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       #Post#: 337518--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: craig Date: March 4, 2018, 4:03 pm
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       Lester gets 50 pitches in to pitch into the 3rd, walked a
       couple, HR, three hits.  still has yips: knocked down a hard-hit
       ball, and tried to throw fairly decisively to first, but spiked
       it maybe half of the distance from the mound to first for an
       error.
       On the TV part in spring training, they don't seem to show
       velocity readings, even though in the live mlb game-day gamecast
       (?) they do.
       Q:  Is there a way within the mlb.com gameday to go back and get
       full, pitch-by-pitch-with-velocity for an earlier inning?  I
       rewound and watched a couple of Lester batters, and was curious
       where his fastball was at.  I'd guess probably upper 80's again,
       but my eyeball guessing is terrible, so it wouldn't shock if he
       was touching 90 or faster.  I was just curious if there was a
       way for us as fans to go back and get the list velocities
       somewhere.
       #Post#: 337519--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: craig Date: March 4, 2018, 4:08 pm
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       I did watch a couple of pitches by Shae Simmons to K his last
       batter, and to see the gamecast listings.  He had several
       fastballs in the 94.7, 95.6, and 96.3 type range.  Looked pretty
       good, speed-wise.  His breaking ball looked sharp and hard to
       hit, like it will K guys if they chase; but also looked kind of
       reminiscent of Grimm and Strop and Rondon, that the couple I saw
       looked like they broke well outside the strikezone, chase
       pitches but not sure he can throw one for a strike if hitters
       lay off.
       #Post#: 337527--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: Deeg Date: March 4, 2018, 7:04 pm
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       Simmons intrigues me.  He could be a factor at some point this
       season.
       #Post#: 337532--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: craig Date: March 4, 2018, 10:49 pm
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       Yes, based on today's inning I agree.  For now he appears to be
       healthy.  A chance the healthy version could recapture the
       prospect he was before getting hurt.
       He's got good velocity, as do Grimm and Maples and Rondon.
       Will his control be better?  Hoping.
       #Post#: 337542--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: craig Date: March 5, 2018, 9:22 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [quote author=craig link=topic=505.msg337518#msg337518
       date=1520201034]
       Lester ... still has yips: knocked down a hard-hit ball, and
       tried to throw fairly decisively to first, but spiked it maybe
       half of the distance from the mound to first for an error.
       ...[/quote]
       Apparently Lester spiking his throw into the ground is only
       partly yips, it's apparently his new plan.  To try to spike the
       ball into the ground and hope it can bounce/roll over and beat
       some runners.
  HTML https://baseball.realgm.com/wiretap/48471/Jon-Lester-Using-Jordan-To-Pippen-Bounce-On-Throws-To-First
       I can see a certain logic to that.  But the inability to have
       any clue where you'r going to throw it would still seem to
       impact, as on the play yesterday.  It was way off line, and it
       hit the ground, maybe half the distance to first.  But I can see
       the logic of intending to throw low; theoretically less of the
       two-base flying-it-over-the-head errors.  Rizzo should be able
       to keep most of the wild spikes in front of him and hold them to
       one-base losses instead of two.  And maybe by just letting it
       fly, sometimes it will bounce over in time within range of first
       to get an out.
       Who knows, perhaps by just letting it rip and throwing it into
       the grass, he'll start to "un-yip", and will start to get some
       over on one-bounce-on-the-grass for a while, then maybe he'll be
       even able to get it to the dirt, or in time actually get some
       in-flight to first?
       I assume the underhand will still be the way to go on
       1st-base-side balls.  Not sure the spike would be usable as a
       pickoff throw.
       #Post#: 337563--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: CUBluejays Date: March 5, 2018, 12:04 pm
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       He was doing that last year too.  Rizzo told him to try it.
       #Post#: 337564--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: Deeg Date: March 5, 2018, 12:14 pm
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       It sounds funny to say about a guy with Darvish's track record,
       but it really seems to me that if someone (Hickey) could figure
       out the magic formula, he could be an order of magnitude better.
       The guy is like a video game pitcher - he can pretty much make
       the ball do whatever he wants it to.  The trick is figuring out
       just how much of his arsenal he needs to use for maximum
       effectiveness.  He's not the easiest personality to deal with in
       that sense - very smart, very passionate in his views on
       pitching, stubborn, and (for lack of a better word) mischievous
       in his approach on the mound.
       #Post#: 337576--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: brjones Date: March 5, 2018, 3:22 pm
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       Happ with a double and a homer through three ABs today in the
       leadoff spot. He's got the first shot at that job unless he gets
       hurt or crashes for the rest of the spring.
       #Post#: 337577--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: Deeg Date: March 5, 2018, 3:26 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       When you consider Happ did a lot of what he did last year as a
       22 year-old, it's surprising he doesn't get more hype.
       #Post#: 337578--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Today's Game 2018
       By: brjones Date: March 5, 2018, 3:49 pm
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       Just cut the K rate from 31.2% last year to about 25%-26% this
       year.
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