I don’t want to be that guy but since I took some shit in the comments section for sharing my thoughts on Richmond earlier in the year (Everyone needs to stop over-rating Scott Richmond) I’ll make this post.
Scott has quickly added a few runs to his ERA, seeing it shoot up to 4.28 (along with his record drop down to 4-2). I’m writing this post before the end of the actual game, so I don’t have any ratios in front of me, although Richmond did have the third highest LD% against heading into tonight’s start.
To me its pretty obvious that his components have caught up with him. He was lucky early in the season in terms of FB to HR ratios, along with BA vs LD%. (See my post Why I don’t think Scott Richmond’s success will continue). He really doesn’t have any plus MLB pitches. Sure, he’s a nice story and judging from interviews he seems like a nice guy. I don’t have any personal vendetta against this guy and I’ve even given space for a guest post expounding the virtues of his game (The Case for Scott Richmond). But I think the facts are the facts: he’s just not an MLB caliber starting pitcher.
Tonights second inning play-by-play boxscore tells the story;
Double to DEEP Center
HR to DEEP Right
Triple to DEEP center
Triple to DEEP center
Double to DEEP center
Deep, Deep, Deep. Richmond’s affinity to the Flyball (and certainly his high Line Drive Percentage) is starting to take its toll.
When a few of the injured arms come back I think it’s time to send Richmond to the pen. I’d rather have Doc, Tallet, Cecil & a Janssen + Romero combo in the rotation than Richmond.
Yo stop hating!
I see what you mean about your earlier posts talking about his high line drive percentage. In all fairness, at least Richmond was throwing strikes – it’s just that the Yankees were hitting the ball really well. I hope he can bounce back!
Yeap he sure did suck on that last one, but his loss before that he went the complete game haha almost averages out to two decent showings. After Stairsy went south Richmond replaced him as the Canadian on the Canadian team and I think that is why he gets so much love from the Toronto fans and that bias makes us forget to look at his numbers which as kman points out are not that stellar.
Another “lucky” start for Scott Richmond, with a “lucky 7 ” strikeouts to go with the one smart walk, 5 hits and zero runs luckily!!
I don’t think luck has anything to do with it at all, and I draw my conclusions from the video evidence compiled so far this season; that and the fact that he’s in the top 10 in the “swinging misses” category in the league, amongst other conveniently ignored evidence.
Anybody with even the slightest understanding of body language, would have been able to notice that Richmond was totally uncomfortable with the NY start as soon as he got to the mound.
The trouble started in the first inning, even though he managed to strike out the first two batters, the strikeout pitch that he threw to Damon, was at least 12″ inside, and almost hit Damon on the foot, causing Johnny to shake his head in disbelief that he’d offered a swing at such a crap pitch.
Richmond uncharacteristically fidgeted constantly and was unable to get into his zone and relax, and I would surmise that this was because he’d already allowed himself to be psyched out by the Yankee mystique, long before the game had even started. I’m sure he’s not the first one to have done that, and won’t be the last I imagine.
He had a great start and the missed swing number is impressive. However this is almost turning into the Scott Richmond site, so I’ll stick to my guns and wait until the All-Star break to re-evaluate.