Jaime Garica keeps making a great case for Rookie of the year as he holds the Phillies to four hits and one run over seven innings. That lowers his ERA to 2.21 as the Cardinals extend their winning streak to eight games and their NL Central lead to 1 1/2 games with the 5-1 win. Garcia did give up a rare home run, only his 5th in 110 innings.
Do you think he’s really got a shot with Strasburg in the league?
@Devon & His 1982 Topps blog: Yes. As Strasburg showed last night, he’s not perfect. Both Leake and Garcia will have pitched the whole season for winning teams.
Garcia’s biggest issue will be innings; it’ll be interesting to see if the breaks get put on come September. Especially if the lead is large enough and/or Lohse or Penny are in shape to give Jaime a break from the rotation. Of course, Leake may run into the same issue (though he didn’t start opening week like Jaime did) and Strasburg shouldn’t have that problem with his mid-season debut.