Today’s Required Reading
In March, friend of the blog Jonah Keri traveled to Arizona to work on an epic story about how the Texas Rangers are developing their pitchers. The result was an 8,000 word treatise on pitching and history. Today, Jonah has published the article on his blog, and so when you have a good block of time, you need to sit down and read it. It’s really good stuff, even if I’m not completely convinced of the effectiveness of some of Nolan Ryan’s philosophies.
Here are a few of the highlights, for me:
Barry Raziano threw just 21.1 innings in his career and would make just eight more appearances after this game before tearing his rotator cuff and ending his career. On this night, Raziano came on in relief of Ryan, threw two scoreless innings, and collected the only win of his major league career. It wasn’t quite Moonlight Graham, but the night should have been memorable. But the win itself didn’t resonate. Raziano was young, pitched in a lousy bullpen that needed him, and figured there’d be plenty more chances down the road. No, what he remembered most clearly was Cecil Cooper striking out three times against Ryan that night, an outcome he found amusing because Raziano had done the same to Cooper once in Triple-A.
Only Raziano’s memory was faulty. Cooper struck out six times against Ryan. He went 0-for-8 for the game. When contacted for this story, Cooper issued the most understandable “no comment” of all-time.
Ryan’s own ironman history would seem to make him the perfect spokesman for pushing pitchers to go deeper into games. His 235-pitch slog back in ’74 marked the third time in three years he’d pitched 12 innings or more in a game. These weren’t what you’d call efficient efforts either. Ryan threw 332.2 innings, struck out 367 batters, and walked 202 in ’74, the season that produced his biggest workload. He threw harder than anyone, trained harder than anyone, struck out more batters than anyone and walked more batters than anyone in the game’s history, started in the big leagues as a teenager, and finished as a 46-year-old.
But Ryan also acknowledges that he was the biggest of outliers. Though he owed much of his success to hard work, he also knows he won a genetic lottery that helped make him one of the most successful and most durable pitchers of all-time. Having Nolan Ryan preach about the value of pitching deep into games is a little like listening to Yao Ming encouraging people to get taller. Easy for you to say, buddy.
Jaeger made some inroads with his approach. Top Arizona Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren, former Cy Young winner Barry Zito and 2009 AL Rookie of the Year Andrew Bailey rank among the big league pitchers that use some version of the Jaeger program as part of their training. Hundreds of amateurs have followed suit. Even a few progressive major league pitching coaches have taken interest. For the most part, though, Jaeger hasn’t had much luck convincing teams to overhaul their old training methods.
“Baseball has always been the good old boys sport,” said Zito, whose father Joe was such a big believer in long-toss that he insisted on a clause in Barry’s first contract guaranteeing that the A’s wouldn’t interfere with his son’s regimen. “You’ve got a lot of old-school guys with old-school methods. It seems other sports will adjust and change with technology, whereas baseball has always been slow to adjust to the times, and to new technologies.”
Rainiers PCL Playoffs Game 5
Feierabend v Mortensen, 7:00pm
The Rainiers won the first two games on the road, then saw the RiverCats pull the same trick in Safeco. Tonight’s the deciding game – the winner heads to Memphis for the PCL championship.
The series has been defined by command, or the lack thereof. Game 1 saw the Rainiers spot Sacramento to a 7-1 lead, but RiverCats starter Clayton Mortensen’s wildness gave the Rainiers an opening, and got to Travis Blackley to get the come-from-behind win. The Rainiers led most of game 2, thanks to another 5 walks in 5 2/3 from Sacramento starter Travis Banwart.
In Safeco, Rainiers starters Mauricio Robles and Yusmeiro Petit had decent off-speed stuff but little command of their fastballs, and while neither was hit terribly hard, the walks ran up pitch counts and meant the Rainiers were consistently playing from behind (Sacramento has scored at least one run in the first inning of 3 of the 4 games so far).
Tonight Sacramento starts Mortensen, their ace, on 3 days rest. The Rainiers will counter with Ryan Feierabend, who’s making his first appearance of the series. Game 1 starter Andy Baldwin’s available in the bullpen as well.
