Apparently my pre-game post never posted yesterday, sorry about that. Turned out there wasn't much of a game last night anyway, as the Pirates got blown out 8-1. Charlie Morton looked absolutely terrible, as he has all year long.
No one can put a definite finger on why Morton has been so bad in his first three starts, but it appears to me more mental than physical. So far in 2010 Morton has pitched 10.1 innings and gave up 19 earned runs. That goes along with 23 hits and 4 walks. He has thrown 225 pitches and only 132 of them have been strikes. He has gotten 18 ground balls, 26 fly balls, and 14 line drives. He has thrown his fastball 56% of the time, his slider 16% of the time, his curveball 17% of the time, and his changeup 10% of the time. His fastball velocity has been good, at an average of 93.4 mph, which is 2 miles per hour faster than last year. His pitches have been good at times, and he has made multiple batters look foolish at the plate. However, that turns right around when he doesn't throw his pitch, and he gets hammered.
I think Morton's terrible start has just been a result of low confidence and pitch selection. After you get roughed up in your first outing it's hard to bounce back, especially for a young, unexperienced guy like Morton. Every time after that that you don't pitch well just makes it worse. His confidence has to be near an all-time-low right now, and until he starts having some success it isn't going to come back up. The thing that he can control is his pitch selection. He needs to put in some serious work with Joe Kerrigan to figure out what pitches he should be throwing in what situations. Yesterday, when facing Dave Bush (who was trying to bunt a runner to third), he throw a 2-1 curveball that bounced 2 feet in front of the plate. Doumit couldn't handle it and the runner got to third without the Pirates getting an out. Morton went on to throw ball 4 and give the Brewers another free base runner. There is no reason to be throwing that kind of pitch in that situation. I can understand if he wants to throw a breaking ball to the pitcher to lessen the chances of getting a good bunt down, especially when down 3 or 4 runs like they were yesterday, but there is no excuse for trying to throw a strikeout curveball in a situation where the batter is trying to give himself up.
While I am not putting any of the blame on Ryan Doumit, I have never thought that he was the best catcher at calling the game. He isn't the kind of guy you want behind the plate when you have a young pitcher on the hill who is trying to figure himself out. While the Pirates do not have much of a choice, and the real effect a catcher can have is not that big, I think it might be worth a shot to give Jason Jaramillo the start next time Morton takes the hill. If it does nothing else, it will at least be a change. When nothing is going right, there is little risk in making changes. Morton's next start will come against the Houston Astros, who have been terrible offensively, so that could be a good chance to bounce back. And by the way, there is no reason to even consider sending Morton to AAA yet, it has only been 3 starts and he has shown that he has even better stuff than years past, he has little to gain in the minors and there is a good chance that Morton could turn the ship around in just a few starts and become dominant again.
The good news from last night is that Andrew McCutchen crushed the ball. He had 3 hits, 2 of which were doubles. Cutch has been getting good wood on the ball almost every time he comes to the plate, don't be surprised if he goes on an absolute tear over the next few weeks.
The Pirates are back in action tonight, and the score starts at 0-0 again. We'll be trying to keep our winning record afloat against Yovani Gallardo, who is one heck of a pitcher but hasn't been in pristine shape yet this season. Zach Duke takes the hill for the Pirates, which is exactly who we would want against an ace like Gallardo. Duke has already taken down Dan Haren, so it should be fun to watch him do battle tonight. Let's go Bucs.
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