Who'd a thunk it?

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, but ****, against those slugs? Man. :shake:

Pretty piss poor effort this weekend in Florida all the way around.

Wasn't very good in NY either. Every team has these lulls, lets hope that home cooking is the cure.

Mets, Marlins, now the Cubs. You don't beat shitty teams just by showing up and announcing that you've got the best record.

Better get some better effort against the Cubs. Especially Thursday, because I'll lose a really obnoxious bet if they lose that game. :grr:

I just don't see any reason to keep giving Westbook and Lyons starts ahead of Martinez.

I understand about Wacha. He needs to get that curve ball up to the major league level and work on location.

Martinez's upside demands he be given a shot to succeed at the ML level. Now, not later.

Heard some talk that they are waiting til after the break to think of Martinez coming up, if he even does this eyar.

Martinez' breaking pitches are lethal, but he doesn't spot them with precision yet. Bringing him up while having him do that is a risky proposition.

Gotta learn sometime right?


I don't know how much longer you can stay with Lyons if he can't get back to being crafty.

And I'm not really worried about Westbrook, yet. He is what he is, an innings eater who gets ground balls.

He was a bit rusty Friday, so we'll have to wait and see.

Gast, when/if healthy, is another possibility.

I'm not absolutely against calling Martinez up. I just think that people should temper their expectations. They didn't with Wacha.

I'm probably more for Lyons/Gast in that they are lefties and I'd like to keep atleast 1 up there.

But from what I've heard, some actually think Martinez has as high or higher upside than Wacha and potentially Miller.

I think Wacha has a highish upside, but he doesn't quite have the stuff to be Miller or Martinez and will need to be more Wainwright.

Okay maybe Westbrook was a just rusty. Maybe Lyons had a bad day? Maybe the "book" on him is becoming more solidified?

Those were two pretty bad starts. If that happens again with Lyons, give Martinez a chance.

I don't think Lyons is a great option, but I am all for keeping Martinez and Wacha down for awhile throwing 4 and 5 inning starts where it doesn't matter and then calling them up when you really need them down the stretch. You think the Nats would have liked to have had a fresh Strasburg last year at the end instead of worrying about abusing a young arm?

Neither Martinez or Wacha have ever piled up significant innings in a year that would compare to starting every 5th day here. If Waino, Miller, Lynn and Westbrook just pitch to their averages we will be fine with a so-so 5th starter in the short term. If that doesn't happen we can always bring one of them up. We don't need to panic yet. We have all seen the importance to hitting your stride with fresh arms can do at the end of the year (Worrell, Wainright, Rosenthal, etc.).

Are they not starting and throwing pitches every 5 days in Memphis? Where is the saving their arms occurring?