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Post by inger on Sept 2, 2021 9:38:17 GMT -5
I happened to read a blurb yesterday that David Wells was the winning pitcher in Torres’ 1000th managerial win. Since Torre won over 2300 I’m not sure how big of a deal that is. It does seem bigger than another blurb I read that said Andy Benes threw the first regular season MLB pitch ever thrown in the state of Arizona. Records for every thing!
You do hear these announcers pulling up some old terms once in a while in an apparent attempt at being new, or different. I’ve heard chopper a couple times lately, but it seldom is called a Baltimore Chop anymore. Can of corn has popped out a time or two…
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Post by desousa on Sept 2, 2021 9:56:21 GMT -5
I’m just sitting back and enjoying read you two banter back and forth about the best Yankee pitchers. Great men, great times. Giving a shout out to Chien Ming Wang here. His time was short, he came out of nowhere to be the glue of the staff. Pretty much one pitch, hardly any strikeouts, but nobody could hit anything but the top of the baseball. Worm burner champion. And in mentioning him, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recall Tommy John. Even when John was basically finished, he was still making batters hit the top of the ball. The grounders were just struck a bit harder and started getting through the infield more. If he could have used a six man infield he might have been able to keep going. Though not a starter, I always loved seeing Sparky Lyle enter a ball game. He would lock them down time after time. I think he’d be a great guy to hand out with, unless it was your birthday. Might be that if the cake wasn’t so close to a shower he might have left them alone… I remember watching Tommy John pitch and was amazed how many ground balls he got. One after another. I wish Wang has stayed healthy. He was fun to watch too. |
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Post by inger on Sept 2, 2021 10:12:42 GMT -5
I’m just sitting back and enjoying read you two banter back and forth about the best Yankee pitchers. Great men, great times. Giving a shout out to Chien Ming Wang here. His time was short, he came out of nowhere to be the glue of the staff. Pretty much one pitch, hardly any strikeouts, but nobody could hit anything but the top of the baseball. Worm burner champion. And in mentioning him, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recall Tommy John. Even when John was basically finished, he was still making batters hit the top of the ball. The grounders were just struck a bit harder and started getting through the infield more. If he could have used a six man infield he might have been able to keep going. Though not a starter, I always loved seeing Sparky Lyle enter a ball game. He would lock them down time after time. I think he’d be a great guy to hand out with, unless it was your birthday. Might be that if the cake wasn’t so close to a shower he might have left them alone… I remember watching Tommy John pitch and was amazed how many ground balls he got. One after another. I wish Wang has stayed healthy. He was fun to watch too. In particular I recall seeing the “English” on many of the balls hit off of John… He just made batters deaden them. I think the end for him was when he just couldn’t get up to more than 82-83 MPH on his FB. Even though the result was still a lot of grounders, there was just a little more steam on them… |
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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 2, 2021 10:53:30 GMT -5
I also enjoyed watching those ground ball machines Tommy John and Chien Ming Wang. Mel Stottlemyre was another who kept them hitting grass cutters.
John actually had more seasons (8) and more wins (91) with he Yankees than with any other team, although it was close with the Dodgers (7 and 87) and White Sox (6 and 82). He started opening days as far apart as 1966 and 1989. That would be like a guy pitching opening day in 2021 who had also done it in 1998.
I remember Sports Illustrated doing a story in 1965 about the risk Cleveland was taking in trading promising youngsters Tommy John and Tommie Agee, along with veteran catcher John Romano to the White Sox in a deal where the Indians got back their beloved hero Rocky Colavito.
Wang would have had a nice career had he not torn up his foot on the basepaths in a game against Houston when the Astros were still in the NL. Up until then he had been 46-15 in the previous 2 1/2 years. He was just 28 years old. He was never remotely the same pitcher after that injury. Still ticks me off.
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Post by inger on Sept 2, 2021 11:31:34 GMT -5
I also enjoyed watching those ground ball machines Tommy John and Chien Ming Wang. Mel Stottlemyre was another who kept them hitting grass cutters. John actually had more seasons (8) and more wins (91) with he Yankees than with any other team, although it was close with the Dodgers (7 and 87) and White Sox (6 and 82). He started opening days as far apart as 1966 and 1989. That would be like a guy pitching opening day in 2021 who had also done it in 1998. I remember Sports Illustrated doing a story in 1965 about the risk Cleveland was taking in trading promising youngsters Tommy John and Tommie Agee, along with veteran catcher John Romano to the White Sox in a deal where the Indians got back their beloved hero Rocky Colavito. Wang would have had a nice career had he not torn up his foot on the basepaths in a game against Houston when the Astros were still in the NL. Up until then he had been 46-15 in the previous 2 1/2 years. He was just 28 years old. He was never remotely the same pitcher after that injury. Still ticks me off. Post-injury, Wang was only 14-14; 6.01. That includes his final season in NY at 1-6, and his final season in pro ball where he was 6-0 out of the bullpen in KC. In total he still finished his short career at 68-34 (.667). Pretty heady stuff… |
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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 2, 2021 12:02:55 GMT -5
That last season he managed to go 6-0 with no starts and no saves. He was definitely vulturing some Ws.
He was never a dominant pitcher and he did allow his share of base runners, but those ground balls consistently bailed him out.
John was a bit like that, except with a much longer track record -- 26 years. He was a lot like Jim Kaat. In 25 seasons, Kaat won 283 games and had an ERA+ of 111. John won 288 with an ERA+ of 114. Their careers largely overlapped, so they must have faced each other fairly often. Both were tall, athletic and had a cerebral approach to pitching. Kaat threw harder in his younger years whereas John relied more heavily on curves and sliders.
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