Shed no tears, JIf. Somewhere, even as we speak, Derek Lowe is crying his eyes out. 8) Well pitched game!
Correction, Joel. There was no count on the batter. Stewart hit the first pitch for a single. I was listening to the game on XM radio. Frustrating for Schill but certainly a great performance.
Sid's right. Schilling talked about the hit in the post-game interview. Stewart was first-pitch swinging. Tek had called for a slider, but Schil shook him off, wanting to throw the fastball since he felt Stewart would be taking.
That's interesting, Rick. Right after the game, Rob Dibble was analyzing the stuation (I like Dibble & Kevin Kennedy on XM175). He said that when you throw predominantly fastballs and you are going through the order for the fourth time, it makes sense to mix it up more than normal with curves and sliders. He didn't say it in a second-guessing tone. He was just speculating from his own experience. Sounds like Tek felt an offspeed pitch would have been a better option.
Funny you mention Dibble, Sid. I remember one game where he was closing, and he had the batter down 0-2. The color guy, whose name I don't remember, made the remark that power pitchers often try to blow a guy away when they have him down 0-2, when they should throw him something off-speed instead. Dibble threw the fastball, and the hitter, looking for it, sent it out of the park. By the way, when you listen to the game on XM, are you getting the home team broadcast feed?
I was at a Sunday night game back in the early 90's at Shea between the Mets and Reds. I'm quite sure I was the only Reds fan present. Reds were leading 4-2 going into the bottom of the 9th when out of the bullpen comes the Nasty Boy, Rob Dibble. He strikes out the first batter. I start the taunts. He walks the second batter. He strikes out the third batter. I am now moonwalking in the aisle. He walks the fourth batter. I sit down. Up comes Bobby Bonilla. Dibble throws him one fastball that Bobby Bo deposits beyond the right field wall into the parking lot. Mets-5 Reds-4. Dibbles starts tearing his uni off on his way to the dugout and I mean he shreds it. By the time he leaves the field he is naked from the waist up and his pants are at half mast. That's baseball. :lol:
Yes. That's what makes it interesting. You get to hear the play-by-play announcers for the different teams. I like the Bosox guy and several others, including, of course, Bob Ueker. Believe it or not, I haven't heard Vin Scully yet. Just timing, I guess. Re: Dibble. I've always been ambivalent about him Excellent but volatile closer. Definitely a flake. On the Dan Patrick show he was the class clown. But I think he's found a home with the MLB channel format. It's pure baseball talk. Nothing else. IMO, he and Kevin Kennedy do it well.