Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
With a back beat narrow and hard to master
So I was watching last night's game, looking at a soft-tossing LH who had kicked around from team to team, before he finally seemed to find a spot for himself in the majors. In his seventh year of trying, having been dumped by no fewer than eight major league teams, he came to Baltimore, and - perhaps - began to fulfil his promise.
That's the Bruce Chen story, of course, and I hope you were as impressed as I was by his work last night. Getting major league hitters to swing and miss 85 mph fastballs... it's almost like magic, isn't it? It's not - it's Pitching, and it's wonderful to watch.
I didn't hear Rance and gv27 make the comparison that seemed obvious to my mind - I didn't hear them mention another soft-tossing lefty who also bounced from one organization to another. In his seventh major league season, having been tried and found wanting by four different organizations, after being released three times, Jamie Moyer came to Baltimore and had his first winning season.
But Rance was absolutely right when he explained why Chen (and Moyer before him for that matter) had been sent packing so many times. If you don't throw hard enough to break windows, they'll always let you go and look at somebody who can.
Throwing a fastball 95 mph really is magic - the gods look down and touch the arm with a thunderbolt. But pitching - hitting spots, changing speeds, destroying the hitter's timing - only looks like magic. It is a learned skill, a craft - but so rare, so difficult. Narrow and hard to master.
AL
NYY: Wright (4-2, 6.39 ERA) at
SEA: Pineiro (5-9, 5.78 ERA)
TAM: Waechter (5-8, 4.94 ERA) at
BOS: Arroyo (10-9, 4.44 ERA)
BAL: Penn (2-2, 6.75 ERA) at
TOR: McGowan (1-2, 8.38 ERA)
DET: Douglass (5-2, 5.58 ERA) at
CHW: Contreras (9-7, 4.07 ERA)
TEX: Rogers (11-7, 3.15 ERA) at
KAN: Howell (1-4, 7.23 ERA)
OAK: Kennedy (7-8, 6.18 ERA) at
LAA: Santana (7-6, 4.94 ERA)
NL
PHI: Lieber (12-12, 4.81 ERA) at
NYM: Glavine (10-11, 4.06 ERA)
WAS: Armas (7-7, 4.53 ERA) at
ATL: Smoltz (13-6, 2.96 ERA)
SDG: Eaton (9-3, 3.86 ERA) at
MIL: Helling (1-0, 4.63 ERA)
CIN: Harang (9-11, 3.68 ERA) at
HOU: Oswalt (15-11, 2.94 ERA)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050901031549798