Pitching rotation

[WSUwatcher]

According to the article on yesterday's game with Long Beach, Josh Smith will go Tuesday against Arizona and Tim Kelley (!) Wednesday.

Yes! About time, I say. Presumably that means either Mateychick in one of the games against WSU(red) or Smith coming back on Sunday; I doubt they'd use Kelley on three days rest unless in a short stint, and likely not even then.

The next step, depending on how he shows up this week, may be for Smith to move up to #3 and Lowell, who has walked the tightrope even in his wins, to drop down a notch. Like Mom, I'm starting to wonder if Charlie has something wrong physically (although even last year he had a number of games when he threw lots of pitches as he allowed numerous baserunners and worked in and out of trouble) -- but in any case, his work so far has not been up to par.

[KC Shox]

TK on Wed! That has to be a typo/error/mistake. There is nothing wrong with TK and Coop. If anything, switch TM wth CL. Does not having BF in our rotation hurt? Hell yes it does.

[oldguy24]

curious....... Is TM Tobin or TJ? .....Tim will start wednesday..... Loosing BF does hurt BAD. Throwing your best pitcher against the best teams makes since to me.

[ShockCity]

Shox have never done this. Don't see the reasoning in this, especially with a BIG weekend series with Wash. State coming up. It would be different if we had a weak opponent coming in this weekend and we didn't need TK. I seriously doubt he will start mid-week.

[GoShockers89]

Actually, we have done this. We used Mike Pelfrey and Kris Johnson like this several times. I think we may also have done it with Steve Uhlmansiek once, but am not 100% certain.

I hope the gamble pays off.

[Shirley Schmidt]

Anyone old enough to remember Tyler Green starting mid week against OSU?

It is nothing new it has happened many times before.

[KC Shox]

Yes we have done this, more so in the 80's and early 90's but Gene and Brent are very protective of their pitchers now. This has to be a typo or bad information. I cannot honestly believe that Gene would throw out TK for a mid-week game. He has solidified his #1 spot on Fridays and with the Wash St series this weekend, we really need him to get us off on the right foot. Even with 5 days rest for Wed's game it's a bad idea.

I realize we need every non-con win against good teams as much as possible, but you gain nothing by throwing him on Wed compared to Fri. WSU and UA are about on par with each other so what would be the benefit?

[WSU_Mom]

Anyone old enough to remember Tyler Green starting mid week against OSU?

It is nothing new it has happened many times before.

Does just plain old count?

[ShockCity]

Yes we have done this, more so in the 80's and early 90's but Gene and Brent are very protective of their pitchers now. This has to be a typo or bad information. I cannot honestly believe that Gene would throw out TK for a mid-week game. He has solidified his #1 spot on Fridays and with the Wash St series this weekend, we really need him to get us off on the right foot. Even with 5 days rest for Wed's game it's a bad idea.

I realize we need every non-con win against good teams as much as possible, but you gain nothing by throwing him on Wed compared to Fri. WSU and UA are about on par with each other so what would be the benefit?

Sorry, I should have stated that it hasn't happened in recent history. Pelfrey and Johnson may have been used midweek, but I don't recall it being before a big weekend series.

[WSUwatcher]

Reason

Although I guessed that Kelley wouldn't be used against WSU West, I also speculated that they might bring him back Sunday on three days rest for limited duty. Obviously, that would enable him to have a possible impact on both the Arizona series and the WSU vs. WSU series.

Don't be surprised if it happens. The Shocks have done such things plenty of times over the years, and if Kemnitz thinks Kelley is up to it in terms of effectiveness as well as endurance, I'll trust him to get it right.

[SB Shock]

Yes we have done this, more so in the 80's and early 90's but Gene and Brent are very protective of their pitchers now. This has to be a typo or bad information. I cannot honestly believe that Gene would throw out TK for a mid-week game. He has solidified his #1 spot on Fridays and with the Wash St series this weekend, we really need him to get us off on the right foot. Even with 5 days rest for Wed's game it's a bad idea.

I realize we need every non-con win against good teams as much as possible, but you gain nothing by throwing him on Wed compared to Fri. WSU and UA are about on par with each other so what would be the benefit?

Sorry, I should have stated that it hasn't happened in recent history. Pelfrey and Johnson may have been used midweek, but I don't recall it being before a big weekend series.

WSU has not had to use their weekend starter all that much because they have recruited enough pitching depth that mid-week games are a good development tool to be able to reload instead of rebuild. Also, WSU usually has had a good enough bullpen where if the guy gets in trouble they have guys who can come in and eat inning and close out a game after shut down the opponent for 6 innings. But that assumes you have an offense that is going to score runs and make up the deficit.

[KC Shox]

Zona's web site also shows TK starting the Wed. game. This is weird but heh, I trust Gene to do what's right. They also show they are throwing Simon against us that day. I believe he is their number 2 guy.