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Q.  Too bad Clint wasn't around to play Batman.  Which Mariner plays the Man With No Name?

A.  If Dustin Ackley were hitting .340 he'd be a no-brainer, on so many levels, but I absolutely refuse to let a man with 1 home run into the role.

I'm not an Eric Wedge fan, but I've got to admit he'd survive the casting just fine.  (No jokes about Zduriencik as Tuco...)

Hey, if Brad Miller can play the MLB Logo, he can put on a cloth poncho and grimace for the camera.  Wouldn't need a glove for the gun hand, either.

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Q.  After 1.0 IP, SSI compared Farquahar's curve to a "righty Bedard curve."  Okay, how about after 6.0 IP's worth of viewing enjoyment?  What's the (um) unhurried take on the curve ball?

A.  Picture a good-quality right hand MLB(TM) curve ball -- not a minor league curve ball, but a MLB(TM) standard 50-60 curve ball.  Say, the ones thrown by Jon Garland, or Aaron Harang.  That's a technically solid curve ball, and it's effective.

Okay, got that picture in your head?  Great.

Between that curve ball and Danny Farquhar's curve ball, there are four important differences (not counting the results!):

• The arm action.
• The vicious angle of drop.
• The velo difference against the fastball.
• The command in the strike zone.

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Q.  Arm action?

A.  Even in this dreary season, there are certain Joys of Baseball that remain.  One of the Joys ... Dr. D loves to rewind, and slo-mo, and rewind again and again, Danny Farquhar selling curves and sliders.  He whips that arm through, if anything harder than on his 94 MPH pitch, and the batter flinches, and then the ball puffs out like a jellyfish.

Pure bliss.  He snaps that arm through, snaps the hand off, and LEFT hand hitters flinch.

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Q.  Angle of drop?

A.  You've probably seen it... on the occasions that the batters DO guess curve, they whack at it in correct time and miss it like a knuckleball.  It's about the angle of drop.

Lemme toss the microphone to James, this week's Hey Bill .... remember, $3 per month :- )

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Q.  It's the 12-6 curve that works well in the platoon split?

A.  Right, if and only if --- > it's a true yakker.

Against LEFT hand hitters, Farquhar has thrown 88 curves, and two (count them, 2) have become hits -- a single and double.

Against LEFT hand hitters, when they DO swing ... the swing-and-miss rate (Whiff/Swing) has been 67% (!!) and another 14% have been fouled off.  Of 88 curves, only two of them have been hit into the air.

Of course, Farquhar's curve is inherently better against right hand hitters, notwithstanding any short-term stats.

If Danny Farquhar's curve isn't a game-breaking "80" weapon, I'd like for our scouting pal 3 blogs over to tell us exactly what he expects out of an "80" weapon.   :- )

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Q.  Velo difference against the fastball?

A.  Nominally -16 MPH against the heater, on average.  Sometimes it's -20, and that -20 is what's in the batter's head.

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Q.  Command in the zone?

A.  He throws it for called strikes, cap-to-thigh, time after time.  Or he buries it in the dirt, right when he feels like doing it.  His command of the curve is simply remarkable.

One time, once, I saw it come out of his hand wrong, hang, and stay up at the eyes.  The righty batter couldn't hit that either.

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Q.  WHY the DEUCE doesn't he THROW it.  >:-[

A.  They're on him to.  I can't wait till he does.

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Q.  By the way, is Tom Wilhelmsen done?  People are writing him off.

A.  The only thing he needs to worry about is himself.  At such time as he gets his head right, Wilhelmsen reverts to being "Major Asset."  What a starting pitcher he'd be ... and what a setup star, closer-wannabe he would be too.

The curve ball chart:

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