Two big differences between this team and last year's team at least from the first couple of weeks:
1) Good riddance to the Farrell led "lets take two strikes and then think about swinging at what is left" approach
2) Starting pitching. We are so fortunate to have the starting pitching we have compared to the teams we are facing
Seen it over and over so far. Not sure if the focus on power pitching is the cause but most of these guys can't hack it as starters. Saw it again with Skaggs last night. Started the night with a decent, tight curve ball. 40 pitches in it had flattened out. Was not nearly as tight or as deep and it was getting tagged. A fearsome pitch turned into a meatball. Either their velo falls off a cliff or they simply cannot maintain command of their off speed stuff.
Last edited by jung; 04-19-2018 at 09:02 AM.
We are now 7th in HRs- just 2 away from 4th and 5 away from the lead. (We are tied with the "slugging" Yanks at 22.)
Maybe tonight, we move into 3rd place!
He looked pretty calm and cool out there. Even when he gave up a hit he would turn around the next pitch and throw a perfect strike. His mechanics seem to improve since last year and it shows. 3 fantastic starts. Has not given up a single run in his last 2 starts..... I believe? Lol.....
"Hating the Yankees like it's a religion since 94'" RIP Mike.
"It's also a simple and indisputable fact that WAR isn't the be-all end-all in valuations, especially in real life. Wanna know why? Because an ace in run-prevention for 120 innings means more often than not, a sub-standard pitcher covering for the rest of the IP that pitcher fails to provide. You can't see value in a vacuum when a player does not provide full-time production."