Gardenhire on Hendriks in the post game last night.
Robby Incmikoski asked Gardy about Hendriks streak of bad bounces that happened last night. I have thought the same thing about several of Hendriks starts, going back to previous callups. Gardy was a little sympathetic, but gave some straight talk on what he things Hendriks needs to do.
Quote:
[Hendriks] threw 107 pitches in five innings. He didn’t attack the strike zone. And I’m just guessing, but it sure looked like a lot of offspeed – a lot of breaking balls. Flipping the ball. He didn’t attack. He didn’t pound the strike zone.
You know what? You get a lead, you have to go attack. You put men on base out there, they make contact, sure things fall in there, thy bloop them…sure, he got a little unlucky.
But… 107 pitches in five innings. There is no way around that. That’s too many pitches. The pace of the game was slow. He’s got to do better than that. If he wants to get a win in this league, he’s got to pitch better than that. You have to go attack hitters. If they beat you then make them beat you – not putting guys on, not going 3-2 counts with every hitter.
And that’s what Liam’s got to understand here. It’s what he’s done in the minor leagues and he did it one start up here but he has to do it consistently.
Personally, I agree. Hendriks has had a lot of bad luck, and the strike zone was crummy last night, but I couldn't believe how many times Hendriks was 3-2 in those first couple of innings. Of course, that's also when he wasn't giving up runs, but I can't figure out why the hell he's nibbling so much. Is that really his game?