A weblog of baseball news and analysis
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Chat wrap: Rob Neyer, Bill James.
Enough Already! "Once Twins fans take off their rose-colored glasses...I would hope it becomes apparent that [Jacque] Jones has proven, time after time, season after season, that he just cannot hit left-handed pitching. I wonder why people seem to have a problem -- and I'm talking both Ron Gardenhire and Twins fans -- recognizing the need for him to not play against lefties. I mean, you wouldn't play Rey Ordonez, Neifi Perez, Mike Matheny or Rey Sanchez in right field against lefties, so why would you play someone who hits like they do?" (The Hardball Times)
Jared (Dallas): R.A. Dickey recently added a new pitch which he calls "The Thing" or, "The Thang." It is supposedly like a mix between a splitter and a curve and who knows what. What are some of the better made-from-scratch like pitches and who are the pitchers that threw them?(ESPN.com)
Bill James: Well, there was Harry Dorish's "Cosmic Pitch". . that was a good one. Tommy Byrne threw a "Kimono Ball"--a pitch thrown from behind his back--a few times in spring training, although I don't think he ever threw it in legal competition. Dave LaRoche's LaLob would be a good one.
Rob Neyer: For what it's worth, Brent Strom recently told me that Dickey's "Thing" is exactly the same pitch as Burt Hooton's knuckle-curve.
Enough Already! "Once Twins fans take off their rose-colored glasses...I would hope it becomes apparent that [Jacque] Jones has proven, time after time, season after season, that he just cannot hit left-handed pitching. I wonder why people seem to have a problem -- and I'm talking both Ron Gardenhire and Twins fans -- recognizing the need for him to not play against lefties. I mean, you wouldn't play Rey Ordonez, Neifi Perez, Mike Matheny or Rey Sanchez in right field against lefties, so why would you play someone who hits like they do?" (The Hardball Times)