HeraldNet: What to do with Batista



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Mariners Blog

May 17, 2008

What to do with Batista

Posted at 7:49 pm by By Kirby Arnold

One day after Miguel Batista started pitching effectively at 7:40 p.m. in a game that began at 7:11, the Mariners weren't any closer to finding a solution to the right-hander's first-nning problems.

"We're looking at everything," manager John McLaren said.

When he says everything he means everything -- from the way Batista warms up to his throwing mechanics to his pitch repertoire to what he's thinking (good luck with that).

Batista is an E-ticket pitcher anyway, a guy with good stuff who occasionally loses all sense of where it's going. Most of the time it happens during one inning and he's able to rein himself in. In his past three starts, Batista has struggled from the outset.

He has allowed eight hits and seven runs in the first inning of his past three outings, needing 106 pitches and an elapsed time of 55 minutes to get nine outs. He hasn’t lasted more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his past three starts and, having allowed 22 hits and 15 runs in 13 innings, his ERA in those outings is 10.38. His ERA for the season is 6.11.

The Mariners have no plans to pull him from the rotation. "Who else are we going to put in there?" McLaren asked.

That may be a valid point now, but if Batista's problems on the mound continue, I can think of a certain knuckleballer at Class AAA Tacoma (OK, it's R.A. Dickey) who couldn't pitch any worse.

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