Advice for Zito and from Menander
An atrocious bullpen and defensive performance in the seventh inning last night cost the A's a win, though their inability to get men home (nine men left on base, just three runs scored) didn't help things. All of that aside, though, I could argue for a different culprit. Barry Zito is finally getting into something of a groove, and he threw six good innings last night, allowing four hits and a walk leading to just one run while striking out five. Unfortunately, due to his propensity for long at-bats and deep counts, he'd thrown 106 pitches after his six innings and Ken Macha, not wanting to see Zito get to the ~125 mark, pulled him for Chad Bradford in the seventh. Zito remarked after the game that he would have liked to stay in, but Macha made the right call for a variety of reasons. First, Zito's arm still does need to be preserved. We're not in the playoffs yet (and if we were, Zito certainly would have started the seventh). Second, as I've said before, Zito has had the propensity for big innings, especially as the later innings come and he gets worn down a bit, and Macha didn't want to turn a good start into a bad one, so he brought in a usually reliable (though not this year) pitcher in Chad Bradford to protect a two-run lead. Third, and finally, it teaches Zito a lesson. If he wants to pitch seven, eight, or nine innings, he's got to get through the first six with a much more reasonable pitch count. Zito could learn a lot from Mark Mulder on that count, despite Mulder's recent struggles. I think too many teams are laying off Zito's two-strike way-high fastball, and he needs to find a strategy that doesn't require him getting from 0-2 to 2-2 or 3-2 before striking a guy out. By my count, Zito threw twelve balls after getting two strikes on batters. If he cut out about eight of those, he'd have been in a position (98 pitches) where Macha might have let him pitch the seventh. Now, it should be noted that his approach worked in the sense of getting guys out: Zito didn't allow a single two-strike count to turn into a hit or walk. He just threw too many pitches to get those outs.
