Comments on: Where have Carl Pavano’s strikeouts gone?

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:22:34 +0000

Girls have picked them every one.

By: cur68

cur68 — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:35:42 +0000

Back when he was a Blue Jay and he was refining that cutter and slider, he really did get a lot of ground outs, it is true. I used to enjoy watching those starts. These days though he might intend to pitch to contact but he’s got those pitches moving 8, 10, maybe 12 inches from his release point no one much can get lumber on those damn baseballs. I do believe he still intends to allow contact but he’s commanding so much that no can GET contact that matters.

By: skipp

skipp — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:28:49 +0000

Interestingly enough his BABIP is average (.295) and his strand rate is actually low (64.1%) so it's not like he's getting lucky. The only thing that seems to be helping him is the fact that he's keeping the ball in the park (0.74 HR/9). However, the numbers referenced above are over the whole season, not the past 43 innings, which makes sense. Also, it's worth noting that his last two stars were against KC and CLE where he pitched 17 innings while only giving up 3 runs. If he doesn't start striking batters out soon we'll see a lot more of the 6.64 ERA Pavano than the 2.49 ERA version.

By: bleedgreen

bleedgreen — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:17:51 +0000

Halladay (as he was advertised to Phils fans) was supposed to give up singles on the reg, and go for the double play ground balls via his sinker.

Then he got here and was like LOL@HITS. I’ll just strike people out.

I like to strike people out.

By: ThatGuy

ThatGuy — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:15:12 +0000

Twins have always preached pitch to contact, well before Roy was doing his thing Radke, Mays, Milton and the like were pitching to contact for the Twins.

By: djwhite2710

djwhite2710 — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:06:49 +0000

The Twins have to love it. This guy is the definition of pitch to contact.

By: oikosjeremy

oikosjeremy — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:43:25 +0000

Halladay really was a pitch to contact guy once, although as you point out he’s not really anymore. From 2002 (his first all star year)-2007 he never struck out more than 6.9/9 innings, and one year he was as low as 5.4 K/9. His rate jumped to 7.5 K/9 in 2008 and remained in the high 7s until this year when it’s jumped again.

By: cur68

cur68 — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:16:55 +0000

I wonder if we can blame Roy Halladay? In the past he’s claimed to ‘pitch to contact’. My arse he does. 9.2k/9 is ‘striking guys out left and right’, IMO. So, because he wins (like, A LOT) everyone maybe thinks “this is the way to pitch” and seem to miss the fact that Old Roy can make his stuff just dance around and he strikes out over 9 guys/game.

If that’s where the ‘pitch to contact’ thing is coming from then IMO, unless you can drop cutters, sliders and fast balls like Roy, DON’T ‘PITCH TO CONTACT’!

By: trevorb06

trevorb06 — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:57:50 +0000

He was probably given the same ‘pitch to contact’ crap Liriano was told.

By: aceshigh11

aceshigh11 — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:55:15 +0000

A team NOT getting its money’s worth out of Carl Pavano??

Say it ain’t so!!

(snicker)