seemed to be in command of his pitches. And though he is not known as an over-powering strikeout pitcher, he was able to work out of jams last year with opportune Ks.
Which brings us to yesterday. In 5.1 innings, Happ walked six batters while recording zero strikeouts. It was the first time in his career that he finished a start without a single strikeout. And the six walks tied a career-high.
The fact that he escaped without allowing a single earned run is not unprecedented, but it's pretty damn rare. In fact, Happ's performance was just the 12th time in the integration era in which a starting pitcher walked at least six and struck out none without allowing an earned run, according to data compiled by Baseball-Reference.com. Ten ofrotation.

The first involves J.A. Happ's arm. Dating back to spring training, the lefty's fastball has appeared to lack some of the life it had during his stellar rookie campaign of a year ago. His success in 2009 stemmed from two chief variables: his ability to locate his fastball on both corners of the plate -- particularly inside -- and the way the ball seemed to explode out of his hand and surprise hitters (think of all the high swinging strikes he got). Happ has never been a low-pitch-count guy -- he walked 4.0 B/9 in 2008, 3.0 in 2009, and 3.5 during his minor league career -- but he has always seemed to be in command of his pitches. And though he is not known as an over-powering