M's 5, Padres 0
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Q. Pretty cool to have an SSI accomplice on the postgame shtick, right?
A. Wish it would happen every time. 'specially when it's MoeDawg.
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Q. Do we care that it was a "shutout"? Like, as opposed to 8 IP, 1 ER?
A. There's a definite tendency for outlier rookie performances to point toward --- > above-average success from there.
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Q. The statline was 9 1 0 0 4 7. Did he throw as well as the numbers suggest?
A. He did not, no.
But that's pretty cool. He brought his "B" game -- without a doubt it was his "B" game -- and the inherent nature of his game, even shabbily executed, snuffed out the Padres like a convenience-store match stub. The shutout wasn't "forced" on the Padres; it was just one of those things. Some really good lineup might have blitzed him for, oh, 3-4 runs on the night. Might have.
Dr. D actually did not watch this game -- first in 2015, we think -- and then checked the score. Montgomery 1-hitter! Raced downstairs to skim through and was really taken aback by the way the game happened.
Just saying, this one wasn't a few pitches away from a Felix Perfecto, even though the stats show one inch (literally) from a no-hitter and an ocean of media attention.
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Q. What did he NOT do well?
A. He was wild with the fastball and laughable with the curve. Not "effectively wild" and not "wild in the zone," just wild period. (A lot of no-hitters by no-names occur when the pitchers are wild.) 2-for-9 with the change curve but a surgical 16-for-18 with the nickel slider. LOL. That's a young lefty for you.
But hey. We're not saying he was a piece of crud. He had 7 strikeouts and -- I'm pretty sure -- 10 different two-hop bouncers pulled to the left side. There wasn't a single nifty play by an infielder, because they caught everything waist high at 60 MPH. The first ball pulled in the air was inning 7.
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Q. So why did the Padres have so much trouble, aside from the novelty factor?
A. Because the wild fastball changed the eye level. And it got way in on the righties. The Padres were bobbing and weaving in the batter's box like Floyd Mayweather -- and in those circumstances they couldn't lean out to get offspeed stuff. Or mistake fastballs out-and-over, for that matter.
The fastball had the Padres moving their feet, as it were, and the changeup got into the Padres' heads a fair bit (compared to its getting into the Royals' heads a lot bit). Just the wild-fastball / deadfish change game was plenty to cobble a quality start, but ... Montgomery's wannabe slider-cutter, THAT he had control of. Painted the black on lefties, backdoored it on righties.
He's got four legit weapons. None of them game-breaking except when the changeup is on his "A" rhythm. But not so many left hand pitchers can attack in four different ways. Name a few. The names will be be celebrity, we betcha.
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Q. The cambio ... Blowers (and Jonezie) aptly noted it's got the golden -10 MPH chute to it, and that it's consistently down and flopping. Dr. Detecto noted that the arm action on it is plenty 'nuff to --- > enrage an ego'ed out "Fastball Is The Coin Of The Realm" major league lineup.
A. Let's put a pitcher's change speed GAME onto a scale of 5:
- 0 = Worthless. Everybody sits dead red
- 1 = Minus. Hitters usually "tip their caps" on offspeed stuff and hunt fastballs. (Taijuan.)
- 2 = Average. Hitters have to respect the front and back of the zone and the chess game is on. (Paxton on a decent day.)
- 3 = Plus. Offspeed stuff draws some bad swings and hitters are late on some fastballs.
- 4 = Vintage Moyer Territory. Batters look like they're swinging willow switches at mosquitoes.
Against KC, I would put Montgomery's changeup at 4.0, and if there were a grade >4.0 he'd have gotten that. They didn't talk much about it in the postgame, but from the 3rd deck, it had been a long time since Dr. D had seen a lineup's timing fouled up that bad.
Against SD, the grade is 3.1 or 3.2 on that scale. This despite throwing only 8 of 21 cambios for strikes, and despite having a lousy motion.
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Q. Lousy motion?
A. At the 0:20 mark on this video rat cheer, tell me how far his back foot kicks up higher than his cap at decel. Next pitch, 0:27, same thing -- cap is never less than 4' higher than his left cleat. (4' means four feet, not four inches, LrKrBoi29.) Now watch the next pitch on the vid, 0:36. What's the elevation of his back foot and his baseball cap at finish?
Dr. D is here to tell you that he has NEVER seen a pitcher change this cap-cleat relation more randomly than Montgomery just did. Here comes the next pitch; there is a 5-foot range in this checkpoint and you got zero idea where the foot will be from -4 to +1 feet. Meaning the release point ain't exactly a given. ..... how many pitches has this guy thrown in his baseball life?!
Hence the wildness.
By the way, it's the high foot that is good. If you just joined us.
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Q. You're not going to finish by rubbishing a 1-hit shutout.
A. On the mound, he grabbed the sign, rocked back, and threw the ball like it was his favorite thing to do in the world. whooooooooop fastball way high, 2-0 count. Therefore, let's grab the sign, bounce down and up, and throw the ball like it's our favorite thing to do in the world. Anybody have a stopwatch on him? That's tough on the hitters mentally, too. Bob Gibson was noted for rushing the batters.
It was funny to watch Montgomery laughing, joking, and chatting the bench up in the tops of the innings. ... like Chi Chi Rodriguez making jokes to the gallery while he pressed his hands forward into his backswing. It woulda been weird to see hitters talking to the starting pitcher in a normal game; have you ever seen a position player say a single word to a pitcher during a 6th-inning no hitter? HEH!
On the interview, they asked Montgomery how much pressure he had due to the no-hitter after 6. He looked confused. Wasn't thinking about it, he said. Honestly, I pretty much believed him.
The kid's personality is very distinctive, and those offspeed pitches will play, and he means to use 'em. The plot thickens. :- )
Enjoy,
Dr D