Cecil Cooper expressed some concern about the increasingly ineffective Chris Sampson:
“I am a little concerned. Chris is usually pretty effective. He’s been missing his spots with his sinker. It’s been up, and he can’t afford to have his sinker up in the zone.”
Since returning from the DL on July 27 (and immediately getting sent in for the 12th/13th innings against the Cubs - the exact opposite of a low-pressure situation Coop promised to keep him out of for a while), here's Sampson's line:
7IP, 13H/10ER (12.86 ERA/2.71 WHIP), 6K:6BB, .394/.487/.606 against.
Justice is putting this lapse on the torn hip labrum that Sampson has tried to pitch through (which he was doing effectively...for a while), and keep in mind it's a torn hip labrum that sidelined Alex Rodriguez for six weeks - or something close to it.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
