The Perfect Cheer For Pomeranz

I feel the need to take a moment and give some love to Drew Pomeranz as The Dirty Cheerleader has been wildly underappreciated through the season. After a 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 4 BBs, 9 Ks outing against the Indians, he’s holding a 3.18 ERA, 9.80 K/9, and a 13-4 record. Solid stuff from a guy that is most likely tucked away as your #5. Now, it’s not all sunshine and roses here as his 1.34 WHIP hurts you and his 5.44 IPS means he’s averaging about 5.5 Ks per game, but he’s overall helping your team throw the weeks and has gotten no love. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time someone even talked about The Dirty Cheerleader in any context. He’s not going to climb into the Top 30 anytime soon with his walk rates and low IPS as he sits at the backend of the 40s, but sending him out there every five days is working. And let’s not forget about him next season for the end of your staff.

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

Mark Leiter Jr. – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Yeaaaaah, a 3.70 BB/9 and 5.10 FIP has me saying no. No no no.

Mike Montgomery – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. I want to buy into Monty, but I really can’t. He’s not a bad 14 team add, but for 12-teamers there isn’t enough upside to counteract the times that he will falter.

Luke Weaver – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 10 Ks. Hoooo baby! Alright, this was the Padres and it’s easy to get really excited here. he’ll get the Brewers + Giants + Pirates next…so get all aboard if you haven’t yet. Obviously he won’t get 10 Ks and will have some bumps in the road, but you want to make this bet.

Trevor Williams – 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. Nothing like allowing 11 baserunners yet 0 ER. 11 more than Hill in one fewer inning AND THE SAME AMOUNT OF ER. I’m not upset at all, I swear.

Matt Garza – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Come on Garza, we all know you’re going to making owners feel like this in your next start. Well that’s agai—It doesn’t matter who it’s against.

Mike Fiers – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Oh come on Fiers, you had this wonderful narrative of eight great starts followed the by the most recent eight terrible starts and you were lined up for the bullpen when McCullers returns. BUT NO. You had to kill it against the Nationals no less and now my Peacock won’t fly. The are flightless birds. NOT THIS ONE.

Rich Hill – 9.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 10 Ks. Man, poor Hill, who had a perfecto into the ninth broken up by an error, threw nine full no-hit innings, then allowed a walk-off solo shot to begin the 10th to leave with a Loss. A LOSS! That’s just crazy.

Matt Moore – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. So…um…that’s three straight productive outings from Moore, holding a 2.21 ERA, 8.41 K/9, 2.66 BB/9 with a near 7.0 IPS in that time. One of those starts came with 4 BBs and 4 Ks with the other two tallying 15 Ks and 2 BBs. In those two solid outings, his Changeup was used more often and was all kinds of effective. Two of the highest overall whiff rates of the year. And it’s all because his First Strike rate was above 70% in these two starts. The last time it was above 70%, he had a 17.1% whiff rate – the highest of the season. So please Moore, get ahead with your Fastball or Curveball and throw plenty of Changeups after, okay?

Ervin Santana – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Hot damn, that’s a beautiful outing from Santana as he faced the…oh. Blame it on the White Sox.

Luis Severino – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Aces gonna ace. JUST TELL US WHAT THE PLAN IS GIRARDI.

Chris Flexen – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. I see Chris on the beach every time he has a decent ERA, Flexen’ his muscles. You see that ladies? Just two ER in six frames, you like that?

Zack Godley – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. I watched a bit of this one and I didn’t see much that made me want to turn away. His Sinker command was a little off, but he still had the movement and a decent amount of swings-and-misses. I’m still on board.

Edwin Jackson – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks.  EJax with the 1.50 WHIP and one strikeout but a serviceable 3.00 and QS. This sounds exactly how this relationship should go.

Corey Kluber – 7.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 12 Ks. Aces gonna ace. I wonder how y’all will feel when Kluber has four questionable starts in April next year.

Antonio Senzatela – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. I have no interest studying with the Senz-a.

Dylan Bundy – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Another strikeout heavy start for Bundy as he’s finally using his Slider a ton. He had showcased bumped velocity as well over his previous two starts wit hthe theory that the extra rest helped, so of course after 10 days rest he…loses nearly 2mph on his Fastball. Oh great, that’s so wonderful Bundy.

Ian Kennedy – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Blegh. Kennedy is just so not worth your time.

Erasmo Ramirez – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. A VPQS from Ramirez and 6 Ks. I think this is the ideal save for one ER. Remember that.

James Shields – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. I prefer Sloman. And he’s senile, doesn’t protect anything, and calls me Rick. AND THAT’S STILL BETTER THAN JAMES. But this was a PQS with a sub 1.00 WHIP and 6 Ks! Don’t care, still prefer Sloman.

Andrew Cashner – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. You Cashed Out, right? Right?

Jhoulys Chacin – 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Chacin will do well when Jhoulyst expect it. Hey, I can do that again!

R.A. Dickey – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 11 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Nothing quite says Don’t Trust A Knucklerballer like 13 baserunners in six frames. Ouch.

Andrew Heaney – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. So I didn’t think he’d allow 4 HR again and AHA! He only allowed three solo shots! See! Man, that’s kinda ridiculous that he’s surrendered 7 longballs in just 10 innings thus far. Anyway I have to take the loss here even though my logic was sound as if Heaney didn’t get killed by the longball, this would have been fine. Stupid logic messing me up. Streamer Record 66-49-14. But Nick, he’s just that bad. Come on, really? I’ve heard plenty of convincing arguments around here, but if you’re telling me to make a bet that Heaney is going to allow at least 2 HRs in each start, that’s just silly.

Daniel Gossett – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. The Gosse isn’t loose. That doesn’t rhyme. YOU DON’T RHYME. Why are you screaming so much today. Because the roundup is late for stupid reasons and I feel terrible. My bad ya’ll.

Austin Pruitt – 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Yeah, you want nothing to do with Austin. “The new Brooklyn?” Pffffft get out of here.

Marcus Stroman – 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Annnnd here’s why Stroman isn’t Top 20. It’s not the 5 ER, guys can do that all the time. It’s that he fanned only four while doing it. Having something to salvage when the ratios aren’t there is what separates the studs from the solids.

Justin Nicolino – 2.1 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. You didn’t expect any different, did you?

Asher Wojciechowski – 3.2 IP, 7 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Now we’re down to Wijijflkwejfoij. Yep, you gotta earn that “o”.

Jordan Zimmermann – 5.0 IP, 7 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 0 Ks. Yep, that’s Zimmermann alright.

Today’s Streamer

Jerad Eickhoff vs. Miami Marlins – Fortunately y’all dropped Eickhoff down below 25% so he’s back on the table as there was nothing else to choose here. Phew.

Tomorrow’s Streamer

Adam Conley vs. San Diego Padres – Conley racked up 11 Ks last time out and now he gets the Padres. Yes please. I could imagine someone streaming A.J. Griffin against the Athletics as well if I really needed the help.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Mike Clevinger vs. Kansas City Royals – I’m doing it. His Slider is too good and the Royals are cold in the last week.

Game of the Day

Stephen Strasburg vs. Dallas Keuchel – This looks like all kinds of fun.