On the other hand, a loss in a close game when you're forced to use Nicasio and Davis to close out the game simply shows how much of this season's collapse is due to bullpen injuries - when it is normal to use your pen for 4 innings a game you simply can't lose 5 (Arano, SD, Neshek, Hunter, Robertson) of your projected 8 RPs and expect to be competitive.
Garcia should be in AAA ball polishing his stuff, he has ML stuff but AA command.
Davis, like Rios, is an AAA pitcher who should only be used in long relief.
Watching Williams hit, I've given up hope. He simply lacks plate discipline, lacked it his whole career and that's the difference between AAA and ML ball, ML pitchers will nibble all night if you don't force them to throw strikes, AAA pitchers lack that command. Kingery has really improved in terms of laying off bad pitches, and has learned to hang in there and make contact with two strikes - I don't see any improvement in Williams in that regard. At this point I think Listi is a better bet.
The player who is a real disappointment is Hernandez, he had showed signs of becoming a disciplined leadoff hitter before he was injured last year, now he looks like a smaller guy who bulked up and wants to pull everything out of the park (shades of Franco). They gave him the whole left side of the IF and he didn't hit the ball to the opposite field all night - now we're not talking a one dimensional power hitter, but a gap hitter leading off. I think it's time to move him at the end of the season for whatever you can get.
