My Apologies to Doug Fister

Doug Fister’s last start of the regular season is in the books, a real pitcher’s duel (14-0) between Fister and the Indians’ prize trade deadline acquisition Ubaldo Jimenez. Seems that he didn’t turn out to be “post-injury Jeremy Bonderman, with slightly better control”, eh? Those of you who follow this blog regularly may remember that I was very critical of the Fister deal initially (in particular the fact that Dombrowski was unable to swing a deal for the aforementioned Jimenez) and published a several page long rant a few weeks later detailing why I felt Fister would be a colossal Washburn-like failure in the Olde English D. Clearly this has not come to pass. While I still feel that my argument was logically sound, I concede that Fister seems to be a genuinely better pitcher now than his minor league record suggests and that he shows no sign of reverting to Bondermanesque hittability.  Well, that, or he read my post and was inspired to elevate his game to a whole new level – because it clearly is at a whole new level right now.

If you’re reading this, Doug Fister, I apologize for the doubt and the scorn – just try to keep on doing what you’ve been doing (8-1, 1.79 ERA, 5 BB, 57 K in 70 1/3 innings for Detroit), I’ll be cheering for you.