since several have run with this post, wanted to point out that i never said i think we should play small ball.
the comparisons to '02 have everything to do with the fact that he does NOT have what he used to...seemingly, 'that' is confidence. again, confidence will make or break you come postseason. show a lack of it to a team with heavy bats and you're in deep sh!t. let me know when you find a way to tie that into your argument b/c as of now, it is completely irrelevant. no, i'm implying (not trying to) that he should not be the starter in key games (i.e. friday night) until he is able to break his current pattern. so he was king of the league in pitching a short while ago. now he forgets how to pitch for 3 starts, and you call that improvement?
let's try your own reasoning. You 'claimed' he was bad all of last year. A month ago he had the top ERA on our staff for starters. So was he improved to that point with a 2+ era? Or was he still not capable of starting? if dirks/smith struggles their next 2 or 3 outings do you bench them too? Let's just say coaches have to show patience which many fans know nothing about.
That is the most important thing a manager can have over the course of a season. He's shown he has patience with Lane over and over again.
I'll agree that Lane has not pitched as well as he did before his injury, but he sure wasn't bad all of last year or the early part of this year. He has been bad his last 3 starts. Smoke said if he had anyone better than they would probably be starting. Hopefully he will get back his form before the ned of the season.
Many times runners LOB is a meaningless stat. It can mean you're team is doing a great job of getting on base, and in some of the games where we score a lot of runs we leave a heck of a lot of runners on. It didn't hurt us Sunday because of good pitching though. Vandy didn't leave many on because of double plays, bad bunts, etc. I love how Dirks has been giving up 8 or 9 hits but has been effective at keeping them from crossing home plate as well.
