Johnson: 'Time to start worrying about Ranger Suarez'

It's time to start worrying about Ranger Suarez.

Is it fatigue? Is there an injury? Is he experiencing a period of dead arm?

"I think there is a little bit of fatigue and I think there is with all our guys," said Rob Thomson following yet another shaky outing by the 28 year old lefty, where he allowed five runs in as many innings in a loss to the second place Braves.

I expect the manager to publicly dismiss a bad outing or two.

"None of the numbers we measure are really jumping out at us," Thompson added.

I disagree. The numbers his past three starts are eye opening.

—June 25th: 4 runs (2 ER), 8 H, loss to the Tigers

—June 30th: 6 ER, 10 hard hits balls, 4.2 IP, loss to the Marlins

—July 6th: 5 ER, 5.0 IP, loss to the Braves

That's a 7.47 ERA his past three outings. Calculate that into his season ERA, and it balloons from 1.75, to 2.58.

Not many pitchers in MLB have the ability to shake things off like Ranger Suarez has in his career, going from reliever to starter to closer, back to starter, all with a smile on his face. But there comes a time, perhaps some extended rest—or even a temporary six man rotation might help. Suarez will have one more start before the all-star break, which won't actually be a break since he'll be participating in the all-star game.

This is where the seasoned, sage manager must step in and protect his pitcher. The warning signs are there.