Great piece by Dejan Kovacevic on the turnaround by the rotation this year. I’ve both read and heard lots of great things about Ray Searage, but I particularly love this story about how he handled James McDonald’s ugly first few batters against Cincinnati last week:
But Searage seems to be most loved for his interaction with the players, which ranges from his generally affable nature to the far different approach he used May 19 in Cincinnati: McDonald had just labored through one inning and then allowed Jay Bruce to lead off the second with a home run. Searage burst from the dugout.
“Honestly, I was ready to wave the trainers out because I was sure Ray was going to pull something with how hard he was running,” Snyder said.
Searage tore into McDonald, challenging him — in explicit terms — to trust his stuff and start pitching like he means it. McDonald would go 62/3 innings and not allow another run in a 5-3 victory.
Remember last year when Joe Kerrigan would go out to the mound in his grumbly “Jim Leyland in cigarette withdrawl” face and Charlie Morton would roll his eyes and look like he’d given up on baseball entirely? It seems to me everyone responds to Searage in some positive way. As DK says, we’re awfully early into Searage’s tenure to make any real judgments, but it sure seems like the Pirates have found the right guy to run their pitching staff so far.
I also really like the part of the story that talks about the role that Kevin Correia’s played in McDonald’s turnaround so far this year. Correia’s a guy that’s had his share of struggles and success in the big leagues; it seems like maybe he’s a good fit for this staff for reasons that go beyond a veteran inning-eater. Make sure to read the whole article.
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