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I'm reeeeeally starting to like Chris Young.  ;D

The big (6'10") righthander just completed his second straight spectacular start for my Padres. Five days ago, Chris took a no-hitter into the 8th inning  (and for a franchise that's never had a no-no, that's an extreme tease) before settling for an 8 inning 1 hit performance and a 2-0 Padres home win over Colorado. Today, Chris took a no-hitter into the 6th inning on the road against a fairly hot-hitting Pirates squad before settling for an 8 inning, 2-hit performance and a 1-0 Padres win.

Over his last two starts, Chris has thrown 16 innings and allowed 3 hits, 3 walks, zero runs with 12 strikeouts. A ridiculous 31-5 fly out/ground out ratio (compared to 75-51 over his first 9 starts).

The key?  Movement on his fastball up in the strike zone. Prior to Chris' last two starts, he had an ERA of 4.32 and had allowed 13 HRs, 5th worst in the majors at that time. Chris is always going to work up in the zone...it's just the way he is. He's a control pitcher (Almost a 3 to 1 strikeout to walk rate for his young career) who gets hitters to climb the ladder going after the high cheese. In Texas, they tried to get Chris to work lower in the zone, and it backfired on them. Instead of his pitches having the same great movement, but lower in the zone, Chris couldn't find the lower part of the zone and his pitches up to the hitter lost a lot of their movement. Translation...ERA in the mid 4's and 19 HRs allowed.

I just hope the Padres just leave Chris alone, let him continue to work around the letters and let his natural movement keep hitters from getting solid contact. Bochy and our ballsy pitching coach, Darren Balsley seem to know what they're doing, so I'm hopeful that Young can blossom into a monster #2 starter behind Jake Peavy.