Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 27, 2005
Pet Peavy

I just can't say enough about the game Jake Peavy pitched last night. I've been keeping my eye on his since he returned from the DL last July and started charging toward the ERA title. Pitchers who win an ERA title by just qualifying are a little suspect in my mind; after all, it's still a small sample. But Jake has continued to baffle batters this season, and last night changed the way he pitches to save his team's bullpen:

"It's very satisfying," said Peavy, a power pitcher who acknowledged ignoring strikeouts to concentrate on finishing. "I'm just glad we could rest that bullpen. We're going to need those boys the next couple of days."

His teammates noticed.

"Jake is mature well beyond his year," Roberts said. "To see that our bullpen went through some things the last couple of nights, for him to take the mound to be the stopper and to go so deep in the game, he stepped up."

He threw just 94 pitches, with 64 going for strikes to complete the shutout. He struck out 2 and walked none on his way to a two-hit shutout. Bravo!

This reminds me of a game I saw at Fenway in 1988. Roger Clemens had been struggling with an injury, but on that day he didn't try to strike batters out and pitched a masterful 1-hitter. These two games make me wonder if power pitchers should drop the power every once in a while and pitch to contact. It's a change that may catch their opponents off guard.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:47 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Good point

Posted by: 8 Z E R O 8 at May 27, 2005 10:01 PM
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