Tonight Matt Chico was Matt Chico, and Carlos Zambrano was Carlos Zambrano, that was the problem.
As soon as Matt Chico took the mound this evening he was struggling. The Cubs recorded two runs and three hits before the lefty even recorded an out in the first inning. A pop out later Chico’s handouts kept coming; one walk and one more RBI single. The Nats were in a 3-0 hole before they even got an at bat, and against one of the most dominant pitchers in the National League.
The bats didn’t help much either. Zambrano may be one of the best in the business, but 6 hits and only 5 walks will not win even a pitchers duel. Felipe Lopez continued his hot streak; Christian Guzman and Ryan Zimmerman got their expected scattered hits, but no one else really stepped up to fill the gap and put runs on the board.
This is disappointing to say the least, the Nats were coming off such an emotional high the night before with Wil Nieves belting a walk off homer for the victory. It would have been nice to see them come out hard and extend the winning streak to three.
Matt Chico is not the best winless starter in baseball
Chico has now had two good starts in this young season, and four bad. While he is only 24 and still shows great promise, currently he is regressing. He is letting runners on base, getting hit, and giving up the long ball. His strong season last year at the age of 23 (7-9, 4.64 ERA, 94 K) is promising that he can still be a solid MLB starter.
Can and will sadly are two different things. It’s clear Chico needs to change something, whether it his approach, mechanics, or just overall attitude. Nationals pitching coach Randy St. Claire needs to take him aside and do something…anything really…and if it doesn’t work he’s not too young to send down. While I ripped on Mike O’Connor last night as a reliever, the fact is he is an effective starter and deserves a chance in the rotation. I say if Chico struggles again, a shake up isn’t out of order.
Your Turn Readers
I'm tired of talking…if you read this article…comment. Tell me something…anything that you are feeling about this game...team…or season. I want to hear it…best comment gets put up as its own post.
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Photo coutesy of AP/Pablo Martinez
3 comments:
Chico is having trouble...but the other starters have beeng great...i think chico may need to go to the pen
gezzz and i thought the 2003 mets were bad. the nats are horrible!!!
very ugly game.
I got suckered into watching it for five outs. Then it was too painful
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