Correia gets pounded

Saturday August 22, 2009

Kevin Correia once again demonstrated that he is what he is, a decent #4 or #5 pitcher on most major league staffs.

Even playing half his games in spacious Petco Park he is still giving up far too many home runs with men on base and his 4.46 ERA reflects that. He is league average in a park that favors pitchers. Not a good combination.

Hopefully next season he will learn to control his follow through so that he can be more consistent in his delivery and will be able to help Chris Young anchor a rotation that should include future ace Mat Latos, Tim Stauffer and Clayton Richard.

(That little pop to the left that his plant foot does on his follow through makes it harder to repeat his delivery and contributes to his pitches being up. Watch the replay of the game on the home runs and see if his left foot turns sharply towards 1st base as he is following through. I would be willing to bet it does.)

Tonight Correia gave up 5 earned runs on 10 hits and 2 walks with 2 home runs to the St Louis Cardinals in 5 innings pitched.

The Cardinals defeated the Padres for the 11th time in 12 games behind Chris Carpenter's 7 shut out innings of 3 hit ball. Matt Holliday's 3 run blast in the top of the 1st proved to be all the offense the Cardinals would need as they shut out the Padres for the 2nd time in 3 games.

The Padres offense, which had shown signs of improvements in games against other teams since the all star break, has been more anemic against the Cardinals than they have been overall this season.