Blue Jay Pitchers in May

The Blue Jays' batters had a really good month of May, the pitchers not so much. In April we had a 4.52 ERA, May it was 4.97. Starting pitchers went 7-12 with a 5.74 ERA, relievers 6-3, 4 saves, 4.00 ERA. The starters averaged 5.1 innings per game.

R.A. Dickey: 2-3, 5.82 ERA (4.50 in April), 6 starts, 38.2 innings (6.4 innings/start), batters hit .270/.343/.493 against him. 17 walks and 31 strikeouts. I don't know what to think, and I'm sure Pete Walker doesn't have much of an idea either. Three years of this would wear pretty thin.

Mark Buehrle: 1-2, 4.89 ERA (6.35 in April), 6 starts, 38.2 innings (6.4/start), batters hit .247/.315/.418 against him, 14 walks, 27 strikeouts. Since the 7 run inning against the Rays, he has a 3.09 ERA. He pitched at least 6 innings in each of those 6 starts.

Brandon Morrow: 2-1, 6.14 ERA (5.29 in April), 4 starts, 22 innings (5.5/start), batters hit .273/.313/.557 against him, 6 walks, 16 strikeouts. And now he is on the DL.

Ramon Ortiz: 1-2, 4.95, 5 games, 3 starts, 20 innings (4.8 innings/start), batters hit .304/.378/.608 against him, 9 walks, 6 k. And he's back.

Chad Jenkins: 1-0, 3.60 ERA, 3 starts, 15 innings (5 innings/start), batters hit .305/.359/.492 against him. It's a pretty good magic act to get a 3.60 ERA when batters are hitting like that against you, but I won't complain.

J.A. Happ: 0-1, 10.80 ERA, 5 innings over 2 starts, batters hit .381/.533/.667 against him, 8 walks, 2 strikeouts and then he took a line drive to the head.

Casey Janssen: 3.38 ERA (1.00 in April) 4 saves, 8 innings, batters hit .200/.226/.367, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts. He had the one bad inning in the win over the Rays, when it wasn't a save situation. Having Casey pitch just 8 innings in a month is a sin of some sort.

Aaron Loup: 1-1, 1.69 ERA (3.21 in April), 16 innings, batters hit .232/.250/.357, 1 walk, 13 strikeouts. He did give up 2 home runs in May, but he's been really good.

Steve Delabar: 2-0, 1.98 ERA (2.35 in April), 13.2 innings, batters hit .184/.245/.286, 3 walks, 13 strikeouts. He walked 13 in April, nice to see he fixed that.

Esmil Rogers: 0-0, 3.94 ERA (4.15 in April), 16 innings, 1 start, batters hit .283/.380/.450 against him, 7 walks, 12 strikeouts. He's still not my favorite.

Brett Cecil: 0-0, 2.63 ERA (1.23 in April), 13.2 innings, batters hit .184/.231/.245 against him, 3 walks, 16 strikeouts. The strikeouts are what surprises me the most, he's averaging 10.5 k/9 this year. I didn't expect anything like that. He's still much better vs. LHB (.372 OPS) than RHB (.695), but good enough that he doesn't have to be a LOOGY.

Darren Oliver: 2-0, 3.00 ERA (3.27 in April), 6 innings, batters hit .261/.320/.478 against him, 2 walks, 7 k. I wonder if he will be back.

Brad Lincoln: 0-0, 6.59 ERA, 13.2 innings, batters hit .286/.385/.482 against him, 9 walks, 13 k. When Lincoln pitches 13 innings in a month and Janssen 8, you know there is no justice in the world.

Edgar Gonzalez: 0-1, 7.98 ERA, 14.2 innings, batters hit .354/.408/.662 against him, 5 walks, 9 k. Not sad he's gone.

There are a dozen or so other guys that pitched an inning or two for us, Sean Nolin, Thad Weber, the list goes on, but we'll stop here. I don't know who I'd pick as the top pitcher of the month, maybe Aaron Loup.