Great photos!!  They give a real feel for the game atmosphere, outside of the pitches.

Those tattoos on Jesse Carlson's arms are amazing.  And he looks as skinny as Iggy Pop.  Not your prototypical athlete in an era of weight-lifters and steroids.

Bob Rae throws a splitter?

Sure, ever since he switched to throwing right-handed when he joined the "Liberals".  You gotta do something to fool 'em, and the splitter and the Grecian Formula were just the start. :)

Not sure where else to put this, but just read a great article on what the Rangers are doing vis-a-vis training their young arms through the use of long-tossing (amongst other against-the-traditional-way things). Very interesting to consider, and while I"m definitely far from a doctor, the logic behind what they are saying makes sense - the basic point being that you need to develop strength and stamina in your arms, and "babying" them on the way up doesn't do anyone any good. Given the results we saw with Doc's hardcore work-ethic, I think there is something to be said for increasing the workloads of young arms to increase stamina. Of course, if the Rangers have success over the next 5-10 years, it will probably become the new status quo. If we could be at the front of that curve and not the end, it might help us inch ever closer to the beasts of the east.

http://jonahkeri.com/2010/09/13/pitching-injuries-and-rangers/

r.a., thanks for the link. The Rangers were out front of the pitching-care curve in the pitching coach Tom House days, but that didn't work out so well. Now, though, with Nolan Ryan the owner and president and Mike Maddux  the pitching coach, I believe the Rangers, the anti-pitching team of the 1990s, really is headed the right direction.

Where have you gone, Little Ricky Helling? 

the basic point being that you need to develop strength and stamina in your arms

Everything old is new again.

"You've got to play catch every day for fifteen minutes.... It's boring. Your arm gets tired because in that time you make a couple hundred throws.... They do more fancy exercises now than ever in history and there are more injuries, more sore arms, more pulled leg muscles than ever. The more they exercise, the more they think two hundred innings is a lot of work. All you need to do is throw and run."

George Bamberger, about thirty years ago, describing the program he gave Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and the rest of those Orioles pitchers.

Wagner, Ruth, Musial, Seaver and Ryan all had more elaborate exercise rituals.  Throwing and running every day is great, but if you don't do anything for the leg muscles and abs at least, your back and knees will suffer. 

That is part of Ryan's plan for his pitchers - to do what he did, namely short sprints and building power (via weights) into your legs. I recall interviews with him in the 80's and how everyone thought he was weird for doing that stuff. In truth it made a ton of sense and, iirc, Clemens did it too.

If I ran a team I'd certain check what guys who had 15+ year long careers with minimal injuries did to stay healthy. Then I'd talk with doctors to see which made the most medical sense and then put it into place with every pitcher in the organization. If you found different body types worked best with different exercises (as I'd suspect is the case), then factor that in too. That is what the Rangers are doing and I think they'll be rewarded nicely for it.

Seaver stressed the importance of leg muscles for pitchers in the late 60s/early 70s. 

Seaver was a "drop and drive" pitcher so the legs were very important in his approach.  Whenever I pitched in my youth I modelled myself after him.  I remember him saying that by using his legs he put less stress on his arm.

I have to believe that core strength is the focus these days and with good reason I imagine.

Really strange bullpen management by Cito last night. Tallet was a bad choice for the 9th, a worse one for the 10th, and an incredibly bad one for the 11th. Tallet has been terrible all year - his season numbers don't look bad because of a few bad outings, he's been awful every month.

What's more, the Jays have an overflowing bullpen with September call ups. Ray, Camp, Carlson, and Frasor had already been used in the game, but that still left seven (7!!) relievers in the pen. 5 of those had not pitched a lot in the previous 3 days, and of those 5 only 1 is not a very clearly superior pitcher to Brian Tallet 2010. Here are the innings pitched:

	12-Sep	11-Sep	10-Sep
Downs	1-1/3
Purcey		1-2/3
Janssen			2/3
Gregg	1		1
Lewis		1/3
Roenicke			3
Mills		3

Strange how managers get into these inexplicable situations. Personally I would have started the 9th with Purcey (1 inning) and planned to follow him with Janssen (2)-Downs (1)-Gregg (1)-Tallet (2)-Lewis (2)-Roenicke (2)-Mills (1).

Yeah.  I suspect that this has more to do with loyalty to a player, than a decision about what was most likely to produce a victory last night. 

It's not like Tallet was mowing them down either.  He escaped the 9th & 10th innings and had another jam in the 11th.  You can only expect to dodge so many bullets before getting hit.

Yeah, the Tallet thing was typical Cito weirdness, as was the fact that apparently Baltimore is suddenly in the playoff hunt (JPA)

By the way, for those of you who were unhappy that the Zep game was on TV and the Drabek game won't be for many of you...your frustration might grow if I tell you that yesterday was Drabek's fifth day - he could have gone last night if the Jays had wanted to push back Zep and Hill another day.

Was JPA not available last night?  When Buck was pulled for a runner, why was Molina inserted?  Seems like a perfect time to get your young catcher some innings.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_lemire/09/14/umpire.preparation/index.html

Kinda weird that he would forgo a good chance to win by using Tallet for 3 innings but not supposedly risk the win by using JPA..... Gotta love hindsight. JPA may have hit a game winning homerun in the 10th and a different pitcher may have won the game....... or maybe not.

Yeah, the Tallet thing was typical Cito weirdness, as was the fact that apparently Baltimore is suddenly in the playoff hunt (JPA)

I don't think Cito has much confidence in Hill and is aware that there is a reasonable risk that Drabek doesn't go very deep into the game on Wednesday. I suspect that he decided this game was Tallet's to win or lose (for at least 3 or 4 innings) and that he wanted to keep Janssen and others in reserve should Hill not last more than 4 innings or so today. I suspect the decision also, as Mike Green mentioned, lies in the loyalty Cito has towards Tallet given the way he helped the club last year. You can argue as to whether this was the correct decision, but clearly he felt the need to keep some arms fresh for the next two days.

