Dan Haren must look at his record this season as he goes to bed at night and contemplate bringing a battle axe to work so that he can crush his teammates. Haren currently ranks 3rd in the NL with a 2.33 ERA yet sits with a record of 4-4 and thanks to the piss poor contributions of his teamates.
The first stretch of miserable team work was Haren's opening outings. Over the course of a week and a half Haren pitched three times to the tune of a 1.89 ERA, in other words he gave up 4 runs in 3 games. How did Haren's record look after these three starts? 0-3. Yep, in 3 games he got exactly 1 run of support.
Over the next three starts Haren continued to dominate giving up just 3 runs in 3 starts and rattling off three more wins. He followed up the rest of May with a few mediocre starts including one that was rained out after the first inning and thus his record moved to 4-4.
Than last week happenned. Haren had a two start week against two division rivals. In both games he left with a large lead, banking on the bullpen to close the door and collect the needed 6 outs. Against the Dodgers earlier in the week the pen exploded giving up 5 runs in the 8th to lose the game 6-5. Yesterday, the pen did a similar job, this time giving up 5 runs in the ninth capped off by a DAVID ECKSTEIN HOME RUN. I repeat a 3-run home run by a man with 20 career homers in nearly a decade.
Thus 1/3 of the way through the season, Haren has easily pitched like a Cy Young candidate but thanks to the putrid help he's gotta from his teammates Haren's record is worse than Bronson Arroyo's and his 5.00 ERA.
The first stretch of miserable team work was Haren's opening outings. Over the course of a week and a half Haren pitched three times to the tune of a 1.89 ERA, in other words he gave up 4 runs in 3 games. How did Haren's record look after these three starts? 0-3. Yep, in 3 games he got exactly 1 run of support.
Over the next three starts Haren continued to dominate giving up just 3 runs in 3 starts and rattling off three more wins. He followed up the rest of May with a few mediocre starts including one that was rained out after the first inning and thus his record moved to 4-4.
Than last week happenned. Haren had a two start week against two division rivals. In both games he left with a large lead, banking on the bullpen to close the door and collect the needed 6 outs. Against the Dodgers earlier in the week the pen exploded giving up 5 runs in the 8th to lose the game 6-5. Yesterday, the pen did a similar job, this time giving up 5 runs in the ninth capped off by a DAVID ECKSTEIN HOME RUN. I repeat a 3-run home run by a man with 20 career homers in nearly a decade.
Thus 1/3 of the way through the season, Haren has easily pitched like a Cy Young candidate but thanks to the putrid help he's gotta from his teammates Haren's record is worse than Bronson Arroyo's and his 5.00 ERA.
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