Tale of two pitchers

I'm trying to give Ian Snell the benefit of the doubt, I really am. But the more he pitches, the more I'm starting to think he's just not going to come around to be a consistent starting pitcher.

I said it was a mistake to let Snell pitch in the World Baseball Classic. This is a guy that needs a strict regime, especially with a new pitching coach. While those at Tuesday's game said Snell got a couple of tough breaks, it couldn't have been that many to allow eight runs.

Wednesday's game, a completely different story with Zach Duke. Here's a guy who had a horrific year last year. He came into camp in good shape and with the right attitude. He also came out and established himself early in the game and that led to a very successful outing and his first win of the year.

When he froze Albert Pujols in the first inning, that set the tone for the game. A lot of run support also helped Duke. But nonetheless, just like Maholm on Monday, he showed that he was in control of the game early Wednesday.

Snell rarely shows that kind of control. And if he doesn't start showing it soon, he could and should be shown the door from the rotation.