As for Arencibia, Cito's already expressed that Buck will continue to get the majority of the playing time. That will likely not change regardless of opponent. He's had one opportunity to play him and hasn't, but it is only one opportunity. I suspect that Cito has him pencilled to play one game this series (I suspect tonight, as he may want a veteran behind the plate for Drabek) and that those will be the 9 innings he gets in Baltimore.

Great link, DiscoDave. Thanks.

There was no hindsight in it for me.  It was a perfect situation to bring JPA in and I thought so in the moment.  I'd rather he get working with pitchers now and smooth out the bumps against BALT in September than vs NYY or BOS in early 2011.

As Magpie pointed out the other day Tallet was good in a defined role before being stretched out to make starts last season.  If AA brings him back next season, better to get him back into that roll now and see if he can excel.

In both cases the on field decision was an odd one given the teams place in the standings and time of year.  I am not a Cito hater either, I think he generally gets the best of who is on the field.

(I suspect tonight, as he may want a veteran behind the plate for Drabek)

Well, I was wrong about Arencibia playing tonight. I'll be quite wrong if he doesn't start tomorrow.

you don't have to be a "hater" to rationally question what seems to be an irrational move (and loath to rationalize the move at every turn).

Again I return to the long-running soap opera around JPR

I never said, nor implied, that all critiscism of the man was a result of irrational hatred - a lot of it was perfectly valid or, at a minimum, arguable. and you didn't see me taking issue with that. i only took issue with "JP bashing" when the claim itself was irrational.

Likewise, if someone says Cito doesn't play JPA because he's racist (just to make something up) that's irrational and deserve to be mocked.

but if someone says "there's no logical reason for Tallet to even pitch a second inning last night, let alone a third" that is a perfectly rational and defensible position - even if you can find a way to rationalize the move.

if there's a questional move 5 times a week and you bring it up five times a week, that doesn't make you a "hater" or a basher - so long as you make a rational and reasonable case for what was wrong with the move.

I, for one, find the "best vets against the contenders" defense reasonable, whether I'd make that choice or not. THAT is what Cito has said his thinking was when he was asked about JPA.

the NATURAL implication of that is that when, for the first time in weeks, you play a non-contender you stir yourself to play the kid - especially when he'd be catching a pitcher he has a lot of experience with (last night) or a veteran that he as worked with and is mpssibly more mature in terms of the working relationship (tonight).

Instead, both games, Buck starts.

THAT is completely at odds with HIS OWN WORDs and there's no shame in calling it out.

IF he wants to play his veterans 9 games out of 10 no matter who the opponent is, fine, say so. It will be the wrong move but at least we'll know it's coming.

While I'm no hater (I respect what he has done, while recognizing his flaws) or bashers, i'll say this - it used to be that one of the very grave unforgivable sins of JPR was that he lied to the fans.

As far as I'm concerned, Cito has (repeatedly) lied to us the last two years. And I'd argue a GM has far more reason to.

give the man his watch and send him on his way.

WillRain, most of what you say is quite reasonable, but then at the end you accuse Gaston of "lying."   That's pretty strong language.  Isn't it more likely that Gaston discussed his intentions and then some factors changed and Gaston changed his mind?  Just because we're unaware of the factors that led to his decision -- that doesn't necessarily mean that he is "lying." 

A dictionary definition of a "lie" is a deliberate falsehood that is intended to mislead the listener.  How do you know that Gaston was deliberately lying?  Changing your mind is not the same as lying.  There are lots of potentially reasonable explanations.  Maybe last week he fully intended to give JPA some games against the non-contenders, and then something happened --  a minor injury, a clubhouse incident, a recommendation by coaches that JPA needs more time to analyze the opposition hitters -- it could be anything at all, and those examples are just pure speculation and hypothetical, but the point is:  we don't know the factors that led to his decision.  You have a complete right to disagree with the decision -- that's the fun of baseball -- but to accuse him of "lying" is excessive. 

The classic example of "lying" in recent Jays history was the BJ Ryan incident, where Ricciardi knew that Ryan was seriously injured yet publicly stated that Ryan only had a minor injury.  Even in that case, Ricciardi may have had legitimate reasons for misleading the public, but it could be accurately described as a "lie" because he was deliberately misleading us.  He knew the truth and told us the opposite.  That's quite different from the Gaston case, where he apparently just decided to change his mind. 

I would fault Gaston for being a poor communicator in his media interactions.  He's apparently quite impatient with that side of his job, yet it's a requirement of his job that he has to speak daily to the media.  Instead of giving detailed explanations for his decisions, he tends to be rather curt, terse, and cryptic.  He can't be bothered to give full explanations of his decisions.  Most of these media sessions are fairly short, and the journalists are distracted by deadlines and other pressures and they don't ask a lot of questions about every decision (maybe knowing that Gaston wouldn't give a detailed answer anyway).  The questions that concern the dedicated fan base -- like JPA or Snider -- aren't necessarily the same concerns that a journalist might have in every session with Gaston.  So there's not a lot of public discussion by Gaston about his reasons for his decisions.  I'd fault him for that, but it doesn't necessarily mean that he is "lying" to us.  It's more likely that he has reasons that he doesn't always communicate.  I'm not taking him on blind faith -- we have a right to disagree with his decisions and to question them -- but to accuse him of "lying" is probably going too far.

Just remember, it's not a lie if Gaston knows the truth.