Archive for the 'Jamie Moyer' Category

Oct 25

[THE HANGOVER] Maddon Says David Price In The Postseason Could Be Jake McGee In The Future

Akinori Iwamura, Andy Sonnanstine, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, David Price, Fernando Perez, Jake McGee, Jamie Moyer, Joe Maddon, Love for the RI, Matt Garza, Matt Stairs, Scott Kazmir Cork Gaines 20 Comments »



Click on above images to be taken to full standings, box scores or schedule…

THE GOOD: Tough lefty? Carl Crawford is 9-19 (.474) in his career against Jamie Moyer. Carlos Pena is 10-20 (.500) with 3 doubles and 2 home runs. Matt Stairs (1-10) is the only Phillie that has ever faced Matt Garza, but is unlikely to face him tonight.

THE BAD: Having to explain to people that we will be late to a Halloween party because of the World Series even though they promise to have the game on. Don’t care. We need to focus. This is too important.

THE TELLING: Forecast is now saying that the rain should have already passed by game time, with rain up until about 6pm and only 20% chance of rain during the game. You can get hourly updates here…The Rays were 6-3 in NL ballparks this season.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • The Delaware News-Journal (Phillies country) compares the long-suffering fans of the Rays and Phillies and what this World Series means to each. The story includes some quotes from some Rays fans including some bloke named Cork Gaines. Wonder where they found that guy? [Delaware News-Journal]
  • Peter Gammons compares the Rays and Phillies bullpens. Joe Maddon says the key to building a bullpen without a top-notch closer is to find 4-5 guys that are not afraid of pitching in the 9th inning and 4-5 guys that are capable of coming into a game, finishing an inning and then going back out to at least start the next inning. Interestingly, Maddon says he can see Jake McGee filling those needs once he comes back from Tommy John surgery. [ESPN]

Price obviously is going into the Tampa Bay rotation next season, but look for the Rays to take a big, hard-throwing lefty like Jake McGee — who is coming off Tommy John surgery — to try that role. Maddon says McGee throws harder than Price, and he sees McGee being used in important roles out of the pen once he learns how to pitch, sit and pitch again.

  • Ahhh Phillies Fans. [Big League Stew-Video]
  • Joe Maddon admits that the game is more difficult to manage without a DH. Bill Chastain also mentions that while Andy Sonnanstine and Scott Kazmir can handle a bat well, Matt Garza is a very poor hitter. [MLB]
  • Paul White of USA Today says the ballpark is not nearly as important as the pitching matchups and the Rays have the advantage. [USA Today]
  • The Rays relievers are going to have to deal with a raucous crowd near the bullpen. [LA Times]
  • Ronald Blum takes a look at the Rays bullpen and notes that unlike most teams, the Rays’ relievers do not have defined roles. [SI.com]
  • Not a single Tampa Bay Ray was named to the Sporting News’ American League All-Star team. [Halos Happenings]
  • Carlos Pena calls Akinori Iwamura “one of the best players we’ve ever seen.” High praise indeed. [Chicago Tribune]
  • Piper Castillo takes a look at what is on Fernando Perez’ nightstand. [St. Pete Times]
  • Dueling Couches is none too happy that the media are talking about David Price so much. We are assuming they were just as hard on the media with Joba Chamberlain last year and Francisco Rodriguez back in 2002. Because apparently it is not impressive to record the final 4 outs of an ALCS game 7 win against the Red Sox and then record the final 7 outs of a World Series win. All after having started the year in single-A. [Dueling Couches]
  • Despite solid game 1 numbers, game 2 received the second-lowest ratings ever for a World Series game. [Awful Announcing]
  • Bob Verdi of the Chicago Tribune says this World Series is worth watching and that nobody need feel sorry for the fat cats running the television industry. [Chicago Tribune]
  • A tour of Joe Maddon’s office…Love the quote of about the wine and Joey Gathright. [VIDEO]
  • Some pics of game 2 from a fan in the seats. [The Serious Tip]
  • The success of the Rays has even boosted the local cigar industry. [Cigar Review]
Oct 24

[WORLD SERIES ROTATION] Rainout Could Mean Chaos For Potential Game 7

Andy Sonnanstine, David Price, Edwin Jackson, James Shields, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir Cork Gaines 9 Comments »

Depending on who you talk to, there is either a 70% or a 90% chance of rain during game 3 of the World Series. If game 3 is postponed, all three of the games in Philadelphia will be moved back a day. MLB will then eliminate the off-day between games 5 and 6. The final two games (if necessary) will still be held on their originally scheduled days (Wednesday, Thursday).

