Clip & Dirty: 4/15/10

The Clippers 4-game win streak came to an end on Thursday with a 6-3 loss to the Mud Hens. Jeanmar Gomez had another mediocre outing, going six innings, but yielding five runs thanks in most part to a big 5th inning punctuated by a 2-run blast off the bat of Brennan Boesch. Carlos Santana, Russell Branyan and Trevor Crowe were all getting a day off and it showed as the offense could only piece together 3 runs.

Team Hitting: 3R, 9H, 2XBH, 2BB, 7K, Nothing else of note

Pretty uninspired day at the dish with all the damage being done by Jose Constanza’s 3H and 4 TB and Chris Gimenez's 2-run shot in the 7th. A couple singles were scattered throughout the rest of the game but nothing could be strung together. It really goes to show how the big guns and table-setting guys make hits and walks translate into scoring. Santana and Branyan would have been 3-4 and Crowe would’ve led off, I’d like to think that 11 base-runners would be worth more than 3 runs, especially when 2 of those runs came via the long-ball.

Team Pitching: 6(6) R(ER), 12H, 3BB, 4K, 63% strikes, 14.9 pitches/inning (P/IP)

Looking at these numbers is kind of confusing: you have relatively ugly numbers with 15 base runners allowed and 4 XBH. But, thanks in large part to 3 GIDP’s, the pitchers were able to work extremely effectively as the ~15 P/IP number indicates. Gomez was particularly efficient as he got through his 6 innings with only 78 pitches. That’s 13 pitches an inning if you care to break out the calculator; and a very good sign, especially when you consider that he had a 13:3 GB:FB ratio. It’s bad luck that one of the 3 FB’s left the park, but giving up the 9 hits is the danger a pitcher flirts with when he doesn’t have the raw stuff to strike guys out. This game is a pretty good anecdote as to why Gomez is not considered more highly as a prospect.

Columbus will be in the national spotlight tonight as they face the Reds’ super-prospect, Aroldis Chapman, and the Bats in Lousiville at 7:05pm to kick-off a 9-game road trip. Yohan Pino will take the ball for Columbus and look to increase the Clippers (5-3) IL-West lead over the 2nd place Bats (4-4).

Posted in: Clip and Dirty,Columbus