Four games against the defending AL champs? Should be good.
For some odd reason, five of the Jays first eight games have come against LH starters. If you look at the Toronto lineup, wouldn't you sort of expect the southpaws to be running for cover? They're 4-1 against lefties, and they'll get two more when Detroit arrives (Maroth and Robertson, the only LH to beat them so far.)
Some random observations after a couple of nights in the House that Ted Owns:
Frank Thomas looks like he's pressing. He's not working the count and waiting for a pitch he can drive, which has been his modus operandi for some seventeen years. Instead, he's hacking at the first decent thing he sees. Not like him, and it surely will not last.
Royce Clayton can still move around pretty good, especially to his right, but his arm strength really doesn't look much more impressive than Russ Adams. Which is a little startling, and it also means that it doesn't much matter how well he moves to his right - he's not going to throw out too many people from the hole. He does throw the ball straight, at least. And he's been having some very good at bats. That's not likely to last forever, either.
Aaron Hill is hitting exactly the way he did when he showed up in mid 2005, which is a sight for sore eyes.
I will bestow two Player of the Game Awards for last night's contest. First, obviously, Troy Glaus. Old Aches and Pains had himself a fine ball game. He lined a ball into the right field corner his first time up, galloped into second base, took third on a fly ball, and scored the game's first run on Aaron Hill's infield "hit." He walked to load the bases his second time up, but was thrown out at home trying to score on Rios' double. He left off the sixth with a home run to make the score 5-3, and one inning later drew another walk and scored yet another run on Hill's double. In the course of these four at bats he also made the Royals hurlers throw 23 pitches. John Gibbons gave him the last two innings off to rest his weary bones.
And Jason Frasor, ladies and gentlemen. He came into a 5-4 game with the tying runner on base to face Mark Teahen, and got his man on the first pitch. Unfortunately, Royce Clayton misplayed it, and brought Reggie Sanders up with the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first. Frasor fell behind 3-1, and on the full count pitch Sanders lashed a shot up the middle - which Frasor speared and tossed to Overbay to end the threat. He then struck out the side on thirteen pitches in the eighth inning.
Take a bow, son!
A Josh Towers failure always provokes heated debate around the Box - there are numerous folks who think Towers' does not have major league ability, and whatever success he has had at the major league level is inexplicable, a fluke, something with no logical explanation. He doesn't have major league ability, or at the very least, major league stuff. As is well known, I think this usually means Towers doesn't stand 6-5 and throw 95 mph, but let's not go there again - I'll accept that there's an argument to be made, just so I can move along to Gustavo.
Because where does this leave Gustavo Chacin? He doesn't even throw as hard as Towers most of the time (tonight his fastball was usually about 85 - he got one or two of them up to 89). His control is nowhere near as sharp. He doesn't have a single outstanding pitch. He's pretty homer prone himself. What's he doing in the major leagues?
Chacin's basic skill is changing speeds and moving the ball around. And that's not smoke and mirrors either. It's a true fundamental, a talent that remarkably few pitchers master (and I wouldn't say Chacin has mastered it, not by a long shot.) But it's much, much more reliable than a 98 mph heater. Major league hitters can hit fastballs, no matter how hard they're coming. But if you can destroy a hitter's timing... he's not going to hurt you. It's something you can count on, a dependable fact of the game.
So Chacin gets hitters out by getting them off balance, by disrupting their timing. That's not Towers - he gets batters out by hitting spots - by putting the ball in locations in the strike zone where it's difficult to hit it well. The point is that these are both legitimate, long tried and tested methods of getting major league hitters out.
Now if Towers could just change speeds like Chacin, or if Chacin could only hit spots like Towers... well great Gosh Almighty. You'd have Glavine and Maddux.
And if wishes were horses, traffic would come screeching to a stop.
After all, no one changes speeds on utterly mediocre stuff better than Glavine, and no one puts the ball in places where it's not likely to get hit very well than Maddux. And Glavine also can hit the spot more or less at will, and Maddux changes speeds as well as anyone not named Glavine. Which is why they're getting invited to the Hall of Fame, and a thousand hotshot flamethrowers, from Billy Koch to Francisco Rosario, are going to have to buy a ticket.
Anyway - these are real, genuine, bonafide major league abilities. They're more valuable than the ability to throw 96 mph, and not nearly as common. Being able to throw hard is fairly useless unless you've got some of the other skills as well - if you can't throw it in the strike zone, or if you can't vary the speed, you're not going to get major league hitters out. It just isn't going to happen.
The great dream, of course, of scouts and fans and general managers everywhere, is to find the guy with all of these attributes. So they always start off with the guys who throw 95 mph, because they figure that's the one thing you can't teach, and maybe a young pitcher can acquire the other abilities. Somehow.
I can think of one pitcher who had all these attributes, and one only - Pedro Martinez, in his prime. No one else comes to mind, though - not Seaver or Carlton, not Johnson or Alexander, not Clemens or Koufax.
In fact, you've got just as good a chance of teaching a guy to add 5 or 10 mph to his fastball as you have of teaching him to hit his spot, or to change speeds effectively. If it was that easy, believe me, there'd be a hell of a lot more guys doing it. Because it works.
Ohka vs Maroth tonight. Dice-K now has his first major league L, and Mike Mussina has a pulled hamstring. Who could ask for more?
