If Rich Hill stayed healthy this year, he might be leading the Cy Young contender in both leagues. He threw seven perfect innings Saturday night before his blister problem forced Dave Roberts to remove Hill from the game against the Marlins. The Dodgers wound up allowing two hits as they won 5-0.
In an injury filled season with the Athletics, Hill went 9-3 with a 2.25 ERA in 14 starts. He struck out 90 in 76 innings and allowed just two home runs with a good walk rate. With the Dodgers, he stepped it up a notch. In three starts, he has not allowed a run, given up just six hits in 19 innings, struck out 20 and walked two. I’m wondering if this is one of those situations where the blister changed his grip of the ball just a bit to make him more effective?
Hill was not happy with the decision:
Hill would downplay the severity of the blister after the game, but Roberts chose to anger his pitcher rather than subject him to an injury risk.
Hill received the news with fury. Roberts sat beside him in the dugout midway through the eighth. He took off his cap and told Hill his night was over. Hill swore and stomped around the sunflower seed-strewn walkway. He slammed a bat against the bench.
“I get it,” Hill said. “I’m very adamant about living in the moment. I did not want to come out of the game. But I think there’s a bigger picture here, and we all know what it is.”
That’s twice this season Roberts had to remove a pitcher from a no-hitter to save the starter for the future. That takes a lot of guts, but we all saw what happened to Johan Santana.
The Dodgers magic number is 18.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2cb288b
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