I certainly don't *see* what Wedge sees. Not my skill set, really - (and, of course, I dont' get to see the left coast games anyhow).
What *I* see is a stat book that shows Wright as being a CAREER "streak" pitcher. Now, I've stated previously that ALL players (pitcher or hitter), perform in a personal "range" of best to worst days. My read on Wright ... given his lengthy career AND his less than pedestrian numbers ... is that he has ALWAYS "at times" been a dominant reliever. I think Wright's aggregate stats are poor enough that he should have washed out of baseball long ago. He hasn't. Why?
My explanation is this ... he has for the last 16 years done EXACTLY what he is doing right now. But, he doesn't have the capacity to "hold onto" the stuff he's currently channeling. Wedge gets paid to pick up on when he's 'lost it' and mitigate the damage.
The fact Wright has 4.4 BB/9 and 5.0 K/9 rates over 1700 innings is my 'proof'. The fact that he's setting career bests in EVERY TTO vector is (IMO) an indication of abberation - not simply a reason to celebrate. While it would certainly be nice if at age 36 Wright has suddenly gotten way better than he ever was previously ... I just know that the odds of that being true are miniscule.
As for Vargas ... he's Washburn redux. Nobody got him, either.
=== Sasaki Syndrome, 5.5.11 ===
Brandon League is 9-for-9 and has slapped an automatic feel onto the M's 9th innings. Today, Dan Wilson innocently referred to the M's bullpen as "awesome". :- )
At this point, Dr. D's moaning about League's pitch-count tendencies are petty little quibbles. We'll stick with them anyway, since they're deliciously instructive w/r/t the hitter-pitcher game within a game.
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CHRIS DAVIS - For the third consecutive game, League got to face the bottom of a lineup for an easy save. That's not his fault, of course.
The only "pre-announced" danger pitch in the AB was the first pitch:
Stop da presses! League started Davis off with a high split for a called strike!
Davis practically backed away from the pitch as it came in, and certainly never considered swinging.
As we know, once League is to 0-1, even 1-1, in a count, he's in the clear. After this first-pitch splitfinger, Davis never had a chance. Both of his swings were garbage swings. Look where #4 was.
..........
Anyway. That first pitch was the one I'd been hoping to see. Yep, a first-pitch change for called strike one is no issue for League. Good on 'im.
How mischievous would it be to wonder if League threw a first-pitch splitter, up ... 'cause the blog-o-sphere was on his case about it? ;- )
Reminds me of Spring Fever, where Drew Barrymore asks her boyfriend incredulously, "And the Red Sox actually listen to your opinion about it?!?" ...well, no ... but, um .... HEH!
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DAVID MURPHY - after the first-pitch split to Davis, I was no longer willing to yap at Cindy, "Watch this fastball. Murphy's going to take a big rip."
Now I didn't know for sure what League was going to do. And so that single pitch to Davis had changed the makeup of the inning... in my mind, anyway...
>.
YORVIT TORREALBA - of course, League is now up 2 runs with only 1 out to go, so the game context is to throw fastballs anyway. Our rules are sort of suspended. But:
Vargas ===
I still don't totally get this guy. But: when your BOR is capable of shutouts,* and then your ballclub is back to its monster Opening Day starters, you have realllllly got something.
Just cannot wrap my mind around these 86-mph fastballs -- it's not like Vargas has Jamie Moyer's command, or his big change curve -- but I can see a night full of awful swings when they're out there.
Add Ackley and one more good thing to this offense, and I'm willin' to go to war. :- )
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=== 7-Man Bullpen ===
As usual, the starting rotation provided the 7th man in the bullpen. If not also the 6th.
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Comments
Get who Washburn was, that is :- )
It seems to me that the top of the strike zone is just as valid a strikezone edge as the bottom or the sides. Most pitchers work in/out and down...Vargas and Washburn work in/out UP/down...and the UP part is harder to square up if you're able to nail the letters with every 88 mph fastball than if you miss down by even half a foot. I think Vargas and Washburn both have the advantage of forcing hitters to get on top of the ball...fly ball (power) hitters get under it too often.
Ladder fastball is definitely a valid pitch IF you're somehow able to get away with it at 87...
Vargas and Wash seemed to be able to go up and juuuuusssssst get the batters behind it enough that they'd get under the ball by a quarter inch...
The element of surprise being key, perhaps... or maybe the shape of the pitch or something... 'cause will guarantee you that Jamie Moyer and Mark Buehrle aren't going to tempt fate with letters fastballs...
.........
That is the reality though ghost... Wash and Vargas do change the eye level masterfully... no arguing that...
And not because of bad food. :) Seriously though...the Moyer I remember probably threw 20% of his pitches up and in to right handed batters. They called it his "sneaky" fastball. He'd only 86 with it in his prime days, but he would throw change-ups off the plate and down a lot early and then just when you'd start leaning out there and get a couple of singles up the middle off of those change-ups, he'd start ramming the ball down your throat and making you pop out.
If Moyer really were a purely low-ball pitcher, he would not have been such a flyball pitcher late in his career.
Glavine used to do this too...even when his heat dropped down to 87...he'd stubbornly refuse to yield the outside corner for a while, then he'd run one in on your hands above the belt.