By Sebastien Angel
Sports Editor
angelsd@sas.upenn.edu
If you had asked Penn coach John Cole which pitcher he could most rely on this upcoming season, he would almost certainly have mentioned one Doug Brown.
Last year, Brown sported a solid 3.70 ERA; in contrast, the staff as a whole finished at 8.26. And with the exception of Brown, this year's group appeared light on proven arms.
But 16 games into the season, Brown has blown four saves. On a staff where he was supposed to be the reliable elder statesman, he has been among the weakest links.
"I wish I could explain it, because I'd change it in a heartbeat," Brown said after Sunday's game-one loss against underachieving Columbia.
In that game, freshman Jim Birmingham left the game after five and a third innings with a 4-3 lead. Brown gave up three runs in the sixth and two in the eleventh to pick up the loss, his third of the year.
That outing, plus blown saves against Georgetown and Lafayette, make Brown 0-for his last three attempts.
Cole would only say that he is sticking with Brown, adding that "he has done it for us in the past and we know he will continue to do it."
Assistant coach John Yurkow feels that the blame shouldn't fall entirely on Brown, particularly for Sunday's effort.
"We could have done a little better on defense and taken him off the hook," Yurkow said. "You can't expect your best guy to shut people out every inning."
"As an offense, we've got to start generating more baserunners."
Nonetheless, Brown knows that something will have to change on his end.
"I'm definitely going to change my approach to warming up," Brown said. "Maybe I need to throw more pitches in the pen . maybe go down there an inning earlier, maybe run more."
Brown's recent performances suggest that early effort may help. Often, he seems to give up runs in his first inning out, but shuts opponents out in subsequent frames after settling down.
That was the case against Columbia (when he shut out the Lions for four innings), Georgetown (one) and Lafayette (one).
With one-fifth of the league season gone, Penn is already down two games to a divisional rival. As proven last season - when Penn was forced into a do-or-die set with Princeton after some early-season struggles - the Quakers can't afford to lose many more games in which they lead late.
And the emergence of effective starting pitchers such as freshman Todd Roth (1.32 ERA) will likely give Brown more chances to slam the door shut.
In the midst of his struggles, that's all he can ask for.
"This is the first time in my career where it's happened, where I can't come in and shut them down," he said.
"I don't know what to attribute it to."
