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With Westbrook's start last night, we've made it through the rotation for the first time.

So far... not bad.

Lohse 7 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 0 BB, ERA 1.23, WHIP 0.28, Pitches 90, Game Score 73

Garcia 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 K, 2 BB, ERA 3.00, WHIP 1.17, Pitches 87, Game Score 55

Wainwright 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 1BB, ERA 4.76, WHIP 0.88, Pitches 88, Game Score 54

Lynn 6 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 8 K, 1 BB, ERA 1.35, WHIP 0.45, Pitches 100, Game Score 73

Westbrook 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER (1 unearned run), 2 K, 4 BB, ERA 0.00, WHIP 1.00, Pitches 88, Game Score 67


Not bad - all five starts over 50 points on the GS scale, and just one out shy of all five starts being "quality starts". Nobody's gone over 100 pitches, and the starters have 22 K's and only 8 BB between them. 16 hits and 8 walks in 32 2/3 IP works out to a combined starter's WHIP of 0.73.

Sure, it's not going to be this way all year, but I still like it.

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"You have to be concerned about the future, but you also have to be more concerned about the present. If you have to give up two or three young kids - who may not be able to play for several years - to get help for your team now, you have to do it." - Bing Devine, 1999

"They call baseball a game because it's too screwed up to be a business." - Jim Bouton, 1971.

"Big deal. Anyone can win games when the other team doesn't score any runs." - Curt Flood to Bob Gibson, circa 1968

I couldn't have hoped (reasonably) for a better start to the season than we've seen so far. I can't wait for Friday. Hopefully the Cards come in at 6-1 and just pound the cubs into submission early. I have a feeling AW is going to be a lot better Friday than he was on Saturday and I was not at all upset by his performance in Milwaukee. Unless the cubs trade for Corey Hart this week he is going to shut the cubs down.

It's only one start, but if Lance Lynn can really be effective, things are looking up.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

McClellan started well last year, I hope that Lynn is able to keep it up for the whole season unlike McClellan last year. But if Carpenter is back in May/June we'll have a lot of protection against one of the starters getting injured.

Fortunately Lynn has thrown over 100 innings in each of the last 3 years, with 164 in 2010, so I imagine he'll have a little more stamina than McClellan. When/if Carpenter comes back, I imagine Lynn will be the first to the pen. Yea, maybe he'll pan out as a better starting option this year than Westbrook or Lohse, but we also know Lynn is effective out of the pen, where as Westbrook or Lohse out of the pen could be worthless.

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It's hard to believe Westbrook got out of that last night with the wildness. The guy right now I'm most worried one time through is Garcia, maybe partly because I am expecting so much from him.

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"The solution to any problem - work, love, money, whatever - is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be." ~ John Gierach.

I joke a lot about Lynn, but truly think that he could be pretty good. He threw some pretty nasty curves the other night to go with that good fastball.

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Silence is golden.

Obviously 4-0 in games not started by Wainwright or Carp through 1 turn in the rotation.

Wasn't K-Mac's velocity down even early in the year last season? I seem to remember thinking he was winning with smoke and mirrors.

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