...that Maddux was able to throw the ball into a teacup 8 inches wide...and that was about as good as command got. :) It's surprisingly difficult to get the ball to go right where you want it every blinkin' time. Most pitchers have a big circle about 14 inches across that they can throw to...no matter how hard you try to throw a first pitch strike every time you face Scutaro, most guys can't...not more often than average anyway.
Worth noting, Scutaro's first pitch S% is 60.4% for his career (he did get lucky in 2009 to the tune of 57% first pitch strikes, which is the only year that happened for him and helps to explain the increase in BB rate). League average S1% is 54.8 in 2009 and that's been relatively constant over time, which means they ARE throwing him more strike ones than normal...about as many more as they can.
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