I can’t figure Igawa out. He’s obviously a bad pitcher, but then he does seem to rack up some impressive strikeout totals from time to time. 6 in 5 innings isn’t bad at all. I can’t help but wonder if there is a pretty good pitcher in him, but I don’t think he has the aptitude to bring it out of himself.

What about Nardi Contreras and Gil Patterson? Didn’t they work with him, for a long time? What improvements did they make on Igawa? Nada.

You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken spit and I don’t think anyone can make Igawa a major league pitcher, IMHO.

I was there in Box 457 today…Igawa was atrocious. Yes, he got six K’s but don’t let that fool you. He can’t consistently find the strike zone and every single hit he allowed was a solid shot. Sure, there were a couple that a better-than-average defense might’ve fielded, but the bottom line is that when hitters were making contact, they were making it with the good part of the wood. Wigginton’s HR was a MONSTER, as was BJ Upton’s.

My honest assessement (sp?) is that Igawa is suffering from bad coaching at the major league level. Whatever he did to make him a strikeout champ in Japan can’t fly here. Posada and Guidry need to bang it into his skull that he needs to work down in the zone, not up.

Besides that, it was nice to see Shelley’s homer (a rocket of a line drive) and more production out of Andy Phillips. Melky made two spectacular catches today and the weather was perfect for a day game.