No Walks for D-Cab... Now that's wild!
Of all the numbers that Daniel Cabrera throws at you - and the most astonishing up to this point in his career have involved his height, the miles-per-hour on his fastball and his loss total from last season - here's one that jumps out at me like the living dead in a horror flick: Zero!
Sound wimpy? Guess again.
That's how many walks Cabrera allowed in his last start, when he muscled his way through eight innings to beat the Seattle Mariners. (Formerly the Seattle Sherrills before they made the mistake of trading this guy. Seven-for-seven in saves! But that's another set of numbers for another time.)
Cabrera used to be wild - as in frat-house wild. As in mosh-pit wild. He was born to be wild. But not anymore. He's throwing strikes. He's pumping fastball after fastball at hitters who can barely see them, let alone hit them. And he's winning.
When a pitcher is 6 foot 9 and throws as hard as Daniel, he should be collecting Cy Young Awards. He should be scaring the pants off batters. (Aubrey Huff didn't count when he played for Tampa Bay.) But there's nothing intimidating about a guy who can't get the ball over the plate - unless it's coming at your head!
This is the Daniel Cabrera that we've been waiting for since he left the minor leagues. We already knew that he was strong. In his last three starts, he's got an ERA to match it -2.18.
Now THAT'S strong!
And really, do any of us want our D-Cab decaffeinated?
Not me!
It may be too good to be true... but I do think he is taking things more serious and putting the pressure on himself to finally make it happen in '08. The new pitching coach seems to know how to deal with D-Cab, which is nice to see.