Jimenez Dominates…Again!

I don’t care if you cheer for the Astros, the Yankees, the A’s or the Marlins, if you’re a baseball fan, you have to be enjoying what Ubaldo Jimenez is showing us this season. So far this season, all of his opponents have looked helpless to score any runs against him and he simply dominates other teams with no inkling of compassion for their plights! And rightfully so. Pitching in Minnesota’s new ball park, against one of the top 5 lineup in the American League, Ubaldo simply took the ball and hammered the bottom of the strike zone like he was trying to break the new place in. The fact that he induced 13 groundouts and only 3 pop outs tells you just how strongly he nailed the bottom of the zone.

It did help matters that Joe Mauer was only AB once as a pinch hitter, but when you have Dernard Span, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, and Mike Cuddyer finishing their game with a 2 for 15 total, you know you had a great night. Ubaldo did allow more hits than he has for the majority of the games he’s pitched this year with 8 given up over 8 innings, but that’s nothing to worry about at this point. The fact is that he was effective, efficient, and deserved to earn his 13th win of the young season.

One thing’s for certain today. The 40,000 Minnesotans who saw him pitch yesterday all asked themselves the same question: is he better than Johan Santana was for us? It’s still too early to tell. But if he winds up have so many strong 200+ inning seasons without injury, the Colorado Rockies future is very bright indeed. A future rotation of Jimenez, Jhoulys Chacin, Christian Friedrich, and Tyler Matzek makes you believe that the Rockies are on the brink of becoming a powerhouse in the NL West!