#1 To argue that anybody is better in the NL than 'ol man Randy Johnson is insanity. If the D-Backs had Randy Johnson on the mound, and the Braves countered with Jesus H. Christ himself, I think I'd put my money on Randy. #2 Schilling has proven, over the last 5 years or so, that one of his strengths is pitching many innings. Whereas Oswalt is a kinda smallish guy, and I'd be a bit wary about pitching him too many innings untill he's proven that he can handle them without problems, Schilling has been among the league leaders in CG's irrespective of his manager for the past decade. He's proven that he can go 9 without any ill effects, and therefore, deserves to be considered one of the pitchers in the game with 'exceptional endurance'.
Technically, didn't Wagner only pitch one inning? It's not like he got hit hard in the 9th. So, Wags is only effective in certain innings (the 9th) with the bases clear and a 3 run lead? Is that how it works?
So, Wags is only effective in certain innings (the 9th) with the bases clear and a 3 run lead? Is that how it works? Apparently so. He's now allowed the first man he's faced get on base in all six of his appearances.
Welcome to the Jimy Williams era. He's the anti-Dierker, sitting in the dugout just waiting to trot out and yank the pitcher. Just wondering, do you think there is any chance Joe Kerrigan could end up in Houston this year as pitching coach? He and Williams worked a lot of magic in Boston with terrible talent, outside of Pedro.
Maybe this will keep Roy fresh in the end? With Dotel and Wags, it "should" be a 7 inning game. It just wasn't today. Major, I'm telling you, the league has kind of caught on to Wags. Just my opinion. I know it's not a popular one.
if you're saying they caught on to Wags this season, i would say the jury is still out. but if you're saying they caught on to him last season I see no evidence for that. his job is to save games...and he did that as effectively or better than anyone in the league last year. 41 out of 43 opportunities he shut the door and nailed down the win. You might not have liked how it looked, but he did his job. If that means people had him figured out, then he's even better than I thought!
Or it could just mean that he was not himself last season and he lucked out quite a bit. Despite his save percentage, didn't Billy's win/loss record seem pretty piss poor? I seem to remember it being 2-5 or something, meaning that he lost 5 games where there wasn't a save opportunity. Personally, I think that Billy has lost something on his fastball (be it movement, velocity, or both) and it has finally caught up to him. When you are a one trick pony, that one trick better be pretty damn dominant if you want to have any longevity, and it seems Billy's trick is not what it used to be.
he lucked out??? really??? 41 times??? 41 times out of 43 opportunities?? call that luck if you want, i guess.
Please do not turn my post into a black or white crucifixion of Wagner. Does my post actually read that I said he lucked out EVERY SINGLE SAVE? I didn't think so. I said he lucked out. That means that there were some games I saw where he obviously did not have his best stuff, and struggled with control, but still managed to get the save despite this. You can say that makes him a gritty, nails pitcher who just "gets it done" if you want, that is your right. I call it luck, because eventually not having your best stuff is going to result in bad outtings and blown saves. Sure Billy was still a good closer last season, and he was "on" many occasions, but I am certain some of those saves were acquired despite his sub par performance. I think this season, that is all catching up with him. Perhaps he never really recovered from the surgery. Perhaps he never will. But his numbers last season do not change my personal observances of his performance, and that is that he was FAR from his once dominating form. His control and movement of his fastball have dropped off. And when you are a pitcher that throws fastballs, fastballs and more fastballs (his slider is not really even average), you have to be dominating, or you get hit. Billy is finally getting hit.
Kerrigan is commonly considered "good with veterans, bad with youngsters." I don't know how much of this is based on past history, versus coaching style... but the Globe always harped on the fact that the Red Sox did very, very poorly in developing young pitchers during Kerrigan's tenure, but that they got a lot out of old guys that most people thought were finished. In 1999, Wagner had 124K's and 34 walks in 74.2 innings. In 2001, he had 79K's and 20 walks in 62.2 innings. Yeah, there was definitely a drop off, since Wagner's primary virtue has always been not letting batters put the ball in play.
