Jack Parkman

Am I back to being the only Giolito fan on the board?

This. The stuff is still there for Giolito. Honestly, a drop off in the dog days of summer is to be expected. He said back in the spring that his new delivery uses his legs more than his old one so if his legs are tired that explains the velocity fluctuations and command issues. Next year should be better. As long as he keeps his ERA at 3.5 or below I'm not worried. If anyone told you that Giolito would have a 3.54 ERA with 140 K in 120 innings on 8/1 in February we would all have taken it in a fucking heartbeat. He's going through a few rough outings in a relentless stretch of offenses. He's faced 1 cupcake lineup in the past 7 weeks. That will wear on anyone. The schedule is doing him no favors.

Yes, yes he does. Where's Sean Astin from 50 first dates when you need him? "It wasn't steroids, it was a protein shake"

Yes. It doesn't matter. He used to have a 65 grade curve and it disappeared because he lost the feel for it. Can't throw a good one for a strike anymore. It isn't like results matter this year anyway. I think this is just a blip on the radar. Again, he just ran into a super hot Nelson Cruz and more times than not they'll miss those meatballs because he had a lot of zip on his heater tonight.

Honestly I'd like him to scrap the slider and work on getting the feel for his curveball back the rest of the season. He needs both.

If you think the second HR was a meatball I can't help you. That was a curveball that clipped the bottom edge of the zone. Perfect pitch, he just got beat. That gets missed more often than not and results in a K.

He hit 96 a bunch of times tonight. Not worried.

Also, he pitched well to okay in all but 3 of those starts. It looks worse because his bad ones were against the hated Cubs and Twins.

He struck out 7 batters in 5 innings, and hit 96 mph multiple times. He's fine. Cruz is hot as fuck and added a little extra ingredient in his protein shake. He ran into a hot power hitter. Meh.

I know this is an old term, but that was an epic fail by Renteria there. I can't think of a better use for that term than this past half inning.

Ricky's clown college for ya.

Are you saying Gio shouldn't throw curveballs or that Cruz is juicing again?

Cruz: it isn't steroids it is a protein shake

That wasn't even a bad pitch. Cruz is either scorching hot or on roids again.

That was the best curveball Giolito has thrown since 2017 for strike 2 there.

This is a good point

I ❤️ Moncada Superstar in the making.

Fulmer and Hansen isn't a bad offer. Hansen can still be something if someone can get his delivery cleaned up.

To clarify: I don't necessarily think they should trade Lopez for Mazara but if they won't back off that ask, Hahn should sleep on it. They should seriously consider it, at the very least. You have to give to get.

Lopez's last 3 starts and 2018 were good, but go look at his career FIP and xFIP and tell me how that isn't a pretty even trade.

Everyone knows that Mazara is only a month older than Moncada, right? This is a buy low situation. Even if the cost was Lopez straight up, I'd still have to consider it.

Of course not. I was just making a comment.

Yup. At Higher temperatures, the air can hold more water vapor.

I could talk about theoretical astrophysics for hours on end, and never get bored.

Yes. Always. I'm not an idiot. There was also a fangraphs article about how average pitcher velocity had plateaued a few years back. It didn't go up, but it didn't go down either.