The Mariners start someone not named Felix Hernandez, so why not tune in to Mike Curto on 850AM or here? Better yet, come down to Safeco. The logistical issues of getting to Safeco while thousands of Seahawks fans leave proved much less severe than I’d thought. So come down; you may have an entire section to yourself, but if you’ve ever wanted to feel like some insane tycoon who orders professional sporting events played for his/her personal benefit, tonight’s the night.
–Update–
RAINIERS WIN! The Rainiers take the series 3-2, with a 4-1 win in game 5. After trailing for the middle innings, the M’s tied it in the 6th, then took the lead on a truly bizarre play: 1 out, runner on first. Jose Yepez hits a grounder to short who goes to 2nd to try and get Mike Wilson, but Wilson beats the relay. The 2B fires to first in time to get Yepez, and 1B Tommy Everidge, thinking there were 3 outs, throws the ball into the crowd. That’s a 2-base error, and that allows Wilson to score, about 5 minutes after the play ended.
A Matt Mangini two-run HR gave them some breathing room, and Josh Lueke closed it out in the 9th. Ryan Feierabend’s the player of the game, after an 8IP, 1R, 2H, 0BB performance.
As usual, pictures below.
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Game 143, Mariners at Angels
Vargas vs Haren, 12:35 pm.
Yeah, they’re still playing. If Tacoma loses today, the rest of the year will get more interesting, with guys like Justin Smoak and Dan Cortes getting called up. If the Rainiers win, well, then we’ll continue to have games like this.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Lopez, 3B
Langerhans, LF
Bard, C
Josh Wilson, SS
Game 142, Mariners at Angels
Hernandez vs Santana, 9:05 pm.
Happy Felix Day.
Yesterday, I ran a poll on FanGraphs asking our readers who they thought should win the Cy Young. In just over 24 hours, we’ve gotten over 4,000 ballots, and 62.1% of the votes have gone to Felix. Francisco Liriano is in second place with 10.8%, while CC Sabathia is in third place with 9.2%. It has been nothing less than a rout. He is the consensus pick for the Cy Young Award among the more statistically minded public.
While this isn’t a representative sample of the BBWAA, or baseball fans in general, I do think its a good sign for Felix’s chances. If he can capture all of the voters who give credence to the newer statistics, then only a few of the more traditional voters have to switch sides and ignore Sabathia’s edge in wins. Given how people like Jayson Stark have come out in favor of Felix, that doesn’t seem like such a tall order. Right now, I’d put Felix as a slight favorite over Sabathia to actually win the award. He obviously needs to finish strong, and it wouldn’t hurt him to pick up a few wins on the way, but even if they just maintain their current numbers, I think Felix takes the award.
Rainiers PCL Playoffs Game 4
Well at least this doesn’t directly conflict with an M’s game today. If you’re in Seattle, come down to Safeco. Gametime is 12 noon, and if yesterday was any indication, great seats are still available.
Tacoma again goes for the series win, sending Yusmeiro Petit for his first start of the series. Petit is coming off his best outing of the season, going 7 innings of shutout baseball on Sept. 5th with 8Ks and no walks. More importantly, the RiverCats have re-activated Brett Tomko to make the start for Sacramento. This means the Rainiers can satisfy the Sullivan Postulate, which held that after beating Travis Blackley in game 1 and John Halama in game 2, the Rainiers could only win by beating Tomko. That looked tough, as he’d been placed on the inactive list. But he’s back, and I’m betting he can still hear Lou Piniella’s screams echoing around Safeco field.
Recaps/commentary on last night’s RiverCats win from Mike Curto here and Larry Stone here.
Today’s Rainiers line-up:
1: Ackley
2: Halman
3: Mangini
4: Winfree
5: Carp
6: Smoak
7: Nelson
8: Alfonzo
9: Hulett
Lots of photos, not as much commentary below. Just a reminder that gameday is here and you should listen to Mike Curto here or on 850AM. Aaand that’s the ballgame, final score 5-1 Sacramento. Just like last night, none of the Rainiers’ pitchers had good command. Petit struggled a bit, but nobody struggled more than Dan Cortes who gave up 3 in the 9th. The 5th and deciding game is tomorrow night at Safeco Field – it’d be great to get a bigger crowd out tomorrow, but the logistics are going to be tough – the Seahawks game will be letting out and the I-5 roadwork will make getting back to Tacoma a nightmare. I’m not selling this. PLAYOFFS! WINNER TAKE ALL!
