Even though Henderson Alvarez allowed only one earned run in his 5 1/3 innings at the Cubs Sunday, it was the most he's allowed in four starts. For those curious, that comes out to a 0.34 ERA.
And even though only two of those starts were technically quality starts, the only reason he left the other two before completing six innings was because of injuries -- the first to his elbow and the second to his hip.
His hip is fine, by the way, as is his elbow, so ... nothing but good news, right?
I guess. But I'm still not ready to trust a pitcher who misses as few bats as he does. It's clear his sinker is something special -- one capable of producing a league-leading percentage of ground balls -- but still, what about those days when it isn't sinking quite right? And what about those days when those ground balls aren't fielded so cleanly? Though it hasn't impacted his ERA too much, Alvarez has been hit hard in seven of his starts this season.
You know who else had a special sinker that was supposed to lead to great things? Fausto Carmona. Instead, he became Roberto Hernandez and never did anything of real consequence.
Because Alvarez's bad starts tend to be exceptionally bad, I feel like you have to start him every time to get the full benefit. And with his limited strikeout ability, I don't have the discipline to do that.