Since I didn’t see any of the game, and only heard bits and pieces, I’m not going to try to provide any deep analysis.  I have 2 points I want to make here though.  First, Matt Capps is not the same pitcher right now as he has been in the past.  I think I’ve said this before on this blog, but I’ve never really been a believer in Capps.  At his best, he has good velocity and great control on his fastball, but he doesn’t really have a second pitch.  I like that in an 8th inning guy, but you can’t be an elite closer without an out pitch.  Right now, and for large stretches of this year though, he has not been at his best.  That control has been largely missing this year.  Add to that a decrease in velocity and what you have is a guy out there throwing meatballs.  There are 2 key numbers that illustrate the difference from this year to last.  First, he is throwing far fewer fastballs this year when compared to last.  Last year, he threw his fastball 78.6% of the time.  This year, its down to 70.9%.  That’s a huge difference, which indicats that he doesn’t trust his fastball as much this year.  The second number is his BB/9 rate.  Last year it was .84, this year its 3.19, almost 4 times higher.

Essentially, my point here is this.  Matt Capps should not be the closer for this team right now.  One of the things this management group has harped on over and over again is accountability.  This is a perfect opportunity to show they are serious about it.   Capps isn’t good right now and both Joel Hanrahan and Jesse Chavez are pitching well.  One of those two should be given the chance to close and perhaps a move like that would take some pressure off of Capps and allow him to figure out what is wrong.

The second point I want to make is about Andrew McCutchen.  He may end up being the savior of this franchise.  OK, I realize that’s premature, and that it will take much more than one player to make this team a contender.  Seriously though, his play has been nothing short of spectacular, way exceeding the expectations I had for a 22 year old rookie on a bad baseball team.  He absolutely deserves to be the NL rookie of the year, and when you look at his numbers compared to the other contenders (Dexter Fowler, Colby Rasmus), he should be the only position player in the discussion.  If your a fantasy player, take him early next year, because he’s going to give you 20/20 with a .290 average and 90 or so RBI’s.