Q.  Convince me in one line, that SSI is right and its cynics are wrong.  On this one.  The March 16 game.

A.  63 pitches and 15 swinging strikes.

Tell me, Doctor, does that "jump off the page at you"?  ::jim sturgess::

And another team might have had 20 or even 22 swinging strikes, but the Brewers were razor-sharp at the plate and fouled off a lot of 95+ heaters chin-high.  Other teams woulda missed 'em.

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Q.  Wow, 23.4% swinging strikes.  Is that a lot?

A.  Felix Hernandez had 9.9% last year.   The guy who led the major leagues, Francisco Liriano, had 12.5%. 

Tim Lincecum had 11.0% swinging strikes last year, so Michael Pineda threw two swings and misses for every one you'd expect in a Lincecum game.

And I jumped online and read that the Pineda couldn't put a hitter away, to save his life.  That secondary stuff will kill him.  Get him outta here and back to Tacoma before it's too late.

The pregame script, babe.  ..... hey, just watch the game with a blank piece of paper; it's more info-taining that way.  :- )

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Q.  Let's say for a second that you're right.  How do you give up 7 hits and 3 runs, if you're throwing great?

A.  You don't go by Felix' 13-12 record, do you?  You don't go by ERA, do you?  And that's a 200-inning stat.

Folks bought in to the fact that Pineda was having some bad luck behind him (and, of course, letting the Brewers get too comfortable as to where the ball would be).

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Q.  Bad luck?  Really?

A.  Well, yeah, bad luck and more to the point, bad circumstances.  '

You see pitchers throw lousy, have balls hit at people, and escape with a 5-1 win.  You also see them throw great, and give up five unlucky runs.  Umpiring, defense, a ball that lands fair or foul, the hitters were sharp that day, you'd be surprised about good and bad circumstances.

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But the real reasons that Pineda gave up some baserunners were these:

• He threw nothing but strikes - to a bizarre extent
• There were 3-4 seeing eye hits and several poor defensive plays
• The Brewers were terrific at the plate
• He missed out-and-over about four or five times (it is spring training)

I honestly thought the Brewers were just real sharp.  They fouled off tons of wicked pitches, and it seemed every time they got any pitch at all, they got on top of it.

For all that, it's not like they scored nine runs, now is it.  They got two earnies.

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