I wouldn't recommend that Trevor Cahill continue to allow 25 guys to reach base every 17.1 IP (a WHIP of 1.44) , and it's a safe bet that if his walk ratio doesn't come down below 6.75 / 9IP he is going to be in trouble. Yet after 3 starts, Cahill sits with a pretty 2.60 ERA, and it's not entirely a matter of luck.
In his 17.1 IP, Cahill has walked 13 batters and allowed 12 hits. 6 of those hits are singles, 6 of them doubles. What that means is that Cahill is consistently allowing batters to reach base, where they go station to station until he can get an inning ending DP ball or third out.
What you're seeing is a lot of runners on first, a lot of runners walked to second, some runners singled to second or even over to third, some first and third rallies turning into bases loaded opportunities...generally ending with a ton of guys left on base and few having scored.
Sound familiar? Trevor Cahill, with his ability to turn the opposition into a .203 hitting, .305 slugging, .347 OBPing collection of Cliff Penningtons, Jason Kendalls, and Jack Hannahans, has taken the A's offensive frustrations of 2007-08 and put them to work for us!
{More good Cahill analysis here - check it out.}
