Sunday, July 17, 2005

Not Going Anywhere

Nothing like a crisply played, well-pitched baseball game. Maybe we'll see one tonight, but I'm not holding my breath. Because the Red Sox and Yankees believe in plate discipline (capitalizing on the paucity of good pitching in baseball), the games drag on and on.

Yesterday, with ostensibly two of the best pitchers in baseball starting, the game went 3:34, with 186 pitches from Red Sox hurlers and 154 from Yankee twirlers. Good for hotdog and water vendors, not good for mothers with small children.

The Moneyball approach isn't objectionable, it's just tedious when the teams employing it get together. What about the rest of the AL. Yesterday, Cleveland-Chicago was 2:46, Tampa-Toronto 2:54, Texas-Oakland 2:54, Angels-Twins 2:59, Royals-Tigers 2:44, and Seattle-Baltimore 2:39, in a battle of slopballers, Moyer versus Chen. By the way, Jamie Moyer has 200 wins...(why can't we get guys like that?).

Speaking of Moyer, three more wins and he'll be in the top 100 pitching winners in history. He'll also be able to collect Social Security, right? He's finished in the top 10 in ERA five times, won 20 games twice, been in the top 4 in winning percentage four times, and is in the top 10 in active players for career wins. He'll need a ticket to get into Cooperstown, but he's had a very good career, one he can proudly discuss with his grandchildren (they're probably in Little League now).

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