.

Before the Game

They warned us that the Tigers were:

• The best lineup in baseball
• The most RH lineup in baseball*
• In possession of Miguel Cabrera, this decade's Manny / Hurt / Edgar
• In possession of a very good hitter (VMart) having a great year
• A rrrrrrough ride for a left hand pitcher, baby
• Well seasoned in "hot wars," whether occuring in August or October
• A complete mismatch for a #4-5 starter
• Playing at home
• All of the above
• None of the above

.

As the Game Began

James Paxton went at least 4 innings before he threw a single curve ball for a strike.  I don' care what the F/X says; his yakker was a writeoff.  Krueger said, "To his credit, he kept trying to throw it."  Well, yeah, but the Tigers to their credit kept ignoring it.  The curve was a complete non-issue.

The change was one notch better than "an embarrassment."  The change was merely terrible, a Blake Beavan change or a Taijuan Walker change.

His fastball?  That he could, and did, throw for strikes (no BB until like the 6th inning).  But Krueger pointed out that he could only throw (with bite and intention) it to the inside half.

Like Kobe Bryant and 4 high-school players going against the San Antonio Spurs.  Or Marshawn Lynch, Tarvaris Jackson and three taxi squad WR's against the 49er defense.  The competitive scenario is simply irrational.  You just can't telegraph the play and make it work.  It wouldn't be world-class competition if you could!

.

From a technical standpoint

Bill Krueger, who has more advanced pitching technique than you and I do, explained the mechanical problem. Paxton wasn't "reaching over an imaginary barrel" to aim the curve at the face mask.  Also, he was not getting extension on his changeup (which would add to arm action while giving better location).

By some miracle of the cosmos, this accurate commentary by Krueger lines up exactly with SSI's ongoing complaint Paxton is "steering" the ball.  

Short-arming it, so to speak.  A football quarterback "short-arms" the ball when he's afraid of mistakes.  A golfer "steers" the ball around the golf course when he's trying for an "okay" score.  Yes, of course the Mariners' staff is well aware of all that.

Like so, James ...

It's good that Paxton reduced his backstroke, but he hasn't yet synch'ed up the idea of the "preying mantis" flowery finish out of a short stroke.  He'll get there.  :- )

Ah well.  We'll gut out the 6-0, 1.88 growing pains for what ... a year or two.

.

So, at the Postgame ...

A rook lefthander with one pitch, against the Detroit Tigers?  Did he get blasted for 3 HR, 7 ER and 4 BB in 1.1 innings pitched?  No, he went 6 innings, 1 earnie -- Paxton's worst possible "B game" against the Detroit Tigers, and it was a lockdown.

Leaving Paxton at 6-0, 1.88 after his first 9 major league starts.   The M's are 7-2 when their #5 starter takes the mound.

.

Makeup

Fighting himself far more than he fought the Tigers ... Paxton was calm, focused, and unhurried.  His pace was slow but surgical; his breath was easy; his shoulders were relaxed.  He'd spike a pitch two feet in front of the plate, and then hold up his glove for the next ball.  Calm.  So calm.  Badminton, anybody?

The lack of walks was what saved him, scoreboard wise.  Here it is, hit it.  Lou would have approved :- )

.

The Glorious Fastball

We all know that Paxton fires the ball from a very high release point -- at times, Friday, he threw it from OVER 7' in the air.  (So the plane of the bat's arc is considerably skewed from the plane of the pitch arc, and this cuts down the size of the "crash intersection" between bat and ball.)

We know that he usually gets a big downward bite on the pitch.  This did NOT occur Friday.  Not at all.  Paxton's fastball had a perfectly routine shape to it.  (Although it was angled from high-to-low.)

........

If you just joined us, MLB hitting is about --- > "isolating" on 1.5 pitches.  The Tigers, from about the 3rd hitter on, totally isolated on 1.0 pitches.

If you just joined us too, "cheating" occurs when you time your swing to the pitcher's motion (as opposed to reading the spin and velocity, and then swinging).  Hey.  Even Dr. D, at age 51, can hit a 95 MPH fastball in a batting cage, if he cheats with his swing.

Star ML pitchers can, and do, get detonated by single-A minor leaguers if they are throwing mostly fastballs and don't have hair-fine command.

........

So what happened?  Again and again, the Tigers loaded up for Paxton's fastball... but either

• Fouled it straight back, or over their dugout (way late on the pitch)
• Topped it into a ground ball (Paxton 10 grounders, 3 fly balls Friday)

In the bottom of the 6th -- after all Tigers had seen him several times -- Paxton had Miguel Cabrera (!) in a 2-1 count and challenged him with a 95 MPH fastball.  The pitch came in and Cabrera, shocked, snnnapppped his bat through and .... nearly hit the ballboy near the on-deck circle.  Way late.

Two batters later, Torii Hunter got into a 2-0 count and here came the 95 fastball, thigh-high, exactly bisecting home plate.

Hunter feeb'ed it, took the pitch, and the count was 2-1.   They just didn't want any part of James Paxton.

..........

Granted, there were several hard-hit balls, handled by:

• Infielders
• Right fielders
• Not by OF's to the pull field

And Paxton could have easily given up (say) 3 runs.

But, smack me silly!   An inside fastball, "tipped off" every pitch, and THAT took down the Tigers.  What's this guy going to do when people have to deal with a mixed attack?

BABVA,

Dr D