pitching Page 6 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Shohei Ohtani's Splitter Is The Most Untouchable Pitch In Baseball
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani helped the Angels end a five-game losing streak with a 110-pitch outing against the Rays Sunday. At this point, Ohtani going for nine strikeouts in 7.2 innings and generally bewitching opposing hitters isn’t much of a surprise, since he’s paired masterful control with deva...
Catcher Carlos Ruiz Pitched And Struck Someone Out
Carlos Ruiz had played 1,109 games in his career before Tuesday. The longtime Phillies catcher, now with the Seattle Mariners, had only played two other positions: An inning at third base during extra-inning games with the Phils in 2008 and 2011, and an inning at first earlier this season. Last nigh...
This Is The Golden Age Of Bad Pitchers Serving Up Home Runs<em></em>
No matter how much MLB and worthy physicists deny it, and no matter how sincere they are, the balls used in major-league games are, it says here, juiced one way or another. It could be that central baseball, worried that declining levels of offense would bore fans, hatched a fiendish conspiracy; it ...
Let Us All Marvel At Andrés<em></em> Blanco’s 70 MPH Fastballs
The Phillies, already the worst team in baseball so far this year, trailed 12-0 in the bottom of the eighth last night. So why not bring in an infielder to pitch? Utility man Andrés Blanco toed the rubber for the first time in the majors....
The Pirates' Pitcher-Whisperer Has Done It Again With Ivan Nova<em></em>
Ivan Nova is 1-2 so far in 2017. But look closer: In 20 innings pitched with a 2.25 ERA, he’s struck out eight and walked none. Or put another way, after Monday night’s complete-game 2-1 loss to St. Louis:...
Chris Sale Is Wasting His Talent On The South Side
On Sunday night, Chris Sale became the first White Sox pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in four consecutive seasons, running up 12 strikeouts over eight innings. It was the 34th time in his career that he’s struck out more than 10 batters in a game. He did so on the way to his eighth loss ...
Watch A Pro Pitching Tutorial, Including Steven Wright Teaching Us His Knuckleball<em></em>
You probably know how to throw a ball, and maybe even how to do so with some force, accuracy, and/or intention. Maybe you played baseball as a kid, or in college, or once a week this very summer with a ragtag group of friends and coworkers....
The Indians Set A New Franchise Win Streak Record In The Most Difficult Way Possible
For the first time in franchise history, the Cleveland Indians have won 14 consecutive games. And it only took them 19 innings against the Blue Jays to lock down lucky number 14. ...
For One Night, Third-String Catcher Erik Kratz Was The Pirates' Best Pitcher
Pitchers dinging and donging at the plate is old news; let’s honor some position players who can deal from the mound....
Padres Catcher Christian Bethancourt Made The Most Of His Chance To Pitch
The Padres got walloped 16-4 this afternoon by the Mariners, and they lost the first two games of a weird home and away pair of two-game series on opposite ends of the (American) Pacific coast by an aggregate score of 25-7. It only took Seattle five innings to accrue all their runs, which ushered in...
Clayton Kershaw Is An Apex Predator
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is on one of those runs that has baseball writers banging down the door of Elias Sports and plumbing the depths of Baseball Reference, all in an attempt to put whatever the hell it is he’s doing in context. Kershaw struck out 11 Angels in eight innings last ni...
Rays Hero Dan Johnson Is Reportedly Returning To The Team As A Knuckleball Pitcher
Remember back in 2011 when Dan Johnson hit one of the most dramatic home runs of the century against the Yankees, to send the Tampa Bay Rays to the playoffs on the last day of the season? Here’s a refresher....
Johnny Cueto Was Tremendous Tonight
Johnny Cueto’s postseason form has oscillated between extremes. He shut down the Astros to take the Royals into the ALCS, giving up two runs in eight innings, then reversed those stats and gave up eight in two to the Blue Jays in his next start. The key difference was that Cueto’s dominant start, wh...
Here Is What "Stuff" Means in Baseball
What is “stuff”? The New York Times devoted part of its Sunday front page to the question of what, exactly, the term means in baseball. It is, John Branch of the Times reported, an underexamined mystery of the game. ...
Scoundrel Mountain: The Sordid, Untold History Of The Pitching Mound
The modern Baseball pitcher utilizes myriad sleights of hand in his quest to fool and demoralize the slugger. Taunts, curses, incantations. Foreign substances added to the ball, including but not limited to urine and faeces (both human and animal) or reproductive fluids (both human and animal). Divi...
Some Thoughts On Chris Sale's Historically Dominant Run
Last night, White Sox ace Chris Sale struck out 12 Cardinals in eight innings, becoming just the second pitcher in baseball history to strike out 10 or more batters in eight consecutive starts. Here are some thoughts about that....
Down & Away With Leo Mazzone
Nice piece on Leo Mazzone by Tom Rehagen over at SB Nation Longform:...
Dice-K To Return To Japan, Take His Mythical Gyroball With Him
After six seasons with the Red Sox and two with the Mets, Daisuke Matsuzaka is apparently returning to Japan, considering a contract with the defending champion Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He'll always be remembered for the hype, and for his unhittable pitch that in reality is all but unthrowable....
Clayton Kershaw Is Great. But Pedro Martinez Was More Dominant.
When Clayton Kershaw is inducted into the Hall of Fame some day, we may well look back on this year as his best. For most batters, their only hope of hitting him this season was to swing at the first pitch hoping for a fastball. As ridiculous as his numbers are, though—a 21-3 record with a 1.77 ER...
Chart: Relief Pitchers Earning The Most Postseason Decisions In 50 Years
This chart from yesterday by High Heat Stats MLB shows decisions are being earned by relievers in these playoffs at the highest rate since 1964. Since the playoff sample pool has grown over time (championship series started in 1969, division series started in 1995, and wild card started in 2012), th...