Not Ready
June 23rd, 2016
The first-inning blues continue for alleged ace Chris Archer.
The right-hander was handed a 10th loss yesterday — 10th! — after he gave up four runs and six hits in six innings in a 6-1 loss to the Indians. Three of those runs came in the first, which proved to be too large of a hole for Tampa Bay’s weak offense to overcome.
Joe is running out of words to describe Archer’s year. If he were, say, Blake Snell, it would be easy to cut him slack. But it’s fair to demand much more from someone who has been around the block a few times.
Archer is no newbie. He knows the drill. He placed pressure on himself by taking on a leadership role to begin the season. He has fallen well short of expectations, especially early in starts.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times unearthed this interesting nugget, with manager Kevin Cash’s fitting response:
In the first innings of his 16 starts, Archer has allowed 19 runs for a 10.69 ERA. In the subsequent innings, he has a 3.55 ERA. (His issues are more acute on the road, where he has a 15.00 ERA in the first frames.)
“We’ve got to start adjusting off that a little bit,” Cash said. “We’re putting ourselves in a little bit of a hole, and the way we’re playing as a team right now, that’s tough to come back from.”
Tough, indeed. Just like Archer’s season.
June 23rd, 2016 at 5:53 pm
Archer is an enigma. He started to go downhill in the last 2 months of 2015 and continued it in 2016. His fastball still has giddy up and his slider still works. What’s missing is his control. How do you fix that ? And when batters do hit him, they are squaring up on the ball. Is he tipping his pitches ?
June 26th, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Humility is a tough lesson. I remind Mr. Archer that you are NOT elite and far from an ace. Dressing down a rookie in front of the media was stupid and now you are the one people are looking at. What are you doing with your time from 6:30 AM til game time? You’re the expert. And, here you are on a record breaking pace for losses. I’d keep my mouth shut if I were you and try to figure life out. Oh, and an apology is in order for Snell. You are extremely hard to like and support. Only because I’m a Rays fan do I support you. You are a horrid human being. Yes, I am aware of the charity work he does. However, being a teammate who knows the value of relationships is valuable also. IMHO Snell was the better man. Some men would have clocked Archer in the mouth for such a stunt.
July 2nd, 2016 at 3:27 pm
Enigma? Dude, take off the blinders he sucks in the first inning! Tom Glavine used to have issues in the first inning but only gave up one run or 2 before settling down to a 7 inning 3 run quality start at worst. Archer gives ya 6 innings and 4 or 5 runs EARNED right now. Add in the unearned runs and he is guaranteed loser! He is sloppy and rotten, not an enigma Garth!