Eric Milton - Not what he once was?

At the risk of jinxing tonight's game....

Last season Canuck Dodger warned those of us who were expecting Chan Ho Park to flop in a big way based on his clearly awful performances over the previous few season that we weren't accounting for other factors that were equally important.  Canuck pointed out that Chan Ho's velocity was markedly up - I believe he sat 93-94 in a lot of his appearances - and that that was evidence that he was healthy for the first time in years.  Perhaps so, since Park gave the Dodgers more good innings, and got bashed much less, than many of us expected.

This season's latest reclamation project is Eric Milton, who last started Sunday in the game broadcast on ESPN.  They show us several clips of a younger Milton who was capable of hitting the mid-90s with his fastball and challenged hitters up in the zone.  ESPN compared that Milton to the current one, who is attempting to resurrecting himself as a control-based lefty throwing an assortment of breaking stuff and spotting a fastball that might touch 90.

It is pretty clear that Milton hasn't built up his stamina yet as he visibly tires around 75-85 pitches at this point (in the ESPN game, his last pitch was higher than his target by about one foot and whacked by Reed Johnson), but perhaps I was too quick to judge him as a mere gopher-ball assembly line.  His pitching approach is markedly different now compared to his Cincinnati and Philadelphia days, so perhaps we should cast a somewhat warier eye at his old number and let our eyes be the judge.  Maybe he can even turn into a (very?) poor man's version of one of Phil Gurnee's faves, Frank Tanana, who ended up logging 21 seasons in the majors.