Unfortunately, Lowe isn't the only concern. Brad Penny is a case to be very worried about as well, and when your 1-2 pitching combo is playing poorly, it takes a lot to counter that and put up the wins.
As was said before, it's incredibly difficult for a sinker-ball pitcher to be dominant consistently, but right now, Lowe is not even keeping us in games, he's merely giving batters balls to hit. Where as with Penny..his velocity is down, his location is off, and he's lost all ability to whiff a batter, and it's definately been on the cards for a while.
They are both incredibly good pitchers who will find a way around their current struggles, but it needs to happen fast. Lowe needs to be chipping the bottom of the bat, getting those grounders that are bread and butter to him. Penny needs to find some extra juice and put the ball past batters, rather than placing it in the zone for them to pick. For a pitcher with power, he's striking out next to nobody, which isn't a good sign. Is he carrying a niggle? Something needs to be done.
All of a sudden now, Chad Billingsley is on the mound, and we need a good performance from him to re-assure us that our pitching staff isn't in a total decline. Things will turn upwards, but we need it done soon.
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