On the bright side, Charlie Haeger was impressive in his first start

You uncover your eyes now.

Really, it wasn’t that bad. Just because the Dodgers opened the season 2-4, blowing leads like dandelions, coming home tied for last and the staff sporting a 5.23 earned-run average.

There was something good that came out of Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Marlins:

Charlie Haeger.

Take away the first three Florida hitters in the fourth inning, and it would be difficult to ask for more from him.

Haeger had his knuckleball darting all over the place, which is mostly good. He struck out 12 in six innings, walked four and allowed three hits.

Whether it was the breeze or the humidity, his knuckleball had plenty of movement. It danced so much that twice he struck out batters on wild pitches that got away from catcher A.J. Ellis and allowed the hitter to reach first.

He threw too many pitches (117, 67 for strikes) but knuckleballers are renowned for their rubber arms -- it’s not like they’re throwing 100 mph -- and hopefully Manager Joe Torre will allow him to go deeper into the game in his next start.

Torre saw something in Haeger this spring, because he really didn’t do anything to particularly distinguish himself and win the fifth starting spot. He had a nice ERA of 2.20, but not as good as Ramon Ortiz (0.96). Mostly, his major competition (James McDonald, Eric Stults, Josh Towers and Josh Lindblom) pitched themselves out of contention.

But if Haeger can continue to pitch like he did Sunday, concerns over the fifth spot will quickly evaporate. His performance was somewhat overlooked by the way the Dodgers gave away another game.

His only trouble Sunday was in the fourth, when his control briefly deserted him after he sat for a lengthy time when the Dodgers scored four times in the top of the inning.

He walked his first two batters and then gave up a crushing home run to Jorge Cantu.

Otherwise, it was an encouraging first start for Haeger. And after that trip, the Dodgers were looking for encouraging signs.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Comments

[Hollywood Dodger Mark]

I love this kid! He can be my fifth starter anytime. I even wear his slacks.

[bob cuomo]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Having an effective knuckleballer as part of your rotation isn't a bad thing...hopefully, he'll continue to be effective.

[lawdog]

Haeger is even better than I expected, and you can’t say much more than that. If the umpire stays consistent in calling the floater above the knees on the corner a strike, he probably goes 7 innings with 14 strikeouts, no runs, no walks and one hit. That’s my biggest fear for Haeger. The dancer is not only the hardest pitch to hit or catch, it’s the hardest pitch to call by an umpire who isn’t really intensely focused. Against the Marlins, the ump was right on for 3 innings and then lost his focus in the 4th. All of a sudden Haeger couldn’t buy a strike even though the pitches he was throwing were hitting the exact same spots where they had been called strikes in the innings before. His fastball was measured at 85 mph, tops, on the gun and had good movement in on a right hander. If his fastball was measured that high, it must have actually been 88 mph, according to Game Day's gun, which ain’t chopped liver when you can bring it onto the corner via the backdoor like a backdoor slider. He threw a 77 mph slurve (80 mph according to Game Day?) exactly twice, once for a strike. The other for a strike called a ball by the fatigued umpire.

The home run he served up was one of the best dancers he threw all day and although it had tumbled onto the outside corner at the knees would have been called a ball by the umpire in the 4th inning–or a strike in the first three innings. Seeing as hitting a dancer that is tumbling is akin to try9ing to hit a gnat in the air with a sledgehammer, you'd have to say Can't du was lucky. Probably closed his eyes and swung as hard a s he could at the spot he hoped the pitch would be when it entered the hitting zone. Ahh well, even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in awhile.

All in all, 6 innings , 3 earned runs, 3 hits, 4 walks and 12 strikeouts. A most impressive quality start for our future “ace”.

He not only can be used every 5th day (make him the #4 starter and drop Padilla to #5), there is no reason why he couldn’t be used in middle relief between two flame throwers and help our pitiful pen. Let him follow Kurveshaw and pitch before Bellisario and/or Broxton. Don’t use him before an 89 mph fastball kind of guy (Sherrill) or after Billingsley.