Notes: De La Rosa an early surprise
Jenkins not concerned about slow start
MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers knew their young left-hander had Major League stuff.
They also knew he did not have a mindset to match.
Spring Training offered evidence. One day, Jorge De La Rosa would dominate a
lineup like the San Francisco Giants. A few days later, he would be shaking
off catchers' signs, fidgeting his way all over the mound, walking too many
batters and getting knocked around.
"Right at the end of Spring Training we told Jorge, 'There's no shaking
anymore.'" Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "'You're still a young man, you're
still learning your craft and we've got two very experienced catchers on this
team, and you will throw exactly what they put down.'"
One of those experienced catchers is Damian Miller.
"I said, 'Just go with me. Get on the bump, look at what [sign] I put down,
and throw,'" Miller said. "The last two or three times out he's been doing
that."
So far, so good. De La Rosa has been the Brewers' biggest early season
surprise after three scoreless appearances, including a two-inning stint in
Sunday's extra-inning loss in which he surrendered a hit and one walk but
struck out five. Working with a fastball that topped out at 97 mph on the
Wrigley Field radar gun and a darting change-up at 75 mph, De La Rosa
dominated Cubs hitters, including Jeromy Burnitz, who leaned back on a
change-up only to watch it dive through the strike zone.
"It's a different ballgame here than in Spring Training," De La Rosa said via
fellow pitcher Victor Santos, who served as a translator for the Mexican
import. "I am a little more focused, and it is giving me more confidence."
De La Rosa said there would still be instances where he would shake off a
catcher's call. Still, he has mostly bought into the "don't think, just
throw" mentality.
"I feel comfortable following them because they've been in this league a long
time and they know all the hitters," De La Rosa said.
De La Rosa feels his fastball is his best pitch. But the one that has been
dropping jaws is that change-up. He can make it cut away from left-handed or
right-handed hitters by using the same grip with a different release point.
Eventually, the Brewers may decide to move De La Rosa back to the starting
rotation. But Yost has a feeling that he could develop into a dominant
left-handed reliever, something Milwaukee went without through all of 2004.
"From Spring Training to what we've seen in the start of the season has been
a 180-degree turn," Yost said. "He's on the attack. He's banging strikes. ...
He's going to have his rough spots, but he's been a real pleasant surprise
for us so far."
Reason for panic? Geoff Jenkins laughed off the suggestion that Yost should
shake-up the lineup to jump-start the struggling right-fielder.
"Trust me," Jenkins said. "I'll be fine."
In his first five games, Jenkins batted .174 (4-for-23) with just one
extra-base hit and one RBI. He singled and scored in Sunday's game, but went
hitless the rest of the way, a day after striking out four times in
Saturday's loss.
Jenkins looked at video of his at-bats and noticed a problem with his weight
shift.
"I made a little adjustment and took it into batting practice today, and I'm
liking what I feel," Jenkins said.
Yost also blew off any suggestion of altering the 3-4-5 spots in his lineup.
Lyle Overbay went into Monday's Miller Park opener hitting .286 in the
three-hole in front of Lee, who was hitting .273 from the clean-up spot. It's
too early to panic about Jenkins, according to Yost.
"It's way too early," Yost said. "We give guys a month, six weeks. This is
one of our main guys in the middle of our lineup. You don't panic after a
week. You've been in the game as long as I have, [you know that] guys go
through ups and downs. You have to ride it out because if you start messing
around now, it's going to last a lot longer."
Successful move: De La Rosa said he has quickly adjusted to his new home in
the bullpen. The same is not exactly true for excitable right-hander Wes
Obermueller.
"It's not as easy as you thought it was, is it?" demanded veteran Ricky
Bottalico, with a dose of mock anger.
"It's not," said Obermueller, who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in his
season debut over the weekend. "I was out there at Wrigley Field the other
day thinking, 'I want in this game. I want in this game. I want in this
game.' I felt like I wanted to run through a brick wall."
Miller has been a calming influence, Obermueller said.
"He's a real good reader of emotions," Obermueller said. "He'll come out
there to calm me down, and everything is real positive. Every pitcher has a
different personality. Like Vic [Santos], he's a real laid-back guy. I'm a
guy who's more high-strung. He knows how to adjust to our different
personalities."
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