=== BJ Upton, End of 4th Inning ===

1-1 count on two exploding fastballs.

Then:  83 curve, wicked Dwight Gooden snap on it, letters to below the knees -- garbage swinging strike for 1-2.

..............

Guess what happens after a batter takes a terrible swing at an offspeed pitch for strike two?

95 fastball, Upton three feet behind it, the swing no ML batter wants to be seen taking.

...............

Morrow's FB is an easy swinging strike three BECAUSE the hitter had more than one pitch in his mind at the moment.

Morrow floats off the mound as if on a cloud.  The 5th would be a great inning for him.

.

=== Reid Brignac, 5th Inning ===

Morrow quickly ran an 0-2 count on Reid Brignac by pitching backwards:

1) 86 splitter that was OF COURSE taken for strike one, as all Brandon Morrow non-fastballs will be taken first pitch, and

2) 84 change, terrible terrible terrible pitch, that Brignac blinked, finally realized what it was... and fouled it back.   Such is the power of a Silver Surfer FB, I guess.

............

3) The 88 split finger, thrown downhill, angled down to drop below the swings, inducing a garbage swing from the LH Brignac.  Despite the fact that the batter gets all close 0-2 calls and doesn't swing unless it's centered.

..............

This 88 splitfinger, thrown low in the zone, is a devastating pitch.

.

=== Rocket Dept. ===

It struck me, watching Brandon's 87-88 splitfinger angled downward, that I'd seen this pitch somewhere before ....

Oh yeah.  On 30% of the pitches during the second 12 years of Roger Clemens' career.

Roger Clemens won his last four Cy Youngs or so with this pitch mix:

60% - fastball located

30% - splitfinger angling down out of the zone

10% - some random pitch he made up on the spot, not centered

.................

Morrow's split has the same shape and velocity as Clemens' hellacious split.  Those are the only two pitchers I can remember, who threw high-80's splits with exactly that shape.  It worked out okay for the Rocket.

Huh.  So he has Clemens' second pitch.  Wouldn't it be something if Morrow had Clemens' fastball, too?

Then he could just work basically with two pitches, get a good feel on both of them, and get cheap strikes with his curve once an inning.

.......................

Wakamatsu said, after the game, that 1) Morrow lost his release point and 2) looked like he was starting to put pressure on himself.  Skip-O-Vision translation:  We threw a coat over his head and got him into the back of the squad car before something groteque wound up on the front pages.

I can respect that.  LOL.

.........................

The Dr. D school of coaching, on a kid with a fastball like Morrow's, would be to pick a second pitch and go with it.   We'll learn the four pitches thing when we're David Cone's age.

Well, there are a lot of roads to Rome...

At any rate:  Brandon Morrow's fastball is like Roger Clemens'.  You oughta be able to figure something out around that.  :- )

Or not,

Dr D