Jekyl & Hyde

Randy Johnson was lifted today after a poor 3 1/3 innings today where he gave up 10 base runners and 2 runs. Johnson threw 81 pitches to his 42 strikes and had 7 BB's to only 2 K's. Johnson's fastball was not at his peak, but was no where near the 84mph crap he was throwing a few starts ago in LA.

Thankfully the bullpen stepped up and pitched brilliantly, as well as the offense came through to recapture the lead. Edgar Renteria continued his hot hitting and Randy Winn found another good swing. The offense didn't do alot, but the hitting was timely and came through with runners in scoring position. In fact, Johnson was the only issue...

It's not the bad day he had, I can live with those. Hell, I have bad days ALLLLL the time. No,what troubles me is it came from our 45 year old fireballer, that has more of a smoking gun now. That and it's happened now twice. I know, he has only had 4 starts and it's to early to see patterns, probably to early to get worried, but that doesn't mean the hair on my next isn't standing up a little right now. I think there is some reason to fret...

If you look closely, Johnson had a very good game going against the brew crew before losing stamina at around pitch 75-80 in the 5th. He was throwing in the low 90's, up to 93mph.

Against the Dodgers, Johnson looked exhausted. Johnson was wild and got pounded (OK, give me your best joke now) More importantly, his velocity was down around 83-84mph, and his offspeed in the 70's. He didn't last long.

The next game was against his old team and he was pumped. He took a no-hitter into the 7th and was eventually pulled to keep fresh. His pitch count was still low, 73 total, but his fastball was topping out at 94-95mph.

And then there was tonight...

I'm not sure what the solution is yet, but the problem seems to be visible. Johnson is getting older and starting to really show his age. Including spring training, he has now thrown 35 innings. His arm should be showing more improvement than a consistant 65-70 pitch limit before fatigue. Also, his age and rest are probably a factor. Johnson doesn't appear to be recovering by his next start. Maybe he needs more rest, maybe he needs to pitch through this.

It would be nice to augment him with a 6th starter and work a crazy funk rotation to keep him fresh, but the Giants pickings are slim. With Joe Martinez out indefinately & Kevin Pucetas struggling,the Giants don't have a quality armquite ready. Bumgarner should realistically wait until fall before seeing action....Maybe Pedro....One things for sure, the Giants need tobaby his arm