.

In modern times, say the last 30-40 years, the 1988 Dodgers were probably the best example of one great pitcher carrying an okay team to a resounding World Series victory.  At least, they're number one off the top of my own head.  To the extent it's possible for a single baseball player to will his team to the title, Orel Hershiser did it that year.

Bumgarner's no slouch.  There are other such stories.  Like James says, The fabric of baseball history is written in the threads of ace starting pitchers.

Would be fun to see Felix on such a stage, wouldn't it?  And maybe even more fun to watch Japan go nuts over the cheerful-but-gritty Hisashi Iwakuma.

.

David Rollins pitches.  They have been talking on TV like "Tyler Olson has gotten onto the radar and he'll be up this year."  It's kind of a shame.  

Olson has done everything possible, and then some, while Rollins has been nothing more than you knew he was already.  It kind of implies that there was never a competition to begin with, that it was a sham.  They told me, go out and compete! so I did.  And I dazzled them, gave them twice as much as they ever dreamed of, and then they cut me.  Ho-kay.  Dr. D hates to see this situation.

We mean it so as not to blame anybody.  But it's a situation where the decisionmakers' thoughts are jelling as they ride along, not really due to any information coming in.  That's never optimal, but that's life.

Rollins' "thermometer bird" easy velocity is pretty to watch.  My own ideal is to work the trade and then send Rollins down to finish up a second pitch.

.......

Taijuan pitches.  As you know, he's here to chew bubble gum and kick tail ... and he's all out of bubble gum.

Hershiser's bumper sticker summation of pitching in the big leagues was:

• Command one pitch:  compete
• Command two pitches:  win
• Command three pitches:  dominate
• Command four pitches:  empty your Ultra Quality Starts magazine into the bleachers and scream ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED

In Taijuan's case, this varies five degrees to the following:

• Start with strike one, pump fastballs:  compete (2+ ERA last year)
• Make them at least respect your spikeball:  win
• Get an effective slider or change curve going:  Klubernate them

........

Other games-within-a-game to mindfully savor:

Austin Jackson doing something with a mistake pitch (we are talking farther than 300 feet)

Mike Zunino meshing his contact swing with the ability to lean into one occasionally

Dustin Ackley has been the best hitter in camp.  (Eyes-half-lidded) Fred Lynn Watch

We've been blog-chasing Seth Smith for 5 years.  Enjoy the pitch recog

Other than that, just another mid-March game.

Be Afraid,

Dr D