Gammons: Garza's Struggles Are 'A Complete Mystery'
(CBS) The end result of Thursday night's Cubs win doesn't come close to tell the story of the game. While the Cubs won 10-9, they were trailing in the fourth inning by a score of 8-0, and starting pitcher Matt Garza failed to get out of the third inning.
While the outcome of Thursday was positive for the Cubs, it might overshadow yet another rough outing from Garza, who the Cubs traded some prized prospects to acquire during the offseason.
"It's amazing that this has happened," Peter Gammons, of the MLB Network, said on the Mully and Hanley Show. "When that trade was made for Garza, there were a lot of people in the American League that said, 'he'll go over to the National League and he'll win 20 [games].'"
LISTEN: Peter Gammons On The Mully And Hanley Show
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In three seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, Garza was 34-31 with a 3.86 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP and struck out 7.1 batters per nine innings. Coming to the NL Central from the AL East should have been an easy transition.
"I mean he never really had great [run] support in Tampa," Gammons said. "Now Tampa does have great defense, the best in baseball, but at the same time, I think Garza, as a whole, is a really good pitcher. And whatever has happened to him is a complete mystery."
Outside of Thursday night, Garza has struggled for most of the the season, posting a 4-7 record and a 4.26 ERA.
"I was talking to a couple general managers [on Thursday] about [Garza]," Gammons said. For those AL Central general managers, there were two mysteries in Chicago: The first is how the White Sox aren't playing better, and the second was about Garza. According to Gammons, Garza's struggles were described as "totally inexplicable."
