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According to one of the beat writers, Tom Wilhelmsen hit 97 MPH "and looked better than he did at the end of last season."

We don't doubt that.  Probably, Tom looked literally better.  Probably, he was better than at the end of last year.

Once again, Yer Mighty SSI turns to its cross-training shtick.  Many golfers roll out to the links, first spring tee-off, and shoot a great score - maybe never having hit even a single bucket of balls that year.  Jack Nicklaus said, "I don't think the reason is hard to guess.  They don't expect much, so they're not putting pressure on themselves.  They're just enjoying the game, and they play better that way."

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It's worth remembering that Wilhelmsen freaked out after being put into the closer role.  

Dr. D used to scoff at the idea that closing is harder than pitching the 7th or 8th, especially if the setup guy is coming in with men on base.  What could be easier than warming up at your leisure, taking the full windup*, with a clean inning nobody on base ... and holding a 5-2 lead for only three outs?

But then came the day we realized that --- > though the game situation is not harder, the feebs in the postgame interview are.  You "blow a save" in the 9th and they crowd around, gnawing your ankles, and ask for you to get down on your knees and grovel an apology for betraying your team.  This does not occur when a 7th-inning reliever gives up a home run.

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Wilhelmsen closed very successfully, for a while.  But then he hit his first shaky patch, and the people applied pressure until he imploded, and then even after he returned to the 7th inning, he had the yips.  As Mo' Dawg can tell you -- probably with respect to his playing partners, not himself -- the yips are not quick or easy to overcome.

A winter away from the game, that's one way ...

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Tom Wilhelmsen was never the seasoned, grizzled vet you might assume from his age.  If he gets comfortable again, and starts wiping people out in the 7th inning behind Fernando Rodney and Danny Farquhar, well ... 

... there are few things in sports that I enjoy more than watching an overwhelming reliever pitch the early innings.

I love watching an NFL team with a huge pash rush, and engulf the quarterback 8 times in one half (as the Seahawks did to Aaron Rodgers one time).  I love watching Blake Griffin get a two-step hop and then "baseball-throw" the dunk down without touching the rim.  I love watching Percy Harvin change direction at full stride.

And I love watching a crazy-dominant relief pitcher come in and gutpunch the enemy BEFORE the 9th inning -- when they haven't tightened their abdominal wall yet.  I just wallow in it.

• Mariano Rivera, pitching the 8th behind John Wetteland, throwing 101 MPH fastballs up the ladder
• Arthur Rhodes, throwing those stukka-divebomb sliders to lefty hitters behind Kazuhiro Sasaki
• Daniel Bard in his day
• Alexi Ogando, at times (okay, I don't wallow in this one)
• Grant Balfour before he closed, to a certain extent
• Every Anaheim Angel setup man, between about 2002 and 2008 (e.g. KRod and Brendan Donnelly behind Troy Percival)

If you had promoted Jeff Nelson or Arthur Rhodes to Closer, you'd have been promoting them to their level of incompetence.  :- )   Maybe Tom Wilhelmsen was just always meant to be Jeff Nelson/Brendan Donnelly.

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Look.  Tom Wilhelmsen's fastball averages over 96 MPH.  His yellow hammer is -18 MPH off that.  If he throws strikes, he's going to blow people away.  Y' feel me?

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