Blue Jays pitchers in September

The Blue Jays went 12-14 in September with a 3.63 ERA, our second best month for ERA of the season. Our starters went 10-10 with a 4.02 ERA, their second best month for ERA, they put up a 3.63 ERA in June. The starters went 5.5 innings per start. The relievers were 2-4, with 9 saves and a 3.00 ERA, also their second best monthly ERA, they had a 1.16 ERA in June. They averaged 3.3 innings per game. I'm sure our improved defense had a fair bit to do with the improved ERA.

R.A. Dickey: 3-1, 3.71 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .230/.267/.421, with 6 home runs, 7 walks and 28 strikeouts in 34 innings,averaging 6.8 innings a start. By month R.A. allowed 5, 7, 5, 7, 5 and now 6 home runs, messing up the pattern, but then most months he made 6 starts, this month 5. Dickey finishes the season 2nd in the league in innings pitched (224.2, 4 innings short of James Shields) and 2nd in home runs allowed (35, 1 short of A.J. Griffin). He is going to have to learn how to cut the number of home runs allowed.

Mark Buehrle: 1-3, 5.84 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .340/.377/.566, with 4 home runs, 6 walks and 16 strikeouts, in 24.2 innings, averaging 4.9 innings per start. It was his worst month of the season, his OPS against was .943, even worse than his .858 in April. I'm not sure if he was tiring or if he let the season get to him. I'm sure it is hard to keep your focus late in the season, when your team is miles out of it. Of course, you'll remember than he came out of his last game after taking a line drive off the knee in the 4th inning.

J.A. Happ: 2-3, 2.94 ERA in 6 starts. Batters hit .256/.322/.376, with 4 home runs, 13 walks and 29 stolen bases, in 33.1 innings, averaging 5.6 innings a start. That was his best month of the season, though his April wasn't bad either. It would be nice if he pitched deeper into games, he did go 7.1 and 7 in 2 of his starts in September, but the other starts lasted 4.0, 5.2, 4.1 and 5.0 innings. I'd imagine his knee was finally 100%. When healthy he did pretty well. The Jays have to figure out what to do with him, next year, but then, there are half a dozen pitchers that are on the bubble.

Esmil Rogers: 2-2, 3.71 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .203/.287/.371 with 3 home runs, 10 walks and 20 strikeouts in 26.2 innings, 5.3 innings per start. It seems like a pretty high ERA, considering batters weren't hitting him at all. His last couple of starts weren't great, he totaled 6.2 innings and allowed 8 earned. Maybe he was tiring, his 137 innings were the most he's ever thrown in the majors, by far.

Todd Redmond: 2-1, 4.38 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .242/.280/.453 with 5 home runs, 4 walks and 19 strikeouts in 24.2 innings, 4.9 innings per start. That last start hurt his numbers, 5 earned runs while just getting 2 outs hurts. Before that he had a 2.63 ERA his first 4 starts of the month. It is too bad that he goes into the off-season with the taste of that lousy start in his mouth, but he should be happy with how things went.

Casey Janssen: 1.17 ERA, with 8 saves, in 8 appearances. Batters hit .185/.214/.296 with 1 home run, 1 walk and 10 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. After a tough August, Casey was great in September. He's one of my favorite pitchers to watch, but I still don't know why we didn't trade him at the deadline.

Aaron Loup: 3.86 ERA, with 1 hold, in 9 appearances. Batters hit .350/.409/.450, with 0 home runs, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Gibby cut back his innings, he was averaging more than an inning per appearance every month of the season, until September. Maybe he was overworked earlier in the season.

Steve Delabar: 0-3, 5.00 ERA, 1 hold, 1 blown save, in 9 appearances. Batters hit .281/.351/.469 against him, with 1 home runs, 4 walks and 7 strikeouts in 9 innings. His second half wasn't good, he' put up a 7.02 ERA in the second half. I guess 38 appearances in the first half of the season was a bit much.

Darren Oliver: 1.59 ERA, 1 hold, in 6 appearances. Batters hit .211/.250/.211 against him, with 0 home runs, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts in 5.2 innings. And he rides off into the sunset.

Neil Wagner: 7.11 ERA, 3 holds in 7 appearances. Batters hit .407/.500/.556 with 1 home run, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Overwork seems to be the excuse we are using for everyone else. He had one bad outing that hurt his numbers for the month, he allowed 4 hits and 3 earned, without getting an out on September 20th against the Red Sox.

Chad Jenkins: 1.88 ERA, in 6 appearances. Batters hit .204/.220/.367 with 1 home run, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts, in 14.1 innings. He did a really good job as the long man in the pen. The polite thing to say is 'he uses his defense', he doesn't get many strikeouts, and likely the pretty decent infield defense we had, at the end of the season, helped him out a bunch.

Sergio Santos: 1-0, 0.90 ERA, 4 holds, 1 save, 1 blown save, in 12 appearances. Batters hit .067/.094/.100, with 1 walk and 13 strikeouts in 10 innings. It is nice to see what he can do when he's healthy. Hopefully, next year will be a whole year of healthy.

Dustin McGowan: 3.12 ERA, 3 holds, 1 blown save, in 9 appearances. Batters hit .200/.263/.314 with 0 home runs, 3 walks and 9 strikeouts in 8.2 innings. He wants to start, I'd kind of like to see him close. but if he can start, well, we need someone that can.

Jeremy Jeffress: 1-0, 0 ERA, in 9 appearances. Batters hit .212/.278/.212 with 0 home runs, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts in 9.1 innings. He pitched 2 innings twice in in those 9 appearances. I hope this is a sign of what he'll do next year. I'm a fan of guys that can get strikeouts.

Brett Cecil: 0 ERA, 1 hold, in 3 appearances, before going on the DL. He just faced 4 batters and allowed 1 single and struck out 1. He has the winter to rest up that arm, hopefully, next year, he won't be needed quite as much.

Ricky Romero: 9.00 ERA in 2 appearances. Batters hit .333/.467/.583 with 1 home run, 3 walks and 1 strikeout, in 3 innings. I'm not sure why they called him up and left us short on position players, but I don't get to make those choices.

Kyle Drabek: 7.71 ERA in 3 appearances. Batters hit .364/.500/.636 with 1 home run, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts, in 2.1 innings.