hensley has been “fixed”, without giving details. Clay’s mechanics were all screwed up last outing, we’ll find out tonight if he’s back on track.

Compare this outing to one from the same time last year and you can see how much CY has grown as a pitcher. Early on last year he threw fastballs almost exclusively, especially the first time through the lineup. Now he’s developed that slider to the point where he has confidence throwing it in any count.

Chris has run into problems in the past with hitters fouling off fastball after fastball, leading to high pitch counts. Adding an effective slider to the mix should lead to quicker outs and longer outings. 101 pitches in 7 innings, at Coors Field, is a big step in the right direction.

Chris was also back on track with 4 ground outs and 10 fly outs, back in line with his normal pattern. Normally this would be a recipe for disaster in Coors but CY has been successful there.

Doug Brocail: Doug came out with a mop and bucket in the 8th to wipe up the remains of the Rockies hitters and threw two scoreless innings. Apparently he was hospitalized for food poisoning on Wednesday but showed no ill effects.