Is there a closer controversy brewing? I don’t know. I hope not. The San Francisco Giants are 16-9 on April 23rd following tonight’s 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers — but it didn’t have to be that close.
Ryan Walker has now had back-to-back “Dude, Where’s My Closer?”-level appearances, and tonight’s non-save situation meltdown in the 9th inning of a 4-0 game featured a noticeable velocity drop. He was 96/97 mph in Sunday’s walk-off loss to the Angels and tonight he was more 95/96 — plus, a noticeable drop in spin on his slider (~2,600 rpm Sunday, ~2,550 tonight).