The young bucks

So, I've made an executive decision. No, you all have no input (feel free to mention how you feel in the comments, but be prepared to be ignored or vilified). I'll be drifting away from the Major League squad to start bringing to your attention some of the youngsters in the minors (or MiLB as some marketing executive being paid $350K/yr came up with. Get it? MLB...MiLB. Genius!). You've already seen it with the Emilio and Martis posts, and let's face it, who really wants to discuss the Nats? Oh, somebody does? Ok, here ya go; Losers of 7 straight, they have scored only 10 runs in all of those losses. Yes, that averages out to 1.43 runs/game. What's that? There must be some silver lining? Ok, ok...with the exception of Rental (Way to fuck up your trade value, right at the trade deadline, asshole!) the last starts for our starting pitchers have been downright good.

• 7/24 Capt Redd 8.0 IP; 1 ER
• 7/25 Johnny Lanns 7.0 IP; 3 ER
• 7/26 Rental Perez 4.0 IP; 6 ER (I mean, ANY other start but this one would've been ok to explode. But your last one before the deadline?)
• 7/27 Jason Bergie 6.0 IP; 2 ER
• 7/29 Collin Balester 6.0 IP; 2 ER

That's encouraging, I suppose. But enough about them, we all know Bergs/Lannan/Balester will be anchoring the staff for a few more years now. But who else do we have stockpiled away in the minors I mean, MiLB?

How about 2007 1st round draft pick (6th overall) Ross Detwiler? He was a 21 year old lefthander when drafted out of Missouri St in 07. He has a fastball that can hit 95, a curve that sits around 80, and was working on a change-up. He was projected on some mock drafts to go as high as 4th. He was signed to good money, and placed on the 40 man roster, with a call up clause in his contract. He did, indeed, get called up in September, but only threw 1 inning. His 2007 stats were so-so (2-2 3.51 ERA from his appearances in the GCL and high A Potomac) at best, and they hoped he would have ended the year in AA Harrisburg before the call up, but a break out year was still expected from him in 08. Well, did it happen? Uh, no. Not so much. In 21 starts for Potomac, he is 6-7 with a 5.20 ERA. Worse, though, is his 1.63 WHIP and that he has struggled to get through 5 innings per start (he's at 4.6 IP/start). His pitch count has been high, and he's walked 47 batters in 97 IP, and has hit 6. There have been some box scores I look at and scream, "Can someone buy this kid a fucking GPS so he can find the plate?!" I'm hoping it does come together for the kid, and last night he had a promising outing. He got the win with 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 SO, and only 1 BB. I hope he can string a couple more of these together, but don't expect a September call up this year, unless he throws a no-hitter. Or a perfect game. Or strikes out 25. Or has pictures that he could blackmail Bowden with.
Capt. Redd vs. Jamie Moyer tonight. If you like watching a 50 year old man lob balls across the plate at 60 mph, then you're in so much fucking luck, you should quit your job right now, cause you're gonna win this weeks powerball. Don't forget to call your boss a pig fucker, and pinch a couple secretary ass on the way out!