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TAIJUAN

Dr. D has never been any good at explaining the Z-axis in baseball.  OK, once more :: heavy sigh :: let's it this way.  

It's not like a man stands there with a stick, looks up, and says "Oh!  Here's a nice little 90 MPH fastball heading my way.  I'd better smack it with this stick in my hand."  No, the hitter is ready, and has been getting ready for some time now.  As the pitcher winds up, and lets go, the batter has a little reaction telling him to bring the barrel to the zone in 0.42 (or whatever) seconds.  That little clock in his head has gone off, oh, 100,000 times, give or take 50,000.

That's why they say that a 95-MPH fastball is "two feet long," like this:

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That's where a lot of baseball lingo comes from, such as "his fastball is shortening up," or "his changeup makes his fastball play longer," and so forth.

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A batter has to defend UP, DWN, and IN, OUT ... but he also has to defend SHORT and DEEP.  :: shrug :: maybe Rockies Jeff can help us out here.  For now just bear in mind that if a pitch is higher, then it is (in effect) deeper.  The bat rises from low to high.  The hitter must be extra quick to get "on top of" a high fastball.

With Taijuan, the whole key is to get the batters reacting to a pitch like this:

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Because he can then throw a spikeball that creates a situation like this:

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If he can Only. Do. Those. Two. SIMPLE. Things. then he doesn't need any command, doesn't need a curve, doesn't need nuttin'.  He just needs that "spatial" separation in the batters' reactions, so that he can get them "in between" (a little bit late on the fastball, a little bit late on the changeup).

If Dr. D is crazy, he's in good company.  Mike Marshall, that guy who used to throw 200 IP out of the bullpen for the Dodgers, said that the Z-axis is the key to pitching in the big leagues.  Older Dr. D gets, the more he agrees.  If the enemy batters aren't "in between" you're going to be lucky to win.

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But!  If Taijuan is throwing only 92 MPH, like he did Tuesday ... and then he throws an 88 MPH "changeup" that he leaves high in the zone (gaaahhhhhkkkgh!!), then we have a situation more like the following:

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And Dr. D is bery, bery, BERRY tired of watching situations like the above.  When such a pitcher even does manage to get out of an inning, it's only luck that got him out.  It's no fun to watch such a pitcher win.  It's the 1977 Mariners all over again.

When you watch a Taijuan game, you're watching it for signs of his being able to drive a high 96 MPH fastball in there, and then spot at least some changeups low in the zone.  The punch line?  Taijuan is nowhere near this, and he's not getting any closer.  Not at all.

What's wrong with Tom Wilhelmsen?  Or Tyler Olsen?  Or Danny Farquhar, under orders to throw 30% changeups?  Let Taijuan pitch in the bullpen, like Earl said he was s'posed ta.  Probably he'd throw that huge 97 MPH fastball that would give us an Andrew Miller out there.

Sigh.

It sez here that a Taijuan swapout is he last step needed to get into rhythm.  Pretty much.

...

Finally!, Chris Taylor got one of those doubles to fall into the right field corner.  It's about blinkin' time. He was so excited he ran for three bases on it.  World's best .132 hitter, I'm tellin' ya.

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Justin Ruggiano continues to be Not Chris Denorfia.  He is .235/.328/.431, meaning that both our NL adds look sharp in the batter's box.  John Dewan has him at an unpossible -7 plays out there in CF, though.

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Is there anybody here who views Rickie Weeks as something other than expendable?  Just axin'.  ... it seems he was always here to provide Veteran Grit, and to see whether he could recapture the All-Star bat.  But as it is, we're fighting to get AB's for Ruggiano, Franklin Gutierrez and now Castillo ... not to mention Austin Jackson.  You'd think you were down to the last coupla games.

Guti has a .432 OBP and is slugging .500-and-plenty.  That's against everybody, both right and left hand pitchers.  He always had a big split against LHP -- his career OPS is almost 200 points higher against lefties -- and it sure would be fun to see him play some against LHP's, no?

Larry Stone had a column out urging the M's to shed Dustin Ackley.  That's what Stars & Scrubs is for.  Fungibility.

BABVA,

Dr D