I guess it depends on what you like in a slider. Johnson's is more of a sweeping break. Lidge's is very sharp and dramatic (my fav type).
JR Richard had the best slider I have ever seen. I will post a question I have in another thread..... DD
No way, Lidge's slider is great, but K-Rod's is just the best slider possibly of all-time. He threw that slider to Biggio and Biggio missed it by atleast a foot, maybe a foot and half. I'm not saying that Biggio is the be all, end all, when it come to hitting sliders (actually he may be one of the worst) but Francisco's slider is far and away the best in baseball. Great win, I was cheering quite loudly in my house. Codell, hopefully your prognostication becomes reality. Beltran's only weakness from the left side of the plate is a slider in on the hands.
Yeah, I remember reading some pitcher from the 60s talk about how pitches and what we call them have changed. What was once known as a slider is now a cut fastball, and today's sliders are too loopy and obvious, he claimed. He's probably right, because the best pitch in baseball the last ten years has been Rivera's cutter, which breaks, what, 6-8 inches, tops? Of course, Johnson's so impressive because he strikes guys out, rather than just breaking their bats. Plus, the guy's only given up 20 HRs to lefties in the last 16+ years.
Yeah, Johnson's impressive, but its a combination of things that make it work for him. Good heater, good slider. But his height and delivery style help. He delivers the ball from the dugout almost and he hides the ball well. For perspective, I believe Wagner still holds the record for Ks per 9 innings, with just under 15 in 1999. Lidge is just over 14 so far this year (including tonights game). The only flaw I see in Lidge's pitching style (or perhaps its the catchers call), is he seems to throw the fastball more than I would like to see. His fastball is 96+, but its fairly straight. He might end up developing a 3rd pitch. A nice changeup will help keep hitters from sitting on his fastball so much.
I completly agree. Nolan Ryan said the change-up added atleast 5 years to his career. Who knows how many strike-outs and no hitters it added.
To me it seems like most of the fans have already given up too, after reading some of these posts. I was at the astros game tonight and the astros were awesome. Oswalt pitched much better then the 5 runs given up, and the offense also supported him with 7 runs including a clutch 1 out 2 run homerun by Morgan Ensberg to put us back in the lead so lidge could close it out in the 9th!!! I think this might be the beginning of a great run by the astros. Ensberg finally got off of the donut and hit his first homerun of the season but he also drove in 3 runs tonight!!!
On a side note, didn't Hidalgo only hit like 4 HR's when we had him this season? He has already hit 5 more. Oh well, I do think that this is the turn around point for us. We made a good first step. A couple of the teams above us lost tonight, and Ensberg is over the hump.
We'll its about to start. Hopefully the offense will string together another solid performance. Last night they had 7 runs, 10 hits, and only 3 men left on base if you subtract Oswalts at bats. At least its being televised tonight
BTW...Milo kept sayign during the pregame that this is Griffith's ML debut Uhhhhh ....didnt he make 6 starts for the Mets last year?
I KNEW IT! I so knew he was going to hit into a DP! FREAKING AOFHSIOPDHFPSHDFIHFHSIDHFIUSDF UISDF{ SHF P That was our big chance. 3 runners LOB by Bags. Good job..... Well, hopefully we will keep hitting this guy like this and he struggles to find his spots. All of Baggy's swings looked bad in that last at bat. Crap. Why do I have to listen to the opposing announcers for the 3rd straight game?! This is starting to drive me nuts. First the Cubbies' announcers, now 2 straight games with the Ranger's announcers....ugh.
Can we change the "season will turn around when..." thread to "Bagwell will finally start playing like his old self when..."
This is interesting. Maybe because of the shoulder, Bags is having problems rotating that right shoulder and getting under the ball.
