Game 126 Open Thread: August 23, 2005

marquis duke
9-12, 4.36 6-0, 1.87

Minor League Ball's john sickels has some words about tonight's pirate hurler, phenom zach duke. in a nutshell: he's pitching over his head. with enough time to develop, sickels projects that duke could become a john tudor / jimmy key type of pitcher -- a precision lefty. but in the comments thread they're saying his fastball gets into the 93-mph range; posters there compare the kid to mark buehrle and barry zito. whatever, he sounds like trouble.

i'm sorry jason marquis draws the assignment. he's pitching for a new contract, as well as (with fading hopes) a spot in the postseason rotation. but between his own neuroses and the enablement thereof by la russa / duncan, marquis is now totally messed up in the head. his stat line looks much worse than what his performance has actually been. this is a tough, competitive guy; 'twould be nice to see him get his era back down into the threes and his winning percentage back over .500 before the season ends. he can be exasperating, but i'm not convinced he is our worst pitcher . . . .

at Beyond the Boxscore, dan scotto has posted the third and final part of his comparison between the 2004 and 2005 cardinals. at the end he lists three reasons why this year's team is slightly better positioned than last year's to win the whole thing; check it out.

here's an article that says albert pujols is the 5th-best baserunner in mlb -- one place behind tony womack, and one ahead of david eckstein. by this analysis reggie sanders ranks as the 16th-best baserunner in the majors.