Great photoshop by Positive Paul...
On the Mariners' site, they have a vid of Bedard on July 7th of 2009.
Pitching with the shoulder that had been killing him for at least a couple of months, Erikkk got his first seven outs via strike three.
A picture's worth 1,000 words, so the video will re-stoke our thankfulness of the Bedard lotto draw in the way that no set of alphanumeric symbols could...
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The real idea here, though, is an illustration of the difference between Bedard and Felix. Or, more specifically, what Felix could become.
In the video, Bedard gets his eight strikeouts by way of five different pitches:
- Crackling slider thrown for a called strike, freezes hitter
- Sweeping slider thrown outside the zone for a swinging strike
- Fastball up-the-ladder, starts on plane with slider but stays up (twice)
- Reach back for fastball thrown at the letters, thrown by the hitter, swinging strike
- Jam fastball up and in on hands, locks hitter up
Notice that none of these pitches are fastballs at the knees. And, therefore, on none of these pitches did a batter swing and top the ball sharply through the infield.
Bedard understands how to miss bats; Bedard sets up his sequences so as to miss bats; and that's what he in fact does.
Right now, Felix sets up his sequences to get outs. Which can also be quite pleasant. It's just that SSI is hoping for the day when the Pedro Martinez version of Felix arrives.
When the count is 1-and-2, you are not going to see a knee-high fastball from Erik Bedard. And you can visibly discern the Orioles' fear in the video linked.
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Cheerio,
Dr D