Wickman shaky again! I mean every single time out he's scares you to death. If we had a top notch closer then there's quite a few games that we could've won. I'm not taking shots at Wickman but his better days have long gone. His control has even evaded him this year when in the past his control was good. He isn't exactly a spring chicken anymore & I personally think he's just lost it.
He was perfect in save chances at home until last night but on the road he has been horrible at best. If we had a Jenks,Hoffman,or Papelbon as a closer then we'd be set for closing out games. I don't think Smoltz could even fill the closer role right now because of his shoulder/arm problems. Soriano has the stuff to close but the HR ball is killing him this year. Dotel, who's on the DL, isn't really a true closer either. We have what we have but not being able to close out some of these games is probably gonna come back to haunt us.
If Gonzo hadn't gotten injured then I feel he would have taken over the closer role. He has dominate stuff with 4 solid pitches. He was pitching great when he got injured. There is no doubt in my mind that if he was healthy he would be our closer & Wickman would either have been traded or released by now. Wickman's ERA is now nearing the 4.50 mark which is even high for an AL closer so in all honesty he's killing us in these close games. Soriano has also given up the HR ball way too much but if he could fix that then he'd be fine. Mahay has looked solid since joining us but not a closer. Moylan has been very good & Yates has been fading down the stretch. I'll stay away from further comments about Andruw!
Thanks!