In Praise of Ubaldo...

Dear Ubaldo,
Hey! I've got something to say to you.......effin' a, man....effin' a. Yes, I haven't posted in a while but Ubaldo, you're making me do it finally. I've just got to get the word out in the blogosphere that you're probably the pitcher with the nastiest stuff in the game right now. But don't take it from me, take it from the last Major League hitter you just made look like he's swinging a wiffle bat. The phrase "He probably had the nastiest stuff we've seen all year" is thrown around so many times after your pitching performances lately that it's becoming one of the storied "baseball cliches" joining the ranks of "we're just going to take it one day at a time," "I'm just doing what I can to help the ballclub," and "Look out! Here comes Milton Bradley and he looks pissed off!" The hitters know what you're capable of and they don't want a piece of it, much less think they can get one. You could stand on the mound and call out what every pitch is going to be to the hitter and they'd still have trouble making contact. Yesterday's start was what's becoming another ho-hum outing for you since the middle of June. Your line:

7 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 3 bb, 10 k, 111 pitches.

Earlier in the year you were throwing 111 pitches in four innings and walking the ballpark leading me to give you the incredibly clever and fairly unflattering nickname of "Four-balldo." Now, you're making adjustments mid inning, hell, mid batter that you were previously unable to do. Skip Hurdle's letting you work through your little hiccups (like last night's 5th inning when the Marlins got their only 2 hits off you and loaded the bases on one of your walks.) All you had to do was face maybe the best young player in all of baseball in Hanley Ramirez with the bases loaded and what did you do? Threw one of the filthiest sidearm sliders I've seen in recent memory. Skip Hurdle compared it to Juan Marichal and I'll tell ya, that's some pretty lofty praise being thrown around.

You started the season 1-9, but in your last 11 starts you've gone 7-3 with a 2.00 ERA. That's Cy Young worthy if you put together a whole season like that. You've pitched 13 straight scoreless innings that you'll look to continue in your next start presumably against the bumbling Nationals and you've now dropped your ERA from a De La/Los Rosa/Santos-worthy 5.98 at the end of May to an Aaron Cook-like 3.60. When before I'd cringe when you pitched and only hoped you'd do well enough not to lose the game, now I have the utmost confidence that when you're on the hill, it's going to be a long day for the opposing team. You're finally pitching up to your potential and goddamn it's fun to watch.

Love,
Anthony

P.S. Do you think you could pitch tonight too? I'm not sure I can stomach another De Los Santos regurgitation. Thanks.