=== INNING 1 ===

In the first inning, Rowland-Smith came out firing brisk 90-91 fastballs, well located in the strike zone.

...........

Adam Kennedy hit a solid fly ball, caught by Michael "Blackout" Saunders.

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

Rajai Davis popped up on another FB -- Rowland-Smith came out throwing FB after FB, strike after strike.  Too many strikes, in fact.

"Too many strikes"?  Sure.  If they knew for a fact that you were going to throw a strike?  Suppose you threw 100% strikes?  ... it would be in effect a 3-1 pitch situation. 

You've got to make them fish, keep them guessing.  You can't throw 27 for 27 first-pitch strikes.  They'll start treating the first pitch like a 2-0 count.

I believe RRS threw 12-for-13 first pitch strikes there for a while.

..........

Kurt Suzuki saw an 0-1 fastball RIGHT! ON! the BLACK!, perfect jam pitch ... he leaned back and lined it for a double. 

I was flabbergasted that he hit the pitch.   Absolutely stunned.  I rewound it again and again.  How did he do that?

..........

Scott Hairston -- now there's a cleanup hitter, eh?, one season lately with more than 200 AB's.  Lotta PCL players in this game all around --

Scott Hairston gets to 1-2 and then Rowland-Smith throws him a HELLLLLLLACIOUS!! curve ball that comes in letter high and bounces in the dirt.

Except it did not bounce.  Before it could, Hairston leaned over as if tying his shoes, went down and lined the ball very hard into left field for an RBI.

I stared at the screen.  First thought:  they've got the signs.

.........

Jack Cust gets to 1-1 and then Rowland-Smith -- this is LH on LH, now -- fires a lively 90 fastball up and out of the strike zone, outside black, a sucker pitch.

Cust, as if he knew not only the pitch but the location, raises his hands, then swings, and lines a frozen rope into CF.

...........

Three tremendous strikeout pitches by RRS.  Result?  Three smoked hits, and a two-out rally puts the A's on the scoreboard.

My son's living inside the Arkham Asylum game today.  I thought I'd wandered into Scarecrow's hallucinogenic wing, in which the walls bend and light makes noise.

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=== Where, Oh Where, Have My Little K's Goonnnnnne ===

Anyway.  Rowland-Smith threw one great pitch after another on Tuesday -- and struck out exactly one (1) Oakland A in 6.1 innings.   Nine hits, 1 K, and a bunch of nice catches in the outfield.  Notably Hall's down the RF line.

I don't know if he was tipping ... or just super predictable, in May-Felix fashion ... or if the A's had the signs ... or if Beane's K/BB experts simply did an astounding job of never swinging at anything outside the strike zone.

Maybe it was just a Yankee-level scouting report, because the relievers came in and started striking hitters out normally.

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

But it sure looked fishy to me.  I took to analyzing that little glove-tap RRS does before he throws, with men on base, and it looked to me like he tapped the glove more decisively on FB's.  They'd better watch him as to whether that glove-tap becomes a tell.

Interesting little game you could play with us, next RRS start:  see if you can identify any differences between the glove-tap on FB vs offspeed.  I'm sure there's something, because I can usually predict the pitch based on it, but am not sure quite what I'm seeing.

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

I guess Ian Snell gets a pass, last night, for fanning only 2 guys.  If RRS could only get 1 tonight, even lefty-on-lefty, something was going on.

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RRS is looking super.  Throwing these pitches, he's a #3-4 starter for sure.

I wish I knew what happened that he shoulda only fanned one guy.

Cheers,

Dr D