As a high schooler in Geneva, Ohio, Bisons pitcher Brian Anderson was a three-time letterman in golf. It's safe to say Anderson wanted to take a Mulligan Saturday.
With the Buffalo bullpen drained by 11 games in the last eight days, the left-hander had to take a pounding in the fifth inning against the Indianapolis Indians.
By the time it was over, Anderson had been torched for six runs. All told, he gave up an earned run average-busting 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings as the Bisons were bombed, 11-2.
"I had nothing. It was a joke," Anderson said. "It was an embarrassment to the team. It was a bleeping joke and you can put that in the paper with the little dot, dot, dot and the 'ing.' "
Anderson (6-3) saw his ERA jump from 3.60 to 4.67 and failed in his bid to tie Albie Lopez, Jim Lewis, Joe Roa and Jimmy Williams for the team victory lead at seven.
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As manager Brian Graham strode to the mound to relieve his starter, Anderson dribbled the ball on the dirt. He gave it to Graham and headed for a seat in the dugout, ripping off his new blue uniform top just as he sat down on the bench.
The shirt, it should be noted, was selected by Anderson. Graham allows the starting pitcher each day to select the team's wardrobe. With the addition of Cleveland-style blue tops this week, there are now three kinds of shirts and two styles of caps for a pitcher to select. Their choices are marked on a clubhouse chalkboard so teammates know which to don.
"I'll never pick that damn shirt again," Anderson said with a sheepish grin. "I'm going back to the old blue. I was frustrated and it happened to be the first thing I saw when I got in. So I said, 'That's coming off kind of quick' and yanked it off."
Aside from his weary pen, Graham stayed with Anderson to give the 24-year-old more work on his breaking pitch.
"In that situation, he's got to get some pitch development also because we want him to throw the breaking ball," Graham said. "He didn't exactly have an overpowering fastball tonight and his breaking ball was below average, so he was kind of limited with what he could do."
While with Cleveland earlier this year, Anderson had trouble matching the arm speed of his breaking ball to his fastball. He's still perfecting that area so hitters aren't tipped off to the pitch.
"I'm trying to incorporate that into everything else I do," he said. "Tonight, I just pitched like a weakling. Guys were too comfortable in the box against me. I should have thrown some 'neck balls'. ... I let them sit there without moving them and they're taking hacks at what should be good pitches. But when you're too comfortable in the box and you're a free-swinging lineup like them, it's just another pitch."
The five-game series continues today at 2 (Radio 550) with Buffalo's Casey Whitten (2-0) meeting Indy's Mike Remlinger (1-1).
