Friar Watch

Sorry about the continued lack of updates. Baseball blogging in the summer is not easy.

I only caught the first couple of innings of Monday night’s game so I missed David Wells breaking out the knuckleball against Paul LoDuca:

“It’s the first time I’d done it in, like, (11 years),” said Wells, who’d last thrown a knuckleball in an at-bat against Boston’s Jose Canseco in 1996. “I’ve been throwing it and contemplating it, but you’d never think to throw it in a tight game. … The look in LoDuca’s eyes was unbelievable. I’ll never forget the look ever. He said, ‘What the (expletive) did you just do?’ And I said, ‘My bad, dawg.’ “

Given Boomer’s difficulties in getting past the 6th inning I’d like to see him throw a lot more knuckleballs, maybe save them for the third time through the order. Once Wells gets tired he starts relying on that big slow curve and hitters sit on it. The knuckler would give him another option and would definitely keep hitters on their toes.

I was expecting something better from Jake Peavy last night. The extra rest over the All Star break should have allowed him to recuperate but he made a few mistakes and gave up 3 runs in 6 innings. Peavy said he felt fine but it seemed like his control was just a little off and he had trouble putting away some Mets hitters.

Here’s a stat for you: Over his last 4 starts, Chris Young is 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA, 37 strikeouts, 3 walks and 15 hits over 26 innings. He’s nearly as dominant now as Peavy was in May.