Locke
If you’ve been reading this site for any amount of time, you probably know about the “Jeff Locke curse”. In 2009, it seemed like every time I saw Jeff pitch, he had a bad outing. That’s probably because he only had bad outings when I was in attendance. You can see a few of those outings in the video recaps section of the site. Despite the bad outings, I saw some good things out of Locke, which made me view him as a guy who, at best, could be a solid number two pitcher, and more conservatively, a number three starter.
On July 31st, I saw Jeff Locke pitch for the first time during the 2010 season. It might be too early to say the curse has been broken, but Locke definitely pitched a gem here. His biggest issue from when I saw him in 2009 was a lack of control with his curveball. Locke throws a big looping curveball, which can be hard to control. This outing the curve looked much tighter, was controlled very well, and displayed why I believe Locke could be a #2-3 starter in the majors.
Locke pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. Every pitch he threw can be seen in the video recap section below. Some key plays to watch for:
-A great grab by Locke against the first batter on a line drive back to the mound
-Strikeouts: 3rd, 8th, 9th, 18th, and 21st batters
