Injuries at this point in the season tend to put a damper on my hopes that the Giants will crush all opposition standing in the way of their rightful 2006 World Series Title.
Of course, most of us know the Giants aren't built to do too much crushing, anyway. But Noah Lowry's back strain certainly doesn't help matters.
It will be of some interest, however, should this cause Lowry to miss a start or three, as to what the Giants do to fill his spot in the rotation. Should they go the spot-starter route, then Jeff Fassero is the likely pick there since he's done it before and presumably is part of the reason why he's on the team in the first place. Perhaps derailing that train of thought is Fassero's line in his outing in relief of Lowry: 3.2 innings pitched, 3 runs allowed, 2 home runs allowed.
One poor outing shouldn't change the team's philosophy on things, though, so even if I rolled my eyes at bringing Fassero back for 2006, I admit that letting him have a start or two wouldn't be a horrible idea at this point. Calling up someone from Fresno just to make a start or two this early in the season would be a bit irresponsible, I think.
Some of it may depend on the nature of Lowry's injury as well -- if the Giants want to be careful with Lowry (and I have absolutely no doubt that they will), then letting him miss a couple of starts is the way I expect them to handle it. Anything more serious will bring call-ups back into the equation, at which point I'll begin to wonder whether Brad Hennessey or Kevin Corriea would be the pitcher of choice.
All conjecture, of course, since Lowry's going to be re-evaluated today, and I suppose it is possible that they clear him for his next start. But back injuries being as sensitive as they are, I tend to think we won't see Lowry for at least one start, and that makes me worry.
2 comments:
If it's just a start, then they will probably just go 4 man rotation for that one start, it's early in the season and some teams go with the 4 man rotation to start the season then put in the 5th mid-to-late month.
If it's a DL, it has got to be Correia coming up to take Lowry's place, he was the runner up to Wright this spring, Hennessey didn't show much whereas Correia was pushing it to the end.
That's the thing, Martin (I've got to get you linked up, by the way), is that this team sometimes makes up its mind what it wants to do regardless of the proof in front of it.
Bringing up Correia would make the most sense in that instance, but I wouldn't count on the Giants going that way.
Thanks for stopping by.
Post a Comment