Willis makes successful start in Toledo
posted in 2008 season, injuries |Dontrelle Willis made another rehab start Saturday at AAA-Toledo, allowing one run on five hits and four walks and striking out four in six innings.
First inning
Willis struck out two, allows a hit in a ground ball.
Second inning
Two flyouts to the outfield and a lineout to first base. Allows a hit on a line drive.
Third inning
Walks a guy, forces a ground-out double play, strikes out someone looking
Fourth inning
Gives up a double. Has a wild pitch to allow him to third. Gets a ground out. Gets more help when a grounder to third baseman results in getting the runner out at home. Walks a guy, then finishes off the inning with a strikeout.
Fifth inning
A 1-2-3 inning. A flyout and a pair of groundouts to the left side.
Six inning
Gets a grounder, allows a single and a double, back-to-back, on line drives. Walks a guy. After a coaching visit, gets the next two batters out on grounders.
Analysis:
Willis seems to be getting things together well. You’d like him to control the walks better, obviously. He threw 55 strikes on 96 pitches. And he is still stretching out, struggling a bit as he gets later in the game.
But I like all the grounders he’s getting. Facing 24 batters, he got 9 outs in six innings by forcing batters to pound the ball, and there was an infield hit. Combine that with the four strikeouts and it’s some pretty effective stuff. He had six groundouts and three strikeouts in this previous start with the Mudhens before tiring in the sixth inning.
I’d say Willis is putting himself back together well. These obviously aren’t major league batters, but he’s doing some good things that should carry over. I look forward to seeing him get back to Detroit to see what he can do.
Sphere It
I really think Inge is the source of the problem here. It’s pretty obvious that his gritty clutch-factor isn’t helping the team play with more heart. And other uselessly lame cliches.
http://grittyandclutch.blogspot.com/2008/05/because-good-teams-form-voltron.html
This guy had one of the most dominant pitching seasons ever for someone so young. It just doesn’t seem believable that he just sucks for good now. I think he will be okay and maybe even be able to recapture some of the prior dominance that he has shown in his career.