Baseball Musings: I Could be Wrong

March 13, 2008

I Could be Wrong

Mike Mussina threw five perfect innings today. Maybe he will last past April. Of course, it was against the Pirates.

Posted by David Pinto at 07:51 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)

Comments

David Cone on YES talked during the game a lot about how Girardi wanted Moose to pitch inside more this season.

To me, that was the big problem last year when Moose lost it. He was scared to pitch inside. Everything was away, away, away, and hitters just looked away, leaned over the plate, and smacked his stuff hard.

If he can consistently spot his fastball on the inside corner, to complement the breaking stuff away, I think he'll have a decent season.

Also, Molina was catching him today. I don't think Moose has ever worked well with Posada. And I'm not really a fan of how Posada deals with pitchers, calls games, etc. Great hitter, but . . .

Posted by: Yankee Fan in Chicago at March 13, 2008 08:53 PM

"I don't think Moose has ever worked well with Posada. And I'm not really a fan of how Posada deals with pitchers, calls games, etc. Great hitter, but . . ."

You know Posada was Moose's catcher when he was one out away from a perfect game in 2001, right? I'm sure you must also know that Posada has probably caught almost 90% of Moose's starts in pinstripes, yeah? And I'm sure you also remember that Posada caught Wells' perfect game. How could you forget?

The ability of a catcher to "call a game" is right up there with "team chemistry" as one of the more nonsensical paradigms of baseball. Pitchers generally call much more of their game then the catcher does. Especially in the case of veterans like Moose.

Posted by: Karl at March 13, 2008 09:48 PM

Yes, Posada was great with Moose when Moose had a 95 mph fastball Karl.

And yes, pitchers do end up throwing what they want to throw.

But when a pitcher like Moose wants only to throw junk away, b/c he doesn't trust his 88 mph fastball the way he trusted his 95 mph fastball, the catcher needs the stones to tell him to throw his fastball inside once in while to keep the hitters honest. Posada wasn't doing that last year.

If Posada's so friggin great -- ooh wow, he once caught a perfect game Karl!!! -- why does the new manager, who watched a lot of Yankee games last year as a broadcaster, have to come in and change the way Moose pitches?

I suspect that Molina will be Moose's personal catcher this season, and that Girardi decided on that.

(Which is it by the way Karl, does a catcher's game calling not matter, or is Posada the shizzle b/c he caught Wells' perfect game?)

Posted by: Yankee in Chicago at March 13, 2008 10:22 PM

"Yes, Posada was great with Moose when Moose had a 95 mph fastball Karl."

That's a pretty big exaggeration. Moose was much more between 91-93, tops, when he came to the Yankees. But more to the point...

"But when a pitcher like Moose wants only to throw junk away, b/c he doesn't trust his 88 mph fastball the way he trusted his 95 mph fastball, the catcher needs the stones to tell him to throw his fastball inside once in while to keep the hitters honest...Which is it by the way Karl, does a catcher's game calling not matter, or is Posada the shizzle b/c he caught Wells' perfect game?"

What I'm saying is that when Moose wants to throw his fastball outside, there's nothing Posada can do to change that, ESPECIALLY since he's a veteran. Moose is going to do what Moose wants to do, when he wants to do it, and he's not going to take to being berated by his catcher. What do you expect Posada to do? Give him demerits for not paying attention? The only thing Posada, or Girardi, can do, is convince him that the approach he has been taking is wrong and hope he listens. The burden of performance is on him. Just the same, I give catchers little to no credit for a pitcher's SUCCESS or FAILURES. Really, all you have to do is pay attention to the pitcher and catcher during the game. How often does a pitcher accept the first call any catcher makes? I'd be shocked if it was even 50%.

Posted by: Karl at March 13, 2008 10:55 PM

2007 Posada 13 PB and threw out 23% of basestealers with Moose and Pettite in the rotation - 13 PB in '06 as well.

Posted by: Bandit at March 14, 2008 07:38 AM

Comments above by both Yankee Fan and Karl are among the best I've ever noted in this format. Living near Baltimore I never noted Mussina hitting 95 and savvy pitcher turned announcer Jim Palmer always comments that Baltimore has a fast speed gun. It would be perfect if Palmer could pass judgement on Mussina. Mussina stopped pitching inside consistantly when Seattle C Bill Hassleman punched Mussina severely after getting hit in mid '90s. In the ensuing brawl, Cal Ripken received a severe injury and probably would have ended his streak if there wasn't a day off the following day.
To me Mussina is just getting old and will continue to have good & bad days. I'm a Red Sox fan since 1938 and I would take Posada over Varitek all-around espec the last 4 seasons. What AL catcher has done better than Posada the last 4 years? When a Sox runner smashed Posada 2 years back, Jorge said: "That's the way the game should be played". In the last 10 years, I never saw a Yank game on TV that Joe Torre wasn't calling the pitches even tho the catcher motions for inside or out. Mussina is a very intelligent man, he graduated from Stanford in 3 1/2 years. I walked that campus & could not believe that Mussina is not on the Cardinal list of baseball All-Americans.

Posted by: Bob S at March 14, 2008 11:55 PM

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