Like many veteran pitchers, Paul Byrd has diminishing stuff but superior knowledge on how to use it. There isn't much room for error. Byrd is either very good or his numbers are very bad.
Thursday it was more a case of the latter, as he gave up three home runs in a 6-3 loss to the Yankees. Byrd relies on precise control of his pitches in order to make up for his lack of one dominating pitch. He won 15 games last year using that formula. He's off to a slow start this season, and one of the reasons is his inability to keep the ball in the ballpark.
Byrd has already allowed a team-high 10 home runs in just 40 innings. Six of those 10 home runs have been hit by the Yankees.
Because he is basically a six-inning pitcher at this stage of his career, home runs can be even more damaging to Byrd than to pitchers who can pitch deeper into games. In Thursday's game, he gave up three home runs in the span of 16 batters, which accounted for four of the six runs the Yankees scored.
YANKEES 6, INDIANS 3: Paul Byrd gave up three home runs, and Indians hitters were shut down by Mike Mussina and three relievers. One of the homers allowed by Byrd was by Jason Giambi, who has hit three home runs off Byrd this season. The Indians scored all their runs in the fifth inning, on a two-run double by Casey Blake and an RBI single by Kelly Shoppach.
