Sing Us a Vogelsong

The Giants have a definite ace on the mound when Ryan Vogelsong pitches. Yesterday Vogelsong took the mound against the Dodgers in San Francisco in an important series in the NL West. Vogelsong knew he had to pitch well, because his counterpart was Clayton Kershaw, the 2011 Cy Young award winner.

In the game last night Vogelsong pitched 7 shutout innings allowing just 7 hits and 1 walk. Kershaw also was strong pitching 6 innings allowing 2 runs to score. The Giants' bullpen would come in to close the door. With Lincecum not pitching as well as he should, Vogelsong has been a major part of the Giants' pitching staff. The Giants' pitching is the strongest part of their team, which makes Vogelsong so beneficial to the team. He has a 7-3 record and a 2.23 ERA over 96.2 innings this season. He doesn't strike out many batters, but relies heavily on his defense.

Vogelsong pitched in Japan for a few seasons after not finding success at the Major League level. When returning the the Majors in 2011 with a 2.74 ERA his presence was seen. Also in 2012 with the aforementioned 2.23 ERA Vogelsong's career turnaround has been a great story. Don't let his 4.31 career ERA fool you, his stuff is nasty. He may just make the All Star Team.