Lookout Landing

Silva

Silva looked better from the stands than he did from the stat sheet which is not saying much since Silva didn't look all that good to me from my perch in left field. The four strikeouts is nice, especially the pair swinging, but a walk and a hits batsmen even those out. 58.6% is a poor figure for strikes thrown; that's vintage Daniel Cabrera territory. The line drives are also a concern. It's easy to dismiss this as a pretty solid start overall, but the fact is that Silva's non-park-adjusted tRA for this outing was 5.73.

Washburn

Washburn managed to throw some strikes and keep the ball on the ground a little more proficiently than usual. The swinging and called strike rates were close to his career norms, so the four Ks in just 22 BF seems lucky. Zero walks is always lucky though Washburn did throw a few more strikes than you would expect. Even with the home run allowed, which kills your tRA, Washburn's start came in at a non-park-adjusted 4.25 tRA, a figure I would take 30 more times with glee. That's not going to happen though.

Jakubauskas

Jakubauskas flashed tremendous command. That's how you throw strikes to a lineup that is ill-equipped to punish you. 74.1%? Oh god, yes please. It should come as no surprise them that Jax didn't issue a free pass. He did record a trio of strikeouts and two of them the swinging variety which is astounding since those were the only two missed bats he ever recorded. Still, he limited solid contact, and showed the upside of a guy who pounds the zone can be. Notice his BABIP isn't even too wacky. Because it was his first start, we have a full park-neutral tRA for Jakubauskas and it was a dazzling 1.33.

*NB: BB% includes walks, intentional walks and hit by pitches as, analytically, all three fall into the same grouping, that of free passes to the batter.