I'd just like to say that I picked up ES in my Yahoo league after his first start - on a whim really. I wanted Ks, and I thought he had respectible upside. The fact that I dropped Ted Lilly for him was icing on the cake.

Part of it was the Royal "offense" - they would have made anyone look good last night. Angels offense was no better until the 9th - they made Brett Tomko look like Josh Beckett.

A few years from now, people will look back at 2007 and wonder how Ervin pitched so poorly without an injury excuse. His stuff is just too good. The insane home/road split over the last few years might have became some type of mental block, glad to see it's no longer bothering him.

Part of it was the Royal "offense" - they would have made anyone look good last night. Angels offense was no better until the 9th - they made Brett Tomko look like Josh Beckett.

Boy, that wasn't my take at all. I thought both pitchers really had great stuff last night. Tomko was hitting 95 and throwing almost everything for strikes. When you can throw breaking balls for strikes AND hit 95 with your fastball, you're going to be tough to hit. And Santana was around the zone all night, but never wild in it.

A few years from now, people will look back at 2007 and wonder how Ervin pitched so poorly without an injury excuse. His stuff is just too good. The insane home/road split over the last few years might have became some type of mental block, glad to see it's no longer bothering him.

First, I think it just shows how important mechanics are. By all accounts, it was one flaw that they recognized and fixed. As for the home road stuff, I think it was mostly sample size.

Boy, that wasn't my take at all. I thought both pitchers really had great stuff last night.

I don't mean to take anything away from Santana, he was great. As far as Tomko though, he's been around for awhile, and the good fastball he had last night is nothing new, but most teams bat him around pretty hard anyway.

Tomko does normally throw hard, but as Shredder pointed out, last night he also had command of a good breaking pitch, and he was very good, better than I've seen him in years. The Angel offense and the lineup that Scioscia ran out there isn't in mint condition right now, but Tomko would have made most teams look bad last night...

Brett Tomko, prior to yesterday, had only 11 games in his career with seven or more innings of shutout work. He has only one career shutout, August 26, 2004 as a Giant against the Marlins. This was a career night for him.

Shredder -- I have to disagree about Ervin's road splits. He was just so bad on the road, and so consistently bad, that you have to think there was a sizable psychological aspect to it, too. Key to fixing his head, apparently, was first fixing his hips.

Boy, that wasn't my take at all. I thought both pitchers really had great stuff last night. Tomko was hitting 95 and throwing almost everything for strikes. When you can throw breaking balls for strikes AND hit 95 with your fastball, you're going to be tough to hit. And Santana was around the zone all night, but never wild in it.

Correct. Tomko made Tomko look like Josh Beckett, for one night at least. The Angels only acted accordingly.

Not to piss on the parade as both pitchers WERE really on, but it was a generous strike zone.

I agree with #7 in disagreeing with #3. I also used to think Santana's home/away split was sample size until I tried to use that argument in a debate with my buddy who told me to look closer. His horrendous performance on the road was consistent year-to-year and month-to-month pretty much over his entire career (~300 IP at home and ~250 IP on the road, iirc).

It was a problem, but nothing some experience and maturity can't cure.

I'd like to thank Ervin Santana's home/road split for causing him to be a $1 player in this my fantasy auction this year, completely making up for the fact that I also drafted John Lackey.