The biggest impact of the rainout would be on how the managers will shuffle the rotations. If game 3 is moved to Sunday, the teams could potentially play five games in five days. This means that either the teams will have to use a 5th starter in game 7 or they will have to bring back their game 3 starters on 3-days rest.

For the Rays it would mean a game 7 start for Matt Garza on three days rest or using 5th starter Edwin Jackson as a starter for the first time in the postseason.

The situation is more dire for the Phillies. They would have to choose between bringing 45-year old Jamie Moyer back on three days rest or starting a relief pitcher. The Phillies 5th starter, Kyle Kendrick is not on the postseason roster. [Ed. note: The Phillies could bring Cole Hamels back for game 3 on three days rest and then have him available again for game 7 on three days rest.]

Here is how the Rays rotation sets up without a rainout…


If game 3 is postponed, here is how the rotation sets up if Joe Maddon chooses not to make any changes…


As you can see both Scott Kazmir and James Shields will be on an extra day of rest. But the downside is Garza would only be on three days rest.

If game 3 is postponed, Maddon could choose to move Kazmir and Shields up a day to pitch on normal rest…


This scenario seems more likely if the Rays are trailing 2 games to 1 heading into game 4.

Of course Garza would still be on three days rest. The only other option seems to be starting Jackson in game 7. Jackson has not started a game since September 24. Maddon could also choose to start Garza on short rest and have David Price ready to go in the 4th/5th inning. This could all hinge on how many pitches Garza throws in game 3. If the Rays jump out to an early lead in game 3, Maddon may decide to go to the bullpen a little earlier than normal with an eye towards a potential game 7.

Feb 03

[HOWELL VS KAZMIR] JP Howell And Jamie Moyer Were Separated At Birth

Jamie Moyer, JP Howell, Scott Kazmir admin 2 Comments »


I don’t want to take credit for animated gif above (I found it on THIS forum) but it must be the single worst thing to happen to JP Howell since being born without a fastball. Howell is the pitcher in the middle. He is flanked on the left by Scott Kazmir and on the right by Jamie Moyer. Howell may someday be a very good pitcher but to compare him to Kazmir is like putting a picture of Julia Stiles next to a picture of Scarlett Johansson. Stiles is a good lookin’ girl, but she is no Scarlett and comparing her to Scarlett just accentuates the flaws.

The first thing you will notice in the animated gif is that Howell is basically Moyer minus the viagra. I have seen the Prof compare Howell to Moyer on this site before, but seeing them side-by-side, the similarities are down-right ridiculous.

As for comparing Howell and Kazmir, we can see very easily why a pitcher like Kaz can generate a 95 mph fastball and Howell cannot.

  • Starting with the legs, Kazmir drops more on his delivery to the plate. It is not quite Tom Seaver, but this allows him to get more drive off his back foot. Howell’s leg is much straighter and it is more like his body “falls” towards the plate.
  • Notice how softly Howell and Moyer land on their plant foot (front leg). This makes their delivery much more fluid, but it does not trigger the same torque seen in Kazmir. When Kaz lands on his plant foot it is a much more violent landing, and his body actually appears to jump up.
  • Notice the amount of torque that Kaz generates throughout his body. His plant leg will actually twist to the right after landing and his rear twists very strongly to the left. Again, very little of this is seen in Howell, who relies almost entirely on his arm.
  • But where Kaz appears to get the extra couple of inches on his fastball is the glove arm. Howell does a good job of keeping the glove close to the body which helps pull the right shoulder through, but the force is not that great, as you can see the glove arm just dangle off to the right on the follow through. On Kazmir, the glove moves with almost the same amount of arm speed as his pitching arm. His glove arm has it’s own follow through. I don’t recall another pitcher that has that much arm action on his glove hand. I would equate it to the golf swing of John Daly.
  • All of this adds up to an incredible amount of arm speed generated on somebody that is only 6’0″. For those that do not recall their physics classes, points farther away from the point of rotation have a higher rotational velocity. in other words, if pitcher A is 6’9″ and player B is 6’0″, we can assume that pitcher A has a longer arm. And if they generate the exact same arm speed, the taller pitcher will actually have a faster pitch. This is why teams prefer taller pitchers.
  • Notice the difference in follow through on the pitching arms of three pitchers. When Kazmir follows through his pitching hand comes through and actually collides with his lower right side. On the other hand, when Howell follows through, his arm just stops and dangles straight towards the ground.

All this adds up to one pitcher that is a dominant pitcher already at a young age, and another that will never be dominant but one day be a consistent innings eater that keeps his teams in games, like Jamie Moyer. Howell must learn how to miss the sweet spots of the opposition’s bats and will struggle until he does.