Here has been the pattern of Edwin Jackson starts: watch just the first inning. Game over.
Last night, the pattern held true, with the Cubs down 3-1 to the Rockies.
Nothing more to see.
It was just as well.
The Cubs set a few records. It was the longest game in club history at 6 hours 27 minutes. So much for the early morning curfew.
And the first Cub position player, John Baker, got the pitching victory. It had never happened before in club lore, not even by accident. Also, Baker scored the winning run in the 16th inning.
Both the Rockies and the Cubs used up their entire bullpens by the end of the 15th inning. The Rockies, which are as bad as the Cubs, had not scored since the first. Colorado used a starter while Rick Renteria went to Baker, who had not pitched in jest since the Cape Code league.
The Cubs had to grind through more than 6 hours of action in order to get a victory from an Edwin Jackson start. Early in the game, there was some discussion whether Jackson would be demoted to the bullpen or even released. But neither makes any sense since the Cubs really have no starter to replace him.
Jackson has a pattern of giving up runs in the first inning. Lots of runs.
Steve Stone remarked earlier this season that some pitchers do not take enough warm up pitches in their pregame routine. It means that they do not have their arm stretched fully for speed and control. In other words, the first inning and higher pitch count is a result of not being fully warmed up. Then pitchers seem to settle in after the second inning. One could wonder if this is Jackson's problem (since he really did not have it when he was with the White Sox and pitching guru Don Cooper).
If that is the simple solution, it will save an already taxed bullpen, which had reliever Neil Ramirez's arm fatigue go on the 15 day DL (instead of Iowa for "rest" because of player's union objection since a disabled player still gets major league salary and service time).
