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James had another Zen-like observation this week. I'm not a James fanboy by any stretch of the imagination. But I do have to give props where due.
It seems like every other day he tosses out another light bulb that would make a book for a lesser man, or at least a blog post... which is why he is the one man in baseball who can still command a huge pay audience for, basically, answering questions that should by all rights be searchable on the interwebs. He's the Freeman Dyson of baseball, an anachronism that still holds this generation of grad-student audiences as spellbound as he ever did the last generation.
This is something quite remarkable.
.
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Whereupon we promptly saw a demonstration in that evening's ballgame. Taijuan Walker hit the first batter -- his bad -- and then Kole Calhoun started fouling off 3-ball pitches, pitches that had to be inside the little rectangle. One, two, three foul balls. Four. Five, six, seven foul balls. Eight in a row!
Taijuan Walker then threw an offspeed pitch, risking the walk, and got it exactly knee high. Calhoun swatted it into the RF bleachers and the rout was on. On TV they blamed Walker, saying he got the pitch "in the middle of the plate" but ... are you telling me that Taijuan Walker can't throw his changeup 3-2 if he hits the knees? Walker can't throw that pitch?
Anyway. Mike Trout hit a 95 fastball out next. Which Mike Trout is wont to do to anybody, up to and especially Felix Hernandez. Walker was a little rattled to find he wasn't strolling down the Tacoma sidewalk.
Walker then threw a 1-0 pitch, a 94 MPH fastball inner third and high, up on the hands. Pujols leaned back and crushed it. The point isn't to apologize for Walker; the point is that there aren't a lot of sidewalks in major league baseball.
Which is where these cliches come from, pitch ahead in the count, play from ahead in the standings, bring the MARCH ballclub you want to go to war with. You don't have complete control in this weird sport.
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The M's need two starting pitchers now and they ain't got 'em. :: shrug :: DiPoto got hosed (by fate) on a quite reasonable Wade Miley signing, got hosed (first year) on a very savvy Nate Karns swap, has plowed through 32 pitchers and still can't find five.
Alternatively, Taijuan Walker could start pitching ahead in the count; with his lack of change-speed game he's allowing a .176 AVG when ahead in the count, but coughing up a .575 SLG when behind in the count. "Pitch ahead" is hackneyed, but in Walker's case it's a top two Swing Thought. If they are sitting fastball 3-1, Taijuan has not (yet) the offspeed pitch, the razor command, nor the 98 MPH to escape his destiny. For better or for worse, he's got to be 1-2 every time.
It's easy to forget that Taijuan is a 24-year-old basketball player. There have been a few guys who were still in the minors at his age.
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Ben Gamel's been a lot of fun to watch. Bah humbug.
Must win Sunday,
Dr D
It's not that he has no ability or even that he is stupid or anything like that. He has no equalizer...and at the rate he's going, by the time he learns a consistent equalizer, his fastball will be gone. I trade him this off-season if I were Dipoto.
"The more room you have to make a bad pitch and get by with it, the less stress. Like anything else. Walking a tight rope is more stressful than walking on a sidewalk because you don't have room to make a mistake." Wasn't this the kind of thing Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, and the other dead-ball players said-that pitchers needed to pace themselves (reduce stress) through the game to keep something in reserve for the 8th and 9th inning, when they'd have to rear back and throw with extra effort to get their fastball by the batter in key situations?
Even in the 1970's, pitchers were talking about saving their stuff for the pinch. When the threat of the homer was so much less, pitchers could afford to "let them put it in play" until there were men on base.
James once said, "Mannnn... don't you guys WATCH the games?" :- ) There's no such thing as cruising mode any more. There certainly was in the 70's.
Right on Arne.
No offspeed game, no stamina, poor mechanics. Hes a reliever. He has been since day one.
By being stubborn we've diminished his fastball and his confidence.
Don't like the organization getting frustrated and questioning his competitiveness. Let him be who he is. The sooner we convert him, the better.