The Dodgers lost to the Mets 4-1 tonight. Kuo pitched 4.1 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits. All in all despite the loss, I thought that Kuo was solid tonight. Mets skipper Willie Randolph had this to say about Kuo, "He was tough again. We just made him pitch a little bit. We had some AB's where we taxed him a little bit."
Kuo, who was clocked in the low 90's/topping out at 94 mph - was hurt by a bout of wildness in the 3rd and 5th innings . A WP by Kuo in the 3rd inning and a leadoff walk in the 5th inning both led to runs scored for the Mets. Grady Little pulled Kuo in the 5th with the bases loaded and trailing 1-0 - he simply couldn't afford to give up any more runs thanks to a dominant performance by 40 year old veteran Tom Glavine (he threw 6 shutout innings). As for Kuo, he had 2 walks (1 intentional to load the bases in the 5th) to go along with 4 K's. Considering the fact that this was Kuo's 6th career ML start in an away game during the postseason with his team down 1-0 in the series - you have to chalk this one up as a valuable learning experience for Kuo. If Kuo can stay healthy, it'll be very exciting to see what kinda numbers he can post as a starter over a full season.
Box/Recap
9 comments:
To anyone who was watching the dodgers game: do you know why Kuo got pulled after they made him intentionally walk the guy in the 5th?
Not to be a Monday (Friday?) morning manager because this is what I was thinking when Kuo got relieved... but it made absolutely no sense for Little to pull Kuo and then bring in a righty, the Mets lineups have been struggling against LHP's. Having the bases loaded and then bring in a RHP gives them better odds to score runs. Fortunately Tomko only gave up a sac-fly. I still believe Little could've leave Kuo in the game and bet on him striking out batters to get out of the jam.
It has also become apparent that if Kuo plans on having a successful future in MLB as a starting pitcher, he will have to work hard on strengthening his stamina. He admitted in the post game interview that he became tired after 4 innings because Mets lineups hit too many foul balls.
But it was not a bad performance from Kuo overall as he only gave up 4 hits and 2 eraned runs in just over 4 innings of work.
i thought kuo pitched great, but it's not unusual for a pitcher in trouble to get yanked in a playoff game in the early going. little purposely let kuo issue the intentional walk to give tomko a little more time to warm up.
ot, here's an awesome commercial featuring wang, promoting taiwan tourism (i think):
http://cybermessageboard.fatcow.com/wcco/viewtopic.php?t=58
try again with the link.
http://cybermessageboard.fatcow.com/wcco/viewtopic.php?t=58
http://cybermessageboard.fatcow.com/wcco/viewtopic.php?t=58
oops. wrong link. here it is.
http://www.taiwan-image.tw/public/MMO/photo/Internet%20Unit/wang_300k.wmv
okay, i'm having a real hard time with this.
if you want to see it, go to the discussion form at taiwaneseballplayers.com and the thread is under the general forum.
http://www.taiwan-image.tw/public/MMO/photo/Internet%20Unit/wang_300k.wmv" target="_blank
Sweet vid BD, I think it's also up on youtube - for faster viewing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fj3ccGeXFPU
Post a Comment