4.17.2004
Straight Cheddar
That's how Barry Bonds described the reportedly 101-MPH fastball from Eric Gagne that Bonds deposited in the center field bleachers last night. As Gagne might say, "Incroyable."
Watching that guy pitch is awe-inspiring, even if he's a Dodger. To toggle back and forth between a nearly 100 MPH fastball and a 75-MPH curve, then throw in an 85-MPH changeup and a slider (doesn't he throw a splitter, too?), and I don't see how he ever gives up a hit, let alone a run. It's a testament to how damn good major league hitters are.
After Bonds' homer, Feliz came up and swung over the top of two perfect changeups (maybe splitters) that started knee or thigh high and dove like a splitter out of the strike zone. Nasty. Unhittable. Feliz then took two fastballs that just missed the outside corner by whiskers. Next pitch, another change, but it hung ever so slightly and Feliz whacked it to right field, but straight to Encarnacion. Great AB, as Krukow would say. A little more to the right or left, and Feliz would have had extra bases. Maybe he's rounded the corner after all.
As for the silent bats vs. Odalis Perez, the guy threw one of the best games of his career. He's got the stuff, and when he's spot-on, as he was last night, he's hard to hit.
I'm off to the yard to see if Woody can register his first strikeout of the season. There's still time to enter the Woody Pool.
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Watching that guy pitch is awe-inspiring, even if he's a Dodger. To toggle back and forth between a nearly 100 MPH fastball and a 75-MPH curve, then throw in an 85-MPH changeup and a slider (doesn't he throw a splitter, too?), and I don't see how he ever gives up a hit, let alone a run. It's a testament to how damn good major league hitters are.
After Bonds' homer, Feliz came up and swung over the top of two perfect changeups (maybe splitters) that started knee or thigh high and dove like a splitter out of the strike zone. Nasty. Unhittable. Feliz then took two fastballs that just missed the outside corner by whiskers. Next pitch, another change, but it hung ever so slightly and Feliz whacked it to right field, but straight to Encarnacion. Great AB, as Krukow would say. A little more to the right or left, and Feliz would have had extra bases. Maybe he's rounded the corner after all.
As for the silent bats vs. Odalis Perez, the guy threw one of the best games of his career. He's got the stuff, and when he's spot-on, as he was last night, he's hard to hit.
I'm off to the yard to see if Woody can register his first strikeout of the season. There's still time to enter the Woody Pool.
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