Good times are coming!
For some odd reason, five of the Jays first eight games have come against LH starters. If you look at the Toronto lineup, wouldn't you sort of expect the southpaws to be running for cover? They're 4-1 against lefties, and they'll get two more when Detroit arrives (Maroth and Robertson, the only LH to beat them so far.)
Some random observations after a couple of nights in the House that Ted Owns:
Frank Thomas looks like he's pressing. He's not working the count and waiting for a pitch he can drive, which has been his modus operandi for some seventeen years. Instead, he's hacking at the first decent thing he sees. Not like him, and it surely will not last.
Royce Clayton can still move around pretty good, especially to his right, but his arm strength really doesn't look much more impressive than Russ Adams. Which is a little startling, and it also means that it doesn't much matter how well he moves to his right - he's not going to throw out too many people from the hole. He does throw the ball straight, at least. And he's been having some very good at bats. That's not likely to last forever, either.
Aaron Hill is hitting exactly the way he did when he showed up in mid 2005, which is a sight for sore eyes.
I will bestow two Player of the Game Awards for last night's contest. First, obviously, Troy Glaus. Old Aches and Pains had himself a fine ball game. He lined a ball into the right field corner his first time up, galloped into second base, took third on a fly ball, and scored the game's first run on Aaron Hill's infield "hit." He walked to load the bases his second time up, but was thrown out at home trying to score on Rios' double. He left off the sixth with a home run to make the score 5-3, and one inning later drew another walk and scored yet another run on Hill's double. In the course of these four at bats he also made the Royals hurlers throw 23 pitches. John Gibbons gave him the last two innings off to rest his weary bones.
And Jason Frasor, ladies and gentlemen. He came into a 5-4 game with the tying runner on base to face Mark Teahen, and got his man on the first pitch. Unfortunately, Royce Clayton misplayed it, and brought Reggie Sanders up with the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first. Frasor fell behind 3-1, and on the full count pitch Sanders lashed a shot up the middle - which Frasor speared and tossed to Overbay to end the threat. He then struck out the side on thirteen pitches in the eighth inning.
Take a bow, son!
A Josh Towers failure always provokes heated debate around the Box - there are numerous folks who think Towers' does not have major league ability, and whatever success he has had at the major league level is inexplicable, a fluke, something with no logical explanation. He doesn't have major league ability, or at the very least, major league stuff. As is well known, I think this usually means Towers doesn't stand 6-5 and throw 95 mph, but let's not go there again - I'll accept that there's an argument to be made, just so I can move along to Gustavo.
Because where does this leave Gustavo Chacin? He doesn't even throw as hard as Towers most of the time (tonight his fastball was usually about 85 - he got one or two of them up to 89). His control is nowhere near as sharp. He doesn't have a single outstanding pitch. He's pretty homer prone himself. What's he doing in the major leagues?
Chacin's basic skill is changing speeds and moving the ball around. And that's not smoke and mirrors either. It's a true fundamental, a talent that remarkably few pitchers master (and I wouldn't say Chacin has mastered it, not by a long shot.) But it's much, much more reliable than a 98 mph heater. Major league hitters can hit fastballs, no matter how hard they're coming. But if you can destroy a hitter's timing... he's not going to hurt you. It's something you can count on, a dependable fact of the game.
So Chacin gets hitters out by getting them off balance, by disrupting their timing. That's not Towers - he gets batters out by hitting spots - by putting the ball in locations in the strike zone where it's difficult to hit it well. The point is that these are both legitimate, long tried and tested methods of getting major league hitters out.
Now if Towers could just change speeds like Chacin, or if Chacin could only hit spots like Towers... well great Gosh Almighty. You'd have Glavine and Maddux.
And if wishes were horses, traffic would come screeching to a stop.
After all, no one changes speeds on utterly mediocre stuff better than Glavine, and no one puts the ball in places where it's not likely to get hit very well than Maddux. And Glavine also can hit the spot more or less at will, and Maddux changes speeds as well as anyone not named Glavine. Which is why they're getting invited to the Hall of Fame, and a thousand hotshot flamethrowers, from Billy Koch to Francisco Rosario, are going to have to buy a ticket.
Anyway - these are real, genuine, bonafide major league abilities. They're more valuable than the ability to throw 96 mph, and not nearly as common. Being able to throw hard is fairly useless unless you've got some of the other skills as well - if you can't throw it in the strike zone, or if you can't vary the speed, you're not going to get major league hitters out. It just isn't going to happen.
The great dream, of course, of scouts and fans and general managers everywhere, is to find the guy with all of these attributes. So they always start off with the guys who throw 95 mph, because they figure that's the one thing you can't teach, and maybe a young pitcher can acquire the other abilities. Somehow.
I can think of one pitcher who had all these attributes, and one only - Pedro Martinez, in his prime. No one else comes to mind, though - not Seaver or Carlton, not Johnson or Alexander, not Clemens or Koufax.
In fact, you've got just as good a chance of teaching a guy to add 5 or 10 mph to his fastball as you have of teaching him to hit his spot, or to change speeds effectively. If it was that easy, believe me, there'd be a hell of a lot more guys doing it. Because it works.
Ohka vs Maroth tonight. Dice-K now has his first major league L, and Mike Mussina has a pulled hamstring. Who could ask for more?
Good times are coming!
