They're All Nasty Boys, But ...
The first thing you've got to do here is visualize yourself as a major league pitcher, facing the New York Yankees with 7 of the 9 guys in the lineup making salaries over $10,000,000 per year, and 7 of the 9 batting left hand. Picture too, if you will, throwing a 90 MPH wiffleball "changeup" that dives like a spitball, and is perfectly placed on the low-away corner -- and watching Curtis Granderson sock a screaming line drive 375 feet away to center field:
...............................................
That changeup dove literally 10-12" just as Granderson swung. It was thrown harder than Jason Vargas' best fastball. It was on the black, and it was knee-high. Granderson had zero problem crushing it.
There have got to be times when it seems impossible to get some of these guys out. "Please hit it at somebody."
...........
There have been a few little sports situations where Dr. D was able to elevate his game enough to "sample" the feeling of playing at a high level. You're riding a rocket at red line, shocking yourself with the reps you're putting on the other guy, but he's hot too, and ... it just feels like driving a Porsche through a mountain pass with the pedal jammed to the floor.
What it's like to ride red-line like that when you're crazy talented, we haven't a clue. A Porsche with the accelerator stuck? It's got to feel like that for these guys ... in AA. What is the game like, when Felix throws that changeup to Curtis Granderson, who smashes it, who has it run down by Michael Saunders on a jet ski?
There are times when sports take your breath away.
..........
Carter Capps came into the Yankee game on Friday and threw these pitches:
...............................
Ten fastballs, averaging 99.6 MPH. 99.6 rounds up to 100. Average! And Capps got K.O.'ed. The "average" fan reaction was probably annoyance. Your reaction is reverence. For the unspeakably high skill level that it is your privilege to observe in 21st-century American sport.
Incidentally, have you ever seen a reliever throw every fastball at 100 MPH? You know what I mean. ... Capps was nervous, and missed wayyyy off the strike zone. Debut in Yankee? Don't do the guy any favors, skip. But still. Order me one Capps jersey, and give it wings.
.
=== About 10 Degrees Off Subject, Dept. ===
Oh yeah. One of these days Capps, Pryor, Wilhelmsen and Felix are liable to do something highly skilled, even relative to MLB standards. Lou's Reds teams were built on Jose Rijo and three relievers, Myers, Dibble and Norm-Norm. Wonder if the same deal works with three Dibbles?
The 1990 Reds had this:
- Offense = 95 OPS+
- Jose Rijo = Great, not as great as Felix of course
- Bullpen = Made life nasty, short and brutish for the enemy
- Rotation 2-4 = three guys about as good as Jason Vargas
One guy who never was afraid to let his nasties do the damage, Lou Piniella. Hopefully in the 2014 ALCS, Felix won't have to relieve on his throw day.