KJC
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Everything posted by KJC
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when do those start and how do you get them?
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how should i know, i am a waggoner...
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im going to pick it up in the morning, the only bad thing to me is no Ramon
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Bill Conlin | NL will be knee-deep in good pitching FOR AT LEAST the last quarter century, pitchers and global warming have had something in common. They get blamed for almost everything. If climatologists can't pin a reason on something - droughts, floods, El Ninos, La Ninas, increases or decreases in landfalling hurricanes - pin the offending anomaly on good, old global warming. And if people who devote much of their lives agonizing over the decline in the national pastime (despite precipitous increases in attendance, payrolls, revenues and international interest) are unable to assign blame on why the game has gone to hell, well... Blame the pitching, the thing nobody ever has enough of... the thing that has been 75 percent, 80 percent or 95 percent of the game since Connie Mack, Branch Rickey or Terry Francona first said it. Offense explodes? The pitching bleeps, right? Offense declines? Hard to believe, Harry, so few runs when the pitching is so dreadful. Then you channel surf from 7 o'clock starts on the East Coast to the 10 o'clock starts on the West Coast, and all the starts in the time zones in between. The trend you catch on to right away is that the starting pitchers all throw low- to mid-90s, unless some are among the handful of real studs throwing mid- to high-90s. And while the lefthanders don't all feature that kind of super-unleaded, their fastballs are alive. The righthanders all throw hard breaking balls and splitters that bottom out like the grandfathered spitballs aging pitchers threw in Babe Ruth's era. But these things are legal. The hot buzz as we inch toward the magic days when pitchers and catchers take an ice pick to this cruel winter is the deconstruction of the Yankees, who watched free agents Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte take a staggering 38 victories to the Astros. It's been about the reconstruction of the Boston Red Sox, who led the world in offense last year and added Curt Schilling to an already formidable pitching staff. Maybe boy-genius general manager Theo Epstein hired Francona just to make it look like a fair fight. The buzz has been about the National League East losing Vlad Guerrero (Angels) and Gary Sheffield (Yankees) at the same time that the-time-is-finally-up Braves were adding the 2004 loss of Greg Maddux to the 2003 losses of Kevin Millwood and Tom Glavine. At the same time that the Mets did almost nothing to play catch-up, that the Expos also lost Javier Vasquez to the Yankees' extreme makeover, and that Ed Wade went the good kind of nuts for a second straight offseason - adding Triple Digits Billy Wagner to close, Todd Worrell to set up and some solid back-of-the-lineup additions that will make both bench and clubhouse better places. I'm here to tell you the real buzz - and it will become a roar as the season unfolds - is the National League Year of the Pitcher, which is about to revolve around what should be three incredible rotations and two, maybe three, more not too far behind them. It is fashionable in baseball circles to gripe that there is a shortage of true No. 1's. That perception will remain accurate as long as winning 20 is the gold standard for top-of-the-rotation guys. But in an era of five-man starting staffs, pitch-count obsession, six- and seven-inning starts, cruelly efficient setup specialists and ninth-inning executioners, the 20-game winner is a dying breed. Only innings-eaters with rubber arms need apply, horses like Schilling. In an era when most managers would kill to have three solid starters, the Phillies, Astros and defending World Series champion Marlins are going to spring training with starting rotations that go five deep. And you can excuse the Cubs for having only four at the moment, because the top of Dusty Baker's staff is supermanned by Super-K's Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. All they did in 2003 was strike out 511 hitters in 422 2/3 innings. Prior's 245 K's came during an 18-6, 2.43 bust-out. Matt Clement and talented Carlos Zambrano are behind them. With that kind of firepower, you don't worry about who winds up No. 5. Pitching at the back end was more of an Astros strength last season than the starters, especially when ace Roy Oswalt had some leakage. So how do you improve a team that pounds the baseball lopsided? You acquire Hall of Famer Clemens (17-9, 3.91) and smooth lefthander Pettitte (21-8), and run them out there with Oswalt, who won 19 in 2002, Wade Miller and Tim Redding. Ah, but Wagner's 44 saves now belong to Admin Bowa. Can deluxe 2002 setup man Octavio Dotel and talented Brad Lidge close the deals for Houston? We'll see. Trader Jack McKeon's scrappy lineup has been shot at and hit, but the Marlins still will come at you with the young and potent quintet of Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Carl Pavano, Dontrelle Willis and rehabbing A.J. Burnett - who might not be ready by Opening Day. Oops, did I mention Jack's closers are Armando Benitez and Braden Looper, hardly a grouper-in-the-oven combo? The Phillies, you know about. Five of the reasons they are listed at 3-1 to win the National League pennant at a Las Vegas sports book are Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla, Eric Milton and Randy Myers. Cynics might shrug that's little more than a quintet of around .500 pitchers - Millwood and Padilla were 14-12 last season; Wolf was 16-10 - but conventional wisdom says the deepest bullpen since the days of Ron Reed, Gene Garber and Tug McGraw will turn those guys into 18-8 or better guys. Am I kissing off the Braves of Russ Ortiz (21-7), Mike Hampton, Horacio Ramirez and John Thomson? Not as long as John Smoltz throws three 90-plus pitches. And don't forget the punchless Dodgers, who had the majors' lowest ERA last season, featuring Cy Young Award reliever Eric Gagne. National League Year of the Pitcher? Book it. couple mistakes in this article
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oh my this guy was awful for the rams in 02...
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*jumps on bandwagon* All Aboard!
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nice observations jonny
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its all a load geemoney, i expect him to take a few months off then come back...
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:lol sure thing...
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and BINGO was his name O
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Lesnar at LE Goldberg at RE?
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Boys can use him...
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Schmidt 86 career wins Livan 84 career wins now i am not comparing the two because Schmidt is a far greater pitcher in my opinion but Livan is no bust. so your argument holds no grounds...
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so now Livan hasnt proven to be a good pitcher either? come on buddy, i know fans are biased but jeez.
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well he is our "Unproven" ace and he has a ring...
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fluke shmook, who battled your boy Schmidt in game 1 pitch for pitch? come on you cant be that one sided to not give him ANY respect...
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big day for Neal tomorrow
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we got some pitcher...
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Nunez and Castro are looking strongest thus far, although JP is up there too. isnt it great that JP worked on his SPEED in the off season. i love it...