Seattle Sports Insider

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid - 4

Posted by

3/16/11

Q. OK, it was poor strategy to park inside the zone, but the slider was still mushy, wasn't it?

A. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

I guess if amigos can watch that game and see "soft slider," at least there's job security in it for Dr. D .... ;- )

After the first slider, you couldn'ta peeled the smile off my face, and after three of them, I was booking my 15-game plan...

Then I jump on and read that Pineda doesn't have a slider? ... Hey, pardon my gusto this morning, babe. The good news is, you get a Big Three in 2011. Take the good with the bad.

Q. What are the facts on Pineda's slider? The results?

A. GameDay is up. But we collated it for yer:

22 sliders out of 63 pitches (35%, a Bedard ratio)
0 Hits
3 In strike zone, for Outs (tap groundout, grounder 3B, tap groundout)
6 Balls ( of them blown strike calls, per GameDay)
5 Fouled off for strikes
3 Called strikes
5 Swinging strikes (Betancourt, Braun in 1st ... Cruz 2nd ... Braun K, McGehee 3rd)

So, 16-for-22 in the zone, four outs, no hits. In Erik Bedard's first start against Oakland, will his curve ball give him better results?

The outs on sliders were even groundouts, as Bedard's are.

You just saw a Bedard-slider game, and you forgot to say Amen, Danny. (No, the bite on Pineda's slider does not equal Bedard's. But the point is, the Brewers had fits with it, and SSI chooses to report that fact.)

Q. What were the hits, then?

A. Thusly:

IP 1 - 95 fastball missed out-and-over on 0-1: Weeks lined an off-field double
IP 2 - 94 FB missed out-and-over to Kottaras on 1-0: double
IP 3 - 87 terrible changeup on 0-1, pulled into the corner by Weeks
IP 3 - 96 FB, up-in, on 1-1, almost a ball, hit inside-out for a double by McGehee
IP 4 - 93 FB, good pitch, three-bounced past Cust down the RF line, unlucky break
IP 4 - 95 FB, missed over the plate, squibbed past a drawn-in IF, unlucky
IP 4 - 97 FB, low-away, good pitch, on 1-1, lined for a double by Weeks

The last one, for example, Weeks wasn't sitting 97 fastball for lack of respect of the slider. The first two pitches had been good sliders, the second of which Weeks took a garbage swing at.

Comments

Agreed on the slider though.

The first two or three of those sliders looked nasty enough to be a feature pitch, not just a show-me offering and the rest looked just as good with three exceptions. He did leave three hangers out there...fortunately, his deception was good enough that one was fouled back, one was still topped for a groundout and one was HAMMERED foul on the pull side on a line drive.
That's a big weapon...easily a 65 pitch.