Stats of the Day: Cleveland Stinker

Sorry for the horrible pun in today's title. You know you still laughed.

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Sabathia (L, 0-3)	4.0	8	9	9	5	1	2	13.50

C.C. Sabathia has actually gotten worse in each of his starts this year, never a good sign for a pitcher and often foretelling of an injury. Since his Opening Day start against the White Sox where he struck out 7 and walked 3, Sabathia has a K/BB ratio of 7/11. He has also given up 5 homers in 18 innings, but only gave up 20 all of last year. The most shocking stat of all: in four starts this year, Sabathia has already allowed one-third as many earned runs as he did in 2007. Even if he stays lights-out for the rest of the year, he is nearly guaranteed of an ERA over 4.00.

Looking at the start last night on MLB.com Gameday, CC's velocity seems ok, but some pitches are missing the plate by a large margin. Part of his awful fifth inning was also him facing the heart of the lineup with a few ABs at or near ten pitches. That will take its toll on any pitcher. Still, it looks like Sabathia doesn't quite have his control together and has not shown any improvement there. He could still bring things together come May, but I would personally be sitting him for a few starts until he can start striking people out again.

Texas	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Blalock, 3B	5	1	2	0	0	0	6	.302

Hank Blalock left yesterday's game with a sore back and could be heading to the DL. This is bad news for Blalock owners who were enjoying his good production.

Blalock got off to a great start in the second half last year after recovering from shoulder surgery and so far this season he has kept up that pace. In 53 ABs he has only 5 strikeouts to 7 walks, excellent contact numbers which make him a legit .300 hitter. His career average is only .274, but Blalock is now 27 years old and has evidently made some strides towards becoming a better hitter. He still hasn't hit lefties well this year (.188 in 16 ABs), but his mashing of right handers has more than made up for that (.351 in 37 ABs.) Especially encouraging is that Blalock, long thought to be a product of Arlington, is hitting .300 both at home and on the road.

He probably won't match his 2005 season when he hit 32 home runs, but Blalock could be very useful in Texas if he manages to hit around .300 with 20+ homers in the launchpad of Arlington. Back issues can sometimes cripple power hitters, so hopefully this turns out to be something minor that won't have him out for long.