Freddy Comes Up Big Again

I'm past the point of trying to figure out how he does it.  I'm just going to go ahead and say that Freddy Garcia has done an outstanding job this year for the Yankees, and last night was arguably his best outing of the season.  He was much sharper than in his first start back after the long layoff, and it should in his results:

6.2 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 92 Pitches (66 strikes)

He threw first-pitch strikes to 23 of the 29 batters he faced.  He got 13 swinging strikes (14.13%).  And he basically kept the Tampa batters off balance all night with his selection of offspeed garbage, bearing down and getting big outs when he had to with runners on base.

Garcia has now pitched 103.2 innings for the Yankees this year.  He has 8 wins, and 12 quality starts out of the 17 he's made.  He sports a 3.21 ERA and a 3.74 FIP, both far better than what his ZiPS projections were before the season (4.83/4.58).  Freddy's 1.7 WAR is the 3rd highest total amongst Yankee pitchers this season, just behind Bartolo Colon and much higher than what A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova have done over a similar innings count.  Cash should be walking into Hank's office every day and putting clippings of Freddy's outings and printouts of his stats on his desk.  Maybe throw a few of Soriano's shitty numbers in there too, just to rub salt in the wound.

It isn't always pretty.  He isn't going to wow you with anything.  But Freddy Garcia is a professional pitcher who knows how to get the job done, and he's been reliable almost every time he's stepped out there.  He isn't flashy, but he knows how to get outs, and grinds his way through it.  Freddy Garcia is The Garbage Man.

(Another great Photoshop performance by Swanny Duckson)