D-Train D-Railed

As Dontrelle Willis goes on the DL for the second time with this mysterious "anxiety disorder" I cannot help to feel sadness for the embattled hurler. To have someone who at one point looked to have such a bright future - when he won 22 games and finished second in NL CY Young voting in 2005 - fall so far is just plain unfortunate. Not to say that he didn't deserve his demotion... err, I mean, "injury"... since, after all, he has allowed 18 free passes in his last 11.0 IP. In fact, barring his one excellent start against the Rangers (6.1 IP 1 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K), Dontrelle posted an ugly, ugly 0-4 9.22 ERA 12:26 K:BB in his 6 other starts.

Although Dontrelle's meltdown was slightly less dramatic than Ankiel's (see: top of the 3rd, Game 1 2000 NLDS) it has been no less devastating. Dontrelle is, simply put, laboring to throw strikes at the moment. It doesn't appear to be a physical problem, but rather all mental, and I doubt there is any chance that a second DL stint is going to magically fix anything that the first could not. It appears that the D-Train is officially done. Stick a fork in him. I hope he can learn to play the outfield as well as Ankiel, because Dontrelle's future as a MLB pitcher looks grim, to say the least. Oddly enough, Dontrelle does have some precedent for offensive production - he is only the third player in MLB history to record 20 wins and 20 hits in the same season. It was always sorta of a running joke that Dontrelle was a great hitting pitcher (didn't he bat 6th one game for the Marlins?) but now he might need to polish that swing a little more if he ever hopes to see a major league field from anywhere but the stands again.