Baseball, and a Little Golf
I was sad to see yesterday that Dontrelle Willis was held out of his next start. Nobody is saying it, but you have to imagine that it will be very hard for him to find his way back into the rotation. He showed some promise in his early starts, but he’s been getting increasingly ineffective since then. He’s clearly not a major league pitcher at this point. It never fails to amaze me to see a guy totally lose his game like that. It’s like what has happened with Fausto Carmona – a couple of years ago he was the next big thing, and now he’s toiling down in class A.
Speaking of guys missing starts, Erik Bedard missed his latest with a sore shoulder. I think Bedard is a great pitcher, and I’d love to see him get moved to a contender this year, so this could be a setback. If he’s hurt at all then the market for pitchers at the trade deadline could really get expensive – the Peavy injury already has limited the supply.
I am amazed by the number of top level players in the majors who are having truly awful years. Vlad Guerrero has no power. David Ortiz is a disaster. Vernon Wells is lousy. Milton Bradley sucks. Jeff Francouer is a waste of space. The list goes on and on. It’s a sad state of affairs that my first thought when looking for an explanation isn’t injury but rather drugs.
I’m pretty excited that Pudge Rodriguez will be setting the record for most games caught by a catcher tonight. He’s playing acceptable offense and typically great defense, so he could still add a couple hundred more games to the record, too. I talked aboutPudge when he signed with Houston – I’m a big fan. The news of this record really caught me off guard, though. I remember exactly when he broke into the league with the Rangers as a hot prospect – I was a massive Nolan Ryan fan, so he catcher decisions there were obviously important to me. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, but he was 19 then and he’s 37 now. He’s getting old, and that means I must be, too. If I was a young catcher I would sure want someone to give me the nickname Pudge. I’d even give it to myself if I had to. Pudge Rodriguez broke Pudge Fisk’s record, so the name is almost a guarantee of longevity.
I was reading over Peter Gammons’ article yesterday, and I came across a truly mind-numbing set of stats. The average speed of Tim Wakefield’s pitches on Tuesday night against Florida was 67.4 mph, and his top speed was just 74.8. His slowest pitch was a glacial 57.6 mph. He threw 93 pitches, and 72 stopped the clock at less than 70 mph.His fastest pitch all year was 75.7 mph on May 24. That’s amazing. The guy is so slow, but but it’s been incredibly effective this year – he’s 9-3, and he has won three in a row. The guy is 42, and the way he is pitching he looks like he could pitch until he is 50. Or maybe for 50 more years. Why didn’t I ever learn to throw a knuckleball?
I was looking at U.S. Open odds today. Phil Mickelson is obviously the biggest story of the week, and at 12/1 he is going to be a popular bet, but I wouldn’t touch him at that price. He didn’t play well last week, he is coming off a break, and he’ll be more distracted and less focused than normal. I’ll be pulling for the guy, but I’ll bet against his success. I’d really go out on a limb instead and pick Tiger – good form, serious hunger and so on – but he’s at a truly ridiculous 3/2.
Related posts:
- A Little Golf, A Little Basketball Of course
- Tuesday Baseball I used yes
- Wednesday Baseball Notes The Mets h
Tags: Dontrelle Willis, Erik Bedard, Phil Mickelson, Pudge Rodriguez, Tim Wakefield
