When Dodgers right-hander Brandon McCarthy made his start on August 2 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field the conditions were less than favorable. In fact, 11 pitches into the game home plate umpire Mike Everitt called for a rain delay. Of those first 11 pitches, one nearly hit Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu and two missed the plate by several feet and went completely to the backstop.

As expected, most folks blamed McCarthy’s wildness on the poor weather conditions, and understandably so; it was downright nasty as that sudden squall passed over Coors Field. But when play resumed 38 minutes later, things did not go much better for the 33-year-old Glendale, California native. In fact, he lasted only 3.0 innings, during which he allowed three runs on three hits and struck out two after making only 85 pitches (48 for strikes). But the red flag went up – or at least it should have – because of the five walks McCarthy issued before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts finally pulled him in the eventual 7-3 Dodgers loss.

However, when McCarthy made his next start on August 7 against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium, it was arguably the single-most beautiful day of the entire season with a game time temperature of 79 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. In the top of the first inning McCarthy uncorked five pitches that went complete to the backstop, having again missed the plate by several feet; one with a runner on second base who easily advanced to third base and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. And though McCarthy would only be charged with that one wild pitch on the day, he ended up sending eight total pitches to the backstop. He also hit a batter before Roberts finally pulled him from the game; this time after 3.2 innings and only 65 pitches, of which 31 were strikes.

There was no rain to blame this time.

McCarthy didn’t just miss the strike zone in his August 7 start at Dodger Stadium, he missed it by several feet – eight times. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

Although the always brutally honest McCarthy said that there was nothing wrong with his surgically-repaired right elbow, his explanation of his wildness left reporters thinking otherwise.

“Physically, I feel fine. I don’t know what the hell is going on,” McCarthy said, after his second consecutive short outing. “This is going to be the least amount of answers you can possibly give in an interview because I just don’t really have them right now. Four-seamer, I just can’t feel what’s happening and I don’t know what the hell this is. I’ve never had it before.”

Roberts account of the situation wasn’t much different.

“Brandon physically is fine. I think just mechanically he’s out of whack,” said the Dodgers skipper. “He had feel for the breaking ball today but that four-seam fastball really had no command of or feel, he was just kind of chucking it up there … similar in Denver. I know he and Honey[cutt] are going to get back and work through some things. So right now, as I understand it, he’s healthy, so we expect him to make that start on Saturday [August 13 against the Pittsburgh Pirates].”

This past week McCarthy threw two bullpen session, the first on Tuesday and the second on Thursday. Following that second bullpen session, McCarthy proclaimed himself good to go.

“It felt very normal this week,” McCarthy said. “Done all the work, it’s just you got to go out in games and make sure that everything is there where you need it to be when it counts. The only alternative is sit around and throw bullpens forever.”

Although the Dodgers, their fans and most of all Brandon McCarthy are hopeful that his control issues in his last two starts were nothing more than a mechanical blip on the radar, should he struggle in today’s rare 1:05 pm (PT) Saturday start, it will be impossible not to think that there is something terribly wrong with his Tommy John-repaired right elbow.