Erickson at Sixes, not Sevens

Scott Erickson is a 37 –year-old pitcher with a ERA over 6 who has not gone more than 6 in any of his starts all year. Last night, against a Montreal Expo team disguised as the Washington Nationals, he threw 6 scoreless innings of 6-hit ball. Lost in the shutout performance, however, was that Erickson pitched in and out of trouble all night, loading the bases once (before retiring the pitcher for the final out) and benefiting from two double plays to escape damage.

But instead of cashing this check, manager Jim Tracy chose to focus on the fact that Erickson had retired the last 6 batters with 1-2-3 5th and 6th innings. He decided to push Erickson’s luck, and left him in for the top of the seventh after the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead. This despite having one of the best bullpens in baseball ready to pitch the last three innings.

You didn’t need to watch the rest of the game to see how this one would play out, though the details were particularly gruesome. Erickson failed to field a bunt, Hee Seop Choi mangled two hot shots down the first base line, and the wheels slowly came off.

When the Dodgers start playing the elite teams (they begin a two-week stretch against St. Louis, Atlanta, Florida, and Anaheim next Monday), Erickson won’t be able to count on double plays to get him out of trouble. And Tracy will learn to have the bullpen ready to go beginning in the fifth.

NOTES
Hee Seop Choi is finally starting to hit, but he still strikes out far too much (16 hits, 16 Ks) and has one off the ugliest swings in baseball. He looks like he’s trying to start a lawnmower. And his defense is atrocious. He can’t field a ball hit to his left, and he nearly took Steve Schmoll’s arm off with a loopy toss on a grounder between first and the mound.