Pictures of Ackley, Halman, Mangini, Petit, Cortes, Patterson, Tomko and more after the jump.
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Rainiers PCL Playoff Series Game 3 Gamethread
Traffic prevented me from getting here early, so I’ll make this quick:
The Rainiers send Mauricio Robles to the mound today versus Vin Mazzaro of Sacramento.
The line-up is Ackley, Halman, Mangini, Winfree, Carp, Smoak, Nelson, Alfonzo, Hulett.
Chris Carter’s starting at DH for the RiverCats, and Michael Taylor is in CF.
Summary: The Rainiers lost game 3 of their best of 5 series tonight 6-2 because Mauricio Robles wasn’t sharp and because the RiverCats hit 2 HRs. Robles velocity was down and he couldn’t command his FB. A great change-up helped him rack up strike-outs, but he couldn’t find the zone consistently enough to give hitters, particularly righties, something else to look for. I’m pleased he was able to pitch as well as he did (for as long as he did) when he clearly didn’t have it tonight.
The R’s will try and close things out tomorrow at noon here at Safeco. Should they win, it’s on to Memphis for the championship series. But as Cheney’s been bulldozed and because the Red Sox are visiting the Mariners, the Rainiers would play every game on the road.
Halman K’d twice, but had two of the better swings against RiverCats starter Vin Mazzaro. Dustin Ackley had a forgettable game. If you’d like the gory details and a few pictures, they’re below. Read more
Rainiers at Safeco
Playoff baseball returns to Safeco Field tonight, as the Tacoma Rainiers host the Sacramento Rivercats in game three of their PCL playoff series. The Rainiers lead 2-0 and can win the series with a victory tonight, or tomorrow, or even Sunday. They’re in a pretty good position, obviously.
Tonight’s game is at 7:00, and you can buy your $20 ticket here. You’ll get a great seat in the lower bowl, and get a first hand look at the guys who will probably make up the next good Mariners team. Dustin Ackley launched a grand slam last night, and Justin Smoak has made just one out in 11 plate appearances so far in the series. Toss in some hilarious Greg Halman at-bats (he might hit one out of Safeco, or he might not hit a ball all night) and a chance to see a celebration if the Rainiers win, and it should make for a fun evening.
Go to Safeco. Cheer like crazy.
A Question
Since the Mariners acquired Josh Lueke in the Cliff Lee deal, he’s been the source of some controversy, to say the least. I don’t really want to get into the “who knew what and when” conversation, which is why comments are off on this post. I am curious, however, about what your personal reaction to Lueke will be if the Mariners add him to the roster. He’s a talented reliever who can get hitters out, and is probably one of the two or three best relievers in the organization right now. He’s also a guy who plead no contest to a charge of “false imprisonment with violence” against a young woman. He’s admitted that he made a mistake, but it’s a pretty awful mistake.
In general, fans root for players who perform, regardless of what kind of person they are off the field. I’ve talked with several people who feel that this one is just too tough to overcome, though. Will you root for Josh Lueke if he puts on a Mariners uniform, or was his crime unforgivable?
Rainiers Playoff Game Thread
Blake Beaven takes the hill for the Rainiers in game two of their playoff series against Sacramento. They lead 1-0 after their win last night, and then head back to Seattle to play at Safeco this weekend.
You can view gameday here or listen to the great Mike Curto here. I recommend the latter.
Two ESPN Radio Hits Today
I’ll be on at 11:30 with Brock and Salk today, and that will be my regular slot going forward. I’ll also be on with Kevin Calabro at 3:45 today as well.
My new post at the Brock and Salk blog is now up too. It’s all about Greg Halman and his historically awfully strikeout rate, and the one guy who actually made it work.