Garza threw 44 pitches in the first inning. In this era of pitch counts, Garza had used up almost half of his bullets in one prolonged inning, giving up four runs in the process. What really did Garza in was the "quality at bats" by the Braves hitters, who kept fouling off pitches and running the pitch count high at bat after at bat. Juan Francisco had an epic 15 pitch at-bat. He followed that up in the fourth inning with a 12-pitch at-bat. In this era of pitch counts, a team that can make the starter throw more pitches early will knock him out quicker. And that is what happened last night; Garza lasted only 4 innings, with Garza served up three home runs in a 7-3 loss
It is the second marginal outing in a row for Garza. He trade value may be slipping as teams will look toward bigger names in the trade market, like Cole Hamels of Zach Greinke, if they come on the market. Garza's All-Star break numbers are not stellar with a 4-7 record and 4.32 ERA.
Garza was frustrated by his performance, but his manager did not help his cause or trade value.
The Tribune asked Garza about his performance.
"Pretty crappy," he said. "I started out great, got sick, and then it just went to a crap show from there. I pride myself on what I do, and I'm not too happy with the way I ended this half."
"Francisco killed the whole outing really," manager Dale Sveum said, adding Garza has fallen into a pattern of getting two strikes and not being able to put batters away.
Quality starting pitchers know how to "put batters away." Sveum basically said his starter is ineffective in putting batters away, especially when ahead in the count. This pattern will affect the trade value placed on Garza by other teams. Teams don't do "change of scenery" trades during a pennant chase; teams want quality pitchers to fill an immediate need to produce wins.
So far, Garza has not shown he can produce wins.
