One thing I've learned about baseball this season:
Pitchers don't have as many "pitches" as they do in a video game.
When you plug in a game like All-Star Baseball '01 or MVP '05, each pitcher generally has at least 4 pitches:
the fastball
the change-up
the curveball
and the slider
Those were the four basic pitches. Sometimes a pitcher had a 2-seam fastball, usually slightly slower than the 4-seamer, but with more break. This could either be a fifth pitch or in place of the change or a breaking pitch. Then there's the specialty pitches - the cutter, the splitter, the knuckleball, etc.
But what I've learned from watching baseball this season (and with cool stuff like pitch f/x) is that pitchers don't have nearly as many "pitches." Or, at least, they don't throw nearly as many pitches.
Let's take this game with the A's and the Angels. Ben Sheets has thrown a straight fastball, topping out at 92. It doesn't have too much movement, but he throws it up, gets hitters to chase it up in the zone, creating a lot of strikeouts and flyballs.
This is what you might call a "rising fastball." It doesn't really rise; the truth is it just drops less than a regular pitch. The backspin on it makes it follow a straighter path than a ball thrown the same distance with no spin. Like a knuckleball. That has basically no spin (only 2 or 3 full rotations in 60-ft., 6-in) - and that drops a heck of a lot.
And he's got a big curveball. He can throw it slow (~71 mph), with a more looping motion, or faster (~78 mph), which gives it a sharper bite.
And that's all he's thrown, pretty much. In some of the early at-bats, he threw only fastballs, changing nothing but the location. Later he would mix in the curve, but only in certain situations.
Just two pitches, until the third time through the lineup. (4th inning) Now I just saw him throw a couple of changeups but neither in a high-leverage count.
In the fifth, Sheets started throwing his fastball slightly differently, to give it more break. So much so that mlb.com's gameday feature described the pitch as a "sinker." But in reality, it's just a fastball thrown differently (or so it appears).
Jered Weaver has a fastball he can throw two different ways. He can throw it "straight" at around 92, or he can have it "ride," toward right handed hitters, at around 89. He has an average curve at ~71 and a tough slider at ~80. He also mixed in a changeup later in the game.
That's four or five distinct pitches. And he can throw them all well and with command. That's pretty high quality.
Now Sheets's fastball is not going as fast and it's staying in the wrong parts of the strike zone (i.e. right in the middle, rather than riding up), so it's getting hit. The curveball still has good break, and he's locating it well. And he's throwing more changeups.
He has still given up a rate of one double per inning. But he just got out of a jam (1st and 2nd with one out) by inducing a double play.
And now in for the Angels: Kevin Jepsen. He's going to pitch the 7th inning. Wow he throws gas. 94 pretty effortlessly, can dial it up to 97. Throws an effective curveball at 82. It's almost too fast to be a curveball. It's almost like a slow slider. But then he throws a fast slider at 89-90 mph. This guy has pretty devastating stuff. Maybe that's why he went to the Olympics.
Sheets is out and who's in? Jerry Blevins. A lefthander with an almost polite style of pitching. He doesn't have what you might call a cold stare (Andy Pettitte) or even a young kid's dazed sense of confidence (Tim Lincecum). He just stands up there calmly and does his job - with a low-90s fastball, an "off-speed pitch" (it has the break of a changeup, a sinker, and a slider all in one), and a slow low-70s curveball. He got through the 7th without incident.
Now for the Angels it's Scot Shields. He used to be an amazing setup man, but last year he totally lost his edge and had a 6.62 ERA. He was then placed on the DL.
A's threaten: Daric Barton draws a walk. He's turning into a get-on-base-with-soft-hits type of machine (strong like squirrel). Ryan Sweeney, Cliff Pennington, these are similar types of players. Sweeney just placed the ball well for a double. But it was still a pretty soft hit. We need more players who are strong like bear.
...like Kevin Kouzmanoff, whose name makes him sound like a Russian genetically engineered weapon during the cold war. And he plays like it. Quick, Compact swing that generates a lot of power. And he plays well in the field.
But he just grounded out up the middle. It scores a run, but Aybar turns quickly and gets Sweeney trying to go from second to third! Good play, on both ends. Sweeney couldn't stay on second, or Aybar might have gone for the runner at home. And you still have a baserunner.
Who could score if Kurt Suzuki could put a charge into it. But he can't. He can only ground sharply to third to end the inning.
But the inning is over and the A's have the lead. Let's see if Blevins will stay out there for another inning in a tie ballgame.
Gotta watch the bottom of the 8th to find out.
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Well, it turns out that's all I'm gonna get to see of the game. Because I screwed up the DVR, I didn't catch the last couple of innings of the game. I watched the late-night replay, but it wasn't the same, because I already knew the outcome...
Anyway, the point is, paying attention to the actual variety of pitches employed by today's hurlers has really taught me a lot about the game.
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