love and war in the time of izzy

Let me preface this by saying I think the world of Izzy. If I ever have a girl, I want to name her Isabella so I can call her Izzy. I don’t think we would have won the World Series without him, even though I know good and well he cost us games that season and was DL’ed for the duration of the postseason. I have no doubts that by gutting it out for as long as he did he bought those kids in the bullpen enough time to grow into what we saw in the postseason. Nails, lights-out, shutdown, pick whatever descriptor you want. There wasn’t a challenge that those kids didn’t meet and succeed against.

He could have taken himself out of the season much earlier, but he put his longevity and career on the line for the team; my friends, that is no ordinary sacrifice [bunt]. If I knew what kind of cookie he liked (and that he accepted baked goods from complete strangers), I would gladly bake a batch and lower them into the bullpen on some fine evening.

But we can’t let this keep happening. It’s one month into the season and he’s got three blown saves. He’s got ERA on the wrong side of 7. The cutter isn’t working. He’s talking like he did during 2006. Worst of all, he’s pitching like he did in 2006, the year of the hip from hell and the surgery that had potential to end his career. I know he publicly expressed a desire to keep pitching for a couple years, but I don’t think his health is going to permit that. Nobody thought we had a chance to be competitive this season, but we are competitive. We may play in the NL Central, the redheaded stepchild of divisions, but we don’t have games to give away like free samples at Costco on government check weekend. If we give away one, people will find a way to get more.

I think it’s prudent to be looking at other options right now. The veteran-lovers might suggest Franklin or Springer, but I’m going to go with Dave Duncan here. That Kyle McClellan kid has been rather eye-catching. High pressure, low pressure, whatever the barometer, he’s been dependable. There for a while he had been striking out the first batter he faced. First pitch strikes are for sissies; first batter strikeouts are for badasses. He posts some sweet numbers: 1.69 ERA over 16 innings in 13 games, 1 HR allowed, 7:1 K/BB rate, but most importantly to me he gets the job done. It’s hard to remember, but not every club has the luxury of Mo Rivera or K-Rod, so sometimes the path of least damage is the best. Also, he reminds me of a young rook back in 2006 who was a starter until he just made the club out of spring training as a reliever…

I love Izzy. I wish he could have had his Bruce Sutter vs. Gorman Thomas moment, the one that I’m sure he grew up dreaming of from Brighton, IL. But I’m afraid his time may have passed and it could cost the team.