Brian Matusz

Last
night’s game
vs. the Texas Rangers
played
in Arlington was the second instance this season
where we have
seen the raw
side of Brian
Matusz. 
We saw
the side of him where he is just a vulnerable
lefty with nothing more special than
the next guy coming in.  The first instance? 
In Minnesota. 
He seems to not be able to handle
lineups that
are over
the top stacked with power and
patience. 
The Twins and
Rangers probably
can
both be considered in the top five for hitting teams
in baseball. 
With Josh Hamilton,
Nelson Cruz, Vladdy, and even second year
shortstop Elvis Andrus, some people may say
that
this lineup is just as productive as
the Yankees,
if not more.  The Yankees
are not
too quick, and are getting older by
the day. 
Like the Rays,
the Rangers
are mostly a young team
full of bursts of incredible talent.

Speaking of the Yankees,
Matusz
faced
them back
at the
end of April.  He let up 3 earned
runs and
allowed 9 hits over 6 IP with only 2 strikeout but no walks. 
While Major
League
Baseball
would count this in the stats as a
quality
start,
it was
not the top quality we were looking for out of the
rookie of the year candidate. 
His 2 wins on the year are over the Rays and A’s. 
He beat
the Rays
in the O‘s third game of the year,
where we had
just lost our first two in Tampa and
came
out with fight to get a much needed W coming into
the Opening Weekend homestand.  Oakland is just bad.  Other than those 2 wins, Matusz has still
pitched quite well frequently.  Because
of the Orioles lack of any offense ever it seems, Brian’s 1 run 6 inning
performance in New York (vs. Yankees) and shutout 7 innings against the Indians
at home this past weekend go without notice because he does not end up with the
W.  In New York, the loss was due to the
Orioles only scoring one run in the entire game, giving Matusz such a lean
amount of run support to work with.  Back
at home, he had the W going through 7 innings with a 2-0 lead before the
bullpen blew the game, and Matusz ended up with the no decision there.  Both times though, bullpen to be blamed
partially or not, the run support just has not been there to back this guy up.

After
last night’s lousy outing of 2.1 IP, Matusz’ ERA is now up to a sub-par
5.26.  He allowed 7 runs on 8 hits in his
short stint, with 2 strikeouts and 1 walk. 
The true killer, though, was the fact that he let 2 homeruns sail out of
the park which accounted for 5 of the 7 runs. 
The problem last night for him was that he lost control of his fastball
and just did not seem to have the velocity behind any of his pitches as
compared to what we have seen in the past. 
His curveball showed good movement, but once again, velocity was down,
making it very vulnerable to a contact hitter. 
As opposed to a guy like Tim Wakefield, Matusz does not have the
movement or command needed to be able to lessen the speed behind his pitches,
so last night the Rangers capitalized on the fact that he was pitching behind
hitters and never really setting a tone.

As
he said in his post-game interview, he was not on top of his stuff one
bit.  It was one of those games as a
rookie that gets away from you early that you can never catch up with.  As Bergesen said in his interview once: out
of every 10 games you pitch, there will be 2 good, 2 bad, and 6 average ones in
the middle.  This was one of his bad
ones.  If that theory is true, then his
next start would have to fall into the average category.

I
also would not put it past him that his mindset was no on target.  He seems very calm and collected when
talking, one of the chillest guys ever in my opinion, but the last few weeks
have been rocky for him.  He got the
harsh loss in Minnesota after letting up 6 runs off of 9 hits in 3.2 innings,
but then followed that up with a brilliant performance against Cleveland this
past weekend.  The fact that he battled
back from a setback to his solid beginning of the season is marvelous for a
young guy like him, but I don’t blame him if he got a bit anxious or even upset
with the outcome of Saturday’s game.  If
that game gave him trust issues with the guys coming in after him to close it,
then this issue could have been sitting on his mind all night.  If he is focusing more on the follow-up
performances by his teammates in the bullpen, he loses the concentration he
needs to have in order to have a successful game against a lineup like the
Rangers that he had to face.

I
wish him luck next week against the A’s in Baltimore.  Hopefully he can bounce back and shine
against a team he already beat earlier this season.