Hey SteveK!

JackWESQ

Steve,

I ask you this question mostly sarcastically, but with a hint of seriousness. How does Jamie Moyer record ONE SINGLE OUT in the major leagues, much less pitch effectively enough to pick up a victory? What does he top out at on the radar gun? Is he a poor man's Greg Maddux?

A good friend and his wife just had their first child (a baby boy). We joke that we hope he is left-handed because when he grows up, if he can lob a ball over home plate, he'll be worth millions, e.g. Jamie Moyer (Baseball-Reference has Moyer's career earnings at $62,367,500.00 through 2007! Amazing.

And barring a comeback (down 10-2), Moyer will go to 2-2 on the season. And tonight? 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts and 1 homerun. Not impressive, but certainly effective. But hey, more power to him, because after tonight he'll have TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO career wins. Not HOF numbers, but a damn good career. (Well, he could pitch another four (4) years and then he'll probably be near 280 wins and ...)

/s/ JackWESQ

stevek

<< <i>Steve,

I ask you this question mostly sarcastically, but with a hint of seriousness. How does Jamie Moyer record ONE SINGLE OUT in the major leagues, much less pitch effectively enough to pick up a victory? What does he top out at on the radar gun? Is he a poor man's Greg Maddux?

A good friend and his wife just had their first child (a baby boy). We joke that we hope he is left-handed because when he grows up, if he can lob a ball over home plate, he'll be worth millions, e.g. Jamie Moyer (Baseball-Reference has Moyer's career earnings at $62,367,500.00 through 2007! Amazing.

And barring a comeback (down 10-2), Moyer will go to 2-2 on the season. And tonight? 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts and 1 homerun. Not impressive, but certainly effective. But hey, more power to him, because after tonight he'll have TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO career wins. Not HOF numbers, but a damn good career. (Well, he could pitch another four (4) years and then he'll probably be near 280 wins and ...)

/s/ JackWESQ >>



Well, if you've ever played baseball and pitched, you should know the answer. I played a lot of baseball growing up, and I pitched in Little League, Junior A it was called in Philly, about 13 - 15 years old age group if I'm remembering right. I pitched for a couple years, fast as heck but no control (LOL). Of course I knew nothing about pitching then other than to just try to throw it as fast as I could and get it over the plate (LOL). But I at least understand a bit from having experienced it, what goes through the mind of a pitcher out there, and just how dam hard it is to do it.

Of course on the major league level, it's about "pitching" rather than "throwing" and I know you know that, but I can imagine that the pitchers like Moyer study their opponents intensively, pitch effectively to their weakness tendencies depending on the situation, and of course having a good catcher behind the plate can help as well. In that Junior A, I was fortunate to have really an excellent catcher.

Good MLB pitchers in my opinion pace themselves over a season. Often you see young pitchers do well in the beginning of the season, and then they foolishly blow their arms out because they go all out too hard, and then become losers. Good pitchers don't throw 100% hard when they don't need to, and throw 100% hard when they need to.

So tough to gauge how a pitcher is going to do over a career, if not impossible. But Moyer, who has of course had some very good seasons, is probably on the downside of his career, but I agree in that he could eventually get 280 wins, maybe. For sure, as long as he's a Phillie, I'll be a rootin' for him.

For 62 million, perhaps I should have stayed with pitching and tried to refine my craft. LOL

Steve