=== Slider ===

Pineda's smoother FB arm action made his slider better.  

It has been a wipeout pitch all year, and on May 16 it was an 84 mph spitball.

.........

What was happening, was that he was snapping off his slider with a slightly harder arm action than on his fastball.  This created garbage swings off his slider. 

Think about it for one second.  The batter is tuned into Pineda's shoulder and arm, and WHOOM HE'S REACHED BACK FOR EXTRA! but .... the ball hits the dragster chutes and isn't there.

Eric Wedge preaches that you can analyze pitching by watching hitters' reactions.  Bad for me:  one of my card tricks is blown.  Good for you:  you can tell for yourself whether Pineda is easy for LHB's to hit.  Watch the hitters, not the bloggers.

His slider was always one of the best in the bigs, but on May 16 it was sickening.  Mike Blowers explained this as "You've got to start so early on him, and Pineda's slider looks like a fastball in the middle of the plate, and by the time you are into your swing ... the ball is just gone.  The right handers are missing it by a foot."

.........

Pineda threw 34 sliders, 21 for strikes ... 11 for swinging strikes!  Eleven swinging strikes is good for a hundred pitches.

At this point Pineda is throwing his slider with impunity.  He throws it with an air of contempt, high in the zone, secure in the knowledge that it won't be hit.

Hitters seem to be coping well, after their fashion.

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=== What's the Next Number In This Sequence ===

Michael Pineda is better in May than he was in April.  Over his last three games, he has fanned 24 batters and walked 1.  Over his last four games, that's 33 strikeouts and 4 walks.

On the postgame show, tonight, they continued to discuss the FKey7 question of how Pineda adjusts to the AL the second time around, and what about his changeup...

The Mariners, understanding pitching rather better than that, have scrapped Pineda's changeup.  I don't know if he has thrown any during those last 3-4 games; certainly he threw none on Monday.

Pineda is a two-pitch pitcher, as he should be, as Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan and many Hall of Famers were.  A changeup would only rob him of his hair-fine feel for his two wipeout pitches.

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Erik Bedard, in his 11K/game incarnation, was a 2-pitch guy who was right at 66% fastballs and 33% hooks.  Michael Pineda is doing exactly that.  Monday:  99 pitches, 34 sliders.

Pineda has an Erik Bedard hook, uses it the same way, but his fastball is a little better....

Didn't Bedard lead the AL in xFIP recently?

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