Doug Fister, First Key to the Game
Q. So, no earned runs, but a poor 4:4 control ratio. Another chimera like Vargas' first start?
A. Nope, not at all. Fister showed an interesting Ray Miller game with real good makeup. He's definitely D-O-V's #5 starter with Bedard on the DL.
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Q. First key to the game: does he get 0+ walks because he gives in on 2-0, or because he has command?
A. Well, he's rarely behind like that. But ...
Tuesday, he didn't give an inch when the ump put him in the hole. An example was Beckham, second batter of the game.
First pitch, 89 fastball nicked the low-away corner ... ump joyfully shows the rookie who's boss. 1-0.
Second pitch, maybe 4 inches outside, waist high, a pitch that John Lackey probably gets, a pitch that a PCL hitter probably swings at ... boom, here we are, a 2-0 count.
Third pitch, does he give in? Pounds the knees, bisects the plate, hits the TOP of the kneecap ... ump is in full-on BREAK THE ROOK TO THE YOKE MODE and puts Fister down, 3-0.
Even here, fourth pitch, Fister carefully hits the low-away corner... an easy decision for the ump. Four-pitch walk.
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Another example was the walk to Getz in the 4th. Down 2-0 in the count despite two close pitches, what did Fister throw? The 2-0 pitch was a fastball RIGHT! ON! the black. Getz took it and the ump, complicit in the "rookie debut" game-within-a-game, called it a ball.
3-0, gimme strike? No, a 79 changeup. Changeup on 3-0! It nicked the top of the zone, and even Blowers was complaining that all four pitches were borderline. Nope. Another 4-pitch walks.
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Fister didn't walk 0+ guys because he grooved 2-0 pitches. He evidently pitched with great command to get those 0+ walks.
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Q. So, why 4 walks Tuesday?
A. In order of importance:
1. The ump was in break-the-rook-to-the-yoke mode. (Later, on Brooks, I counted 7 literal strikes that were called balls, and another 10-14 pitches within 1-2 inches of the zone that were called balls.)
2. The White Sox don't swing at the same pitches that PCL hitters do. In the PCL, Fister no doubt got tons of swings on pitches just off the zone.
3. Fister can probably pitch with better command than he had Tuesday (due to nerves).
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Q. What did you mean, game-within-a-game?
A. When the ump isn't calling Jarrod Washburn's borderline pitches, Wash and Johnson will "negotiate" with the umpire until they find strikes that all sides can live with.
Doug Fister doesn't have that luxury. For all the ump knows, the ump will never have to deal with Fister again.
The ump wasn't going to give Fister anything, and the Sox knew that by the second hitter of the game (a 4-pitch walk). So all of a sudden, Fister is a loooooong, long ways from PCL Kansas, Dorothy. The Sox hardly swung at a ball, all night. Why should they?
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Q. So he coped rather well.
A. He coped brilliantly. Flying colors for the new kid.
BABVA,
Dr D