- Jon Garland became the first pitcher in the major leagues to reach the 12 victory plateau. It's the same mark he reached in each of the last three seasons. But prior to this year, he was recording his 12th victory around the time the leaves were changing colors.
- Perhaps even more remarkable than Garland having his 12th victory almost a full month before the All-Star break is who he got it against. The Royals have been the victims of Garland's 12th victory each time he has reached that mark. Thanks to retrosheet, we can look back at each one.
- June 21, 2005 -- Sox 5, Royals 1
- October 1, 2004 -- Sox 4, Royals 2
- September 26th, 2003 -- Sox 11, Royals 2
- September 18, 2002 -- Sox 3, Royals 1
- I didn't think Garland looked all that great out there. I have to qualify that statement. He didn't seem like he had to expend any real effort to keep the Royals in check.
When Garland is dominant, he's getting weak groundball outs and has the hitters off balance. Jon wasn't fooling anyone last night, recording only 2 strike outs and allowed more flyballs than groundballs, but nobody could really square up his fastball. Terrence Long agrees with me.
"He didn't use many of his other pitches," said Long, who homered on a changeup. "His fastball was just that good tonight. He had that good, late movement. It was tough to square up."You go with what's working, and I can't complain about the results. - Zach Greinke was not nearly as bad as the box score will show this morning. Most of the hits were bloops, 2 of his 3 bequeathed runners scored, and if he had even a slightly below average defensive first baseman behind him he would have gotten out of the 5th unscathed.
- It was announced that Garland will be the starter in Sunday's game against the Cubs. Brandon McCarthy will head to the pen, and work as a swingman. He can expect to get a few starts, but probably only one more before the All-Star break. The rest of the time, I suspect he'll be used mostly in mop-up duty. --- There's a small chance that Sunday's game could be a Garland v. Prior match-up.
- Bobby Jenks was supposedly promoted to AAA Charlotte a few days ago, but he pitched 2 innings to record the save for AA Birmingham on Tuesday.
- Jeff Bajenaru allowed a run the other day, and now sports an ERA north of 1.00 again. Oh, the humanity!
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