The home run that Jhonny [Peralta] hit is going to be the one that I'll wonder about forever, simply because based on what -- our history, what we did to them yesterday, what we did to them the first at bat, I went to the pitch I wanted to go to, I threw the pitch I wanted to throw and I hit my spot, and he hit a home run. I'm not used to that one. He put a great swing on a pitch I thought was the right pitch; obviously it wasn't....But it was a game, had I executed, we should have won.
In other words:
1. I executed, but the Indians still hit me; and
2. I didn't execute, so the Indians hit me.
Perhaps point 1. was hard to admit without qualification. Schilling seemed to pitch game two of the ALCS as desired. His control was on, his change looked good, his splitter came around by the third inning or so. He looked as good as he did against the Angels--except that the Indians can actually hit.
The home run pitch to Peralta was just the pitch Schilling intended to throw. That's equally true, it appears, of the home run pitch to Grady Sizemore. Schilling's 88 mph deliveries are to fastballs what David Ortiz is to baserunning: heading in the right place, but pretty fucking slow. Schilling simply might not have the stuff anymore to keep great lineups at bay.
All this means gives reason to feel very uneasy about Schilling's next start against Cleveland. Schilling is likely to pitch no better than he pitched in game two--and that's if he's on his game.
2 comments:
Good analysis on Schilling. The one point where I would disagree is the last sentence. It is, indeed, probably likely that Schilling will not pitch any better in the next game, if there is one; however, I think the results may be different. Schilling is a flyball pitcher with excellant control; I don't think his lack of walks was an accident. If some of those flyballs carry out, he's in big trouble; however, it happened quite a few times near the end of the season that they didn't, and Schilling had an effective outing. A good example of this, I think, is the last game Schilling piched against the Yankees in the regular season. He went through 7 innings, throwing only about 70 pitches and allowing one run. The Yankees had been swinging early, and generally making outs. Had he been pulled after 7, it would have been a great performance; however, he was left in, a Jeter flyball carried, and the Red Sox lost. Even though the end result was bad, the fact that Schilling's approach worked so well for 7 innings against the best lineup in baseball is certainly proof that it can be effective.
Agreed that Schilling is likely to better results from the same level of pitching in game six, if his strong last few months are our guide. The question is whether his strong last few months should be our guide: do the Indians have a special approach against Schilling? I'm not in a position to say, but I'm concerned enough that the prospect of Daisuke pitching tonight actually brought me some relief. I'll go dunk my head in cold water and the memories of DK's many sucky starts ought to come flooding back.
Post a Comment