Maybe He Can Hit

I didn't get a chance to listen to much of today's 8-6 loss to the Rangers, and I'm pretty happy about that. After a shaky first start, Noah Lowry was supernaturally bad today, walking nine batters and throwing two wild pitches in 1+ innings. Out of 50 pitches thrown, 12 were strikes. This strikes me as slightly more than early Spring Training rustiness. Bruce Jenkins described it as "a set of pitching mechanics in complete breakdown." There is something else going on, something that Lowry himself does not want to talk about, as he refused to speak to the media after his performance. Even Dave Righetti could not find the words to explain what happened.

I've already seen a couple comparisons to Rick Ankiel, who broke down during the 2000 Division Series, and has since resurrected himself as a power-hitting outfielder. This got me thinking. Lowry's always shown promise at the plate, and he did play that one inning in right field last year. I still think it's a little early to be panicking though. We'll give Noah another start or two before we start to seriously doubt his ability to pitch at the big league level.

There were some bright spots in the loss. Former prospect Merkin Valdez, a long shot to make the bullpen, threw two scoreless innings, while Kevin Correia rebounded from his first outing with three of his own. Tyler Walker and Vinnie Chulk each threw a scoreless inning as well. Ray Durham had two hits and Rich Aurilia drove in three runs, while Travis Denker continued his hot spring with a game-tying single to push the game into extra innings. Tim Lincecum starts tomorrow against the Padres, and the game will be televised for those with MLB.tv.