Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 26, 2007
Early Contact

This is what happens when you're on vacation, you miss games like this.

Aaron Cook worked quickly and efficiently.

Cook needed just 74 pitches in his second complete game of the season, leading the Colorado Rockies over the San Diego Padres 10-2 Wednesday.

"I don't think I've ever seen a pitcher throw seven frames of single-digit pitches," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "He was filthy."

He faced 31 batters. That means the average Padres hitter saw just 2.4 pitches in a plate appearance. With two strikeouts and no walks, San Diego hitters were just putting the ball in play early. At some point, shouldn't Bud Black or his hitting coach say to the players, "Everybody take until you get two strikes." Try to get a 20 pitch inning just to wear him down? San Diego just made it easy for Cook yesterday.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:27 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

It seems like that would be the way to go and maybe it's even possible that they tried that after a little bit. How many 0-2 counts did they see after the fourth? It's also possible that his stuff looked really hittable yesterday and it's a decision the hitters made on a 0-1 count that this is the best pitch I'll get only to realize you've made a mistake after you're out.

Posted by: Jason at July 26, 2007 10:16 AM

See, in my opinion, that's not filthy. Striking out 12 is filthy. 2.4 pitches per plate appearance is just throwing strikes and "pitching to contact" - NOT a strategy for success at the majors, regardless of what Curt Schilling or anyone else says.

What's Maddux' record for lowest pitch count in a CG? He's the only one I can think of that might have bested Cook's total.

I'll be interested to see what Cook does in his next start. Given his success in this game, he'll surely try to pitch to contact in his next start. I guess we'll see how it turns out for him. Against the Mariners, who don't strike out a lot, it might be a good strategy. Against the Marlins, who strike out a ton, you may as well go for the whiffs and get the automatic outs, rather than trying to trust your fielders.

Posted by: Mike at July 26, 2007 11:21 AM

The lowest 9 inning game I can find for Maddux is July 22, 1997 when he threw 76 pitches, 63 for strikes. Shawn Dunston saw 7 pitches in 4 ABs.

Carlos Silva also had a 74 pitch CG in 2005.

Posted by: Frank at July 26, 2007 01:48 PM

Maybe they all had hot dates that night.

Posted by: rbj at July 26, 2007 04:53 PM
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