Baseball's Best Team 3 ....
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SEEMS LIKE WE SAW THAT GUY SOMEWHERE BEFORE, Dept.
Excited! I was jazzed during the game. He looked to me only one notch short of Classic King Felix:
GOOD
- Nice life on the fastball, 91 and 92 without strain, good-to-quite-good precision with the pitch
- Was capable of throwing the sharp changeup/dry spitter -- 88 MPH with two strikes, start at top of knees dive to shins
- Always has had an excellent overhand curve
- Slider consistently hit the black
- Four quality pitches, way cool (compare Felix Saturday to Andrew Moore Friday. Felix is better)
- Body language, presence
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NOT SO GOOD
- Used to be able to toss a 94 MPH fastball low-away, any time he pleased (0-1 count there hoss)
- Changeup was very good but not legendary
- Ball drifted over the plate considerably more often than he wanted
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Here's a (reasonably) typical King Felix (TM) pitch sequence on the night, where there are only 0 or 1 balls on the batter at the resolution of the battle, but also there hand never been nothin' anywhere in the red zone. In the 4th to righty Yuli Gurriel:
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(1) Fastball on the black for a certain 0-1 (no way I can impress the ladies swinging at a pitcher's count fastball on the edge, so let's see if we get something better). (2) Then, that changeup that starts in the zone and drops out of it. (3) Then, on 0-2, a sucker dry spitter buried on the plate that drew a garbage swing on a cheating, defensive first baseman. Don't care who you are, you're not doing much with any of that shtick.
The pitcher we saw Saturday could start Opening Day for some teams. Notably, Balmer, who has given up 5+ runs in 20 starts, that being four complete spin cycles of the rotation. If he throws pitches like that I'm bettin' a 2015 Felix result: 8-9 strikeouts a game, 2.5 walks, 3.50 ERA.
Hey, if we traded for a pitcher like that, whattaya say.
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HWMNBN
Came in to 'save' the game with a clean 3.0 IP and no runs allowed. Never occurred for a moment, the idea of Gallardo in relief. (To me OR him, I bet!) He started throwing and I went, hmmmmm. He's got a good overhand curve. Maybe a bit of extra life on the fastball, he's got the slider as a 3rd pitch which is confusing from a reliever ... maybe he can contribute that way. Wanted to like him.
Then he got into his second inning, the 8th overall, and missed with a couple of fatballs. And I remembered the 5-0 games that we lost because --- > Gallardo had problems until he 'got loose.' What then trying to pitch 1-2 innings at a time.
Not that we begrudge the Mariners a #13 pitcher slot, if Yo-Ga is part of the family and all that good stuff. Just reporting what we saw. If Yo-Ga is helping the kids and is moving the attitude forward and he's a stopgap in the rotation, fine, vote him a ring.
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BABVA,
Dr D