Kason Returns

After three years at higher levels, including a sojourn to the Texas Rangers organization, old friend Kason Gabbard has returned to the Portland Sea Dogs. And it's clear he doesn't belong here.

Gabbard, trying to return from arm injuries, clearly should not be pitching in AA right now. Tuesday night he put in a performance that made even his worst Mr. Hyde outings look Cy Young-worthy. This is the complete record of his start

BB
BB
HBP
K (guy swung at two curveballs in the dirt. He had no business taking the bat of his shoulder.)
BB (score 1-0)
2B (score 4-0)
BB
HR (score 7-0)
2B
HBP

Blake Maxwell mercifully was called upon while Brandon Roberts was being attended to after being hit in the head (he stayed in played the whole game), and he stifled the rally.

Not quite enough fog to obscure the view.

I've never been a huge fan of Kason Gabbard, but he had turned himself into a pretty decent pitcher. This was sad to see. There was no life on any of his pitches, and he had absolutely no idea where the strike zone was. The numbers were boggling.

36 pitches, 9 strikes
Of the 9 strikes, four were taken and five were swings
Of the five swings, two were missed and three went for extra bases

Looked at another way, Gabbard averaged less than a strike per batter, and as many pitches hit batters as resulted in a swing and a miss.

After they were put in a 7-0 hole, there wasn't much hope for the Sea Dogs on this foggy, drizzly night. Jon Still and Josh Reddick each contributed home runs to account for all of Portland's scoring, and after the first inning it was a pretty crisply-played game. But the fall of Kason Gabbard was the story for the evening.