He did have pretty good peripherals, minus that one god awful start at the end againts the Yankees, when EVERYTHING was getting hammered, and he was walking guys to boot. The Hardball times took a quick look at Smoltz's most recent start compared to the ones with the Sox, and found taht his velocity was better. Here's a link to the article.
He did have good peripherals, but he looked like an absolute disaster in his last two starts with the Sox. I'm not sure it was the wrong move to let him go, the margin for error for the AL wildcard is awfully slim, but if you're looking for more depressing John Smoltz reading, here you go.
Peripherals don't mean much when you're tipping your pitches. Sure sounds like the fault lies more with the Sox pitching staff than with Smoltz himself.
I'll say. Though if he was tipping his pitches, I think it would have to have been something that came about in his last few starts, when his peripherals tanked (5K and 6BB in his final 2 starts, if I remember right). It's pretty hard to strike guys out when they know what is coming.
All in all, it's a pretty damn disappointing result for the Red Sox. I mean, can you imagine how much video there is out there on Smoltz, and they couldn't see that his footwork was off or that he was tipping his pitches?
Bitching about the pitching staff aside, part of Smoltz's problem with the Sox was also recovery, so we'll have to see how he does in his next few starts before we can really crucify the pitching coaches.
I don't know, Andrew, I can imagine that it would be possible to tip one of your pitches while not giving away your out pitch and accumulating strike outs while getting hit hard at the same time. I'm also not sure that tipping would affect a pitcher's BB/9.
Well, Smoltz's best swing and miss pitch is his splitter, which is rarely in the zone. So I was thinking that if Smoltz was tipping his splitter, batters could lay off of it. Any time you know what sort of pitch is coming, you have to figure you'll be able to control the strike zone better.
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I personally didn't understand why we let him go. He had pretty good peripherals, right?
He did have pretty good peripherals, minus that one god awful start at the end againts the Yankees, when EVERYTHING was getting hammered, and he was walking guys to boot. The Hardball times took a quick look at Smoltz's most recent start compared to the ones with the Sox, and found taht his velocity was better. Here's a link to the article.
He did have good peripherals, but he looked like an absolute disaster in his last two starts with the Sox. I'm not sure it was the wrong move to let him go, the margin for error for the AL wildcard is awfully slim, but if you're looking for more depressing John Smoltz reading, here you go.
Peripherals don't mean much when you're tipping your pitches. Sure sounds like the fault lies more with the Sox pitching staff than with Smoltz himself.
I'll say. Though if he was tipping his pitches, I think it would have to have been something that came about in his last few starts, when his peripherals tanked (5K and 6BB in his final 2 starts, if I remember right). It's pretty hard to strike guys out when they know what is coming.
All in all, it's a pretty damn disappointing result for the Red Sox. I mean, can you imagine how much video there is out there on Smoltz, and they couldn't see that his footwork was off or that he was tipping his pitches?
Bitching about the pitching staff aside, part of Smoltz's problem with the Sox was also recovery, so we'll have to see how he does in his next few starts before we can really crucify the pitching coaches.
I don't know, Andrew, I can imagine that it would be possible to tip one of your pitches while not giving away your out pitch and accumulating strike outs while getting hit hard at the same time. I'm also not sure that tipping would affect a pitcher's BB/9.
Well, Smoltz's best swing and miss pitch is his splitter, which is rarely in the zone. So I was thinking that if Smoltz was tipping his splitter, batters could lay off of it. Any time you know what sort of pitch is coming, you have to figure you'll be able to control the strike zone better.
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