April 23rd vs. The Orioles

Randy Johnson was just about perfect today. Then again, he went 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA in four starts against Baltimore last year. Maybe he just can’t pitch well in Toronto and just can’t pitch bad against the O’s?

I thought Giambi’s quote after the game was interesting:

“This is the best I’ve felt in a while, putting on the Yankee uniform. My swing has felt good this year.”

This is the fifth year that Jason’s had that Yankees uniform. Could we be looking at a 120 RBI season from Giambi? That would be nice.

April 23, 2006 | Filed Under Game Commentary 04/06

Comments

3 Responses to “April 23rd vs. The Orioles”

Jen on April 23rd, 2006 11:31 pm

On the drive home I heard them talking on the post-game about how Torre was talking to Sandy Koufax on Randy tipping his pitches. Koufax said that it’s all about location. You can tell the batter what pitch is coming next, but if you locate properly you’ll be fine (or something to that effect, I was trying to avoid pedestrians at the time.) Makes sense I guess. Everyone knows that the cutter is coming from Mo, and he still gets guys out. Guess when Randy concentrates on execution instead of whether he’s tipping his pitches or not, which is what I assumed happened today, things work out nicely.
Steve Lombardi on April 24th, 2006 8:27 am

FWIW, I’ve heard stories that Koufax always tipped his pitches - and it sure didn’t hurt him. If your stuff is unhittable, like Mo and Sandy, it really doesn’t matter.

However, that said, if your FB is in the low 90’s and your slider is flat, then I would guess that tipping would be a big issue.
JohnnyC on April 24th, 2006 1:06 pm

Location is important but how it got there versus where it ends up is even more important. Rivera’s success (as I’m sure it was with Koufax’s power curve) lies in the hellacious movement his cutter undergoes through the hitting zone. That’s why you can throw a breaking ball behind in the count. If you’ve got a good one. You can expect Guidry’s slider to be on your shoe tops but no one has the eye hand coordination to hit that pitch solidly and fair. Unless, of course, it stops spinning. And, as Pettitte demonstrated, you’ve still got to pitch to both sides of the plate…just in case you run into a batter who does have those kind of hands.