Gibson 9/11

http://i.imgur.com/7Cz3DBi.jpg

Part one of the twin billing didn't go as hoped. Gibson looked lack luster, and Cleveland took advantage to the tune of 7H, 7ER, 2BB 0Ks and 2HR in only 3IP. He only threw 57% of his pitches for strikes and only one swing and miss. His changeup was particularly futile. It fooled no one, getting not a single swinging strike, and was put into play 10 times, on only 14 pitches! In fact, the only time it ended up a strike was if someone offered at it (10 BiP and 1 Foul).

After the game, there was talk about Gibson possibly being shut down for the season, with indications that he might be struggling with a tired arm. Over the five outings I've blogged about, his average fastball velocity for both his 4 and 2 seam has remained steady at around 91.5. Looking at brooksbaseball.com, since the start of the year, Gibson has shown about a 1MPH drop over the last month, but that doesn't seem too significant. He threw 152.1 innings last year, and he's at 159 this year, so it doesn't seem like he should be tired.