Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayhawk Bill
Three points:
1) On Kennedy, check pitches to Markakis in his first at bat and to Huff in his second: that's where the outside strike zone was established.
2) Check when I posted: in the third inning, with Orioles already swinging at outside pitches, the umpire took away the inside strike zone on left-handed Orioles batters.
3) Burres didn't pitch where Kennedy was repeatedly throwing strikes called as balls. When he did, it was called a ball.
Certainly Kennedy racked up a number of balls throwing inside to lefties after my post pointing out that Guccione had expanded the strike zone. But check the second pitch to Jay Payton in the first inning: that was directly over the black of the plate, right where later pitches were called balls, and it was established as a strike. 
Your point that Guccione called a number of Kennedy's pitches balls late is well-made, although I count differently than you do, checking the data files supporting the graphics we both clearly prefer to use. (I'm often off by a pitch or two using graphics, too.) Still, Guccione established a wide strike zone for Orioles hitters before taking a chunk of it away. |
The point I was trying to make was, while he may have been a bit liberal early on, he took away as many pitches for Kennedy as he gave him. Kennedy pitched a decent game last night, working out of tough situations twice where he could have just as easily folded and the O's could have blown the game wide open. He showed a tenacity last night that was missing in his past starts. Hope this is the start of something good for him.