If Kevin Appier was a longshot to break camp with the big club before, his odds of doing so are probably well beyond the lower threshold of quantifiability after today's disaster outing:
The pitching line indicated as much. Appier gave up four runs on five hits, threw two wild pitches, and only recorded one out before being lifted from a game that limited pitchers to one inning of work.
ST stats are meaningless, but ST observations certainly aren't, and if Appier continues to struggle with the speed of his "completely healed" arm, then he might as well just go ahead and hang 'em up, because pitchers don't get any healthier after March.
Of course, if the rest of the game is any indication, then today was Opposite Day, and Appier has nothing to worry about. Consider some of the things that took place:
- Jeremy Reed went deep off a lefty
- Matt Lawton went deep without any "help"
- Greg Dobbs just plain old went deep
- Willie Bloomquist drove in two runs
- Jose Lopez walked
- Matt Thornton was the only pitcher who didn't allow a run