Does Joe still keep his glossary of words online anywhere? “Wembyance” is a great one, up there with “pixifood” and “jeterate” and “gleng” (if I recall correctly, to gleng is to pull the inside car door handle at the exact instant someone tries to open the door from the outside)
I hate to have this always in the back of my mind, but ... Miz strikes me as The Next Guy.
As an ATL fan, we had that guy just a couple of seasons ago. Spencer Strider, as a rookie in 2021, often topped 100mph, had a 2.67 ERA in 131 innings and struck out 13.8 batters per nine. Among other gems, he had an 8 inning, two hit, no runs, 16 Ks, no walk outing, setting the club's strikeout in a game record.
The next season, he could have won the Cy Young award when he lead the NL in wins, winning percentage, Ks, K/9, and FIP.
And in a tale as old as time, the next year he went under the knife with elbow issues. He is still trying to get back to anything remotely like that and, unfortunately, was pulled from Friday's game after elbow issues that were apparent on the radar gun with his FB down to the mid 80s before being removed.
I understand the skepticism that today’s pitchers are so much better than those from past years. But when you look at the things that we can objectively measure, today’s athletes are far and away superior. Track and field and swimming, , field goal kickers… why would pitchers be any different?
And think about how perfect Nolan Ryan’s mechanics were. Same for Seaver who is mentioned. Now, almost every pitcher uses very similar mechanics to that.
Joe's comment about Nolan Ryan reminded me that I was at Ryan's last start, in the Kingdome, when his arm finally fell off in the first inning. By an odd coincidence, two weeks ago I had coffee in London (I now live in Iowa) with the guy with whom I went to that game. Neither of us saw the pitch where Ryan lost it because we were way up in the 300 level in line for hot dogs. It was the first inning after all. My friend has a four year gig in London taking care of their dogs and doing whatever else he wants while his wife is a high-powered exec for a well-known corporation. What a life!
the Phils were very vocal about Misiorowski being selected to the ASG last year. And not in a nice way. Wonder if that was any motivation in last night’s effort
Dont think a human brain can be quick enough to determine if pitch is ball, strike, or where its going at that speed....Anyone who gets a hit off of him, is strictly luck....Dont think even the best hitters have the ability to hit at that speed
I believe Joe was a contributor to the film “Fastball” in which a scientist, using a comparison between pitches clocked at release (current) vs crossing the plate (past, say 1970s 1980s ) calculated Ryan’s 100.9 at the plate as equivalent to ~ 107-108 if measured at release. All of which is to say that people forget what a frightening , overpowering, unhittable force he was when he went to the Angels in 1972 and for the years after. The few hitters still around who faced him in those years attest to the experience unlike any other pitcher at that time, compounded admittedly by the lack of control. Joe pretty much captures the
I've been fond of the Ralph Garr anecdote. Here, I'll let Joe tell it:
"In 1979, late May, there was a Sunday afternoon game between Nolan Ryan’s Angels and the White Sox. The leadoff hitter for Chicago that day was Ralph Garr, who struck out on three pitches, raced back to the dugout and shouted in his distinctly high-pitched voice: “Boys, we got NO shot today.”"
The Scherzer near perfect game should have been perfect. The 27th batter leaned in to the pitch trying to get plunked. The ump can - and imho should - deny the batter a base. See, for example, the Drysdale scoreless inning streak.
I only listened to that game against my Phillies on the radio, and it was nevertheless the greatest pitching performance I've ever seen.
The ease of royalty eating grapes. Perfect.
Does Joe still keep his glossary of words online anywhere? “Wembyance” is a great one, up there with “pixifood” and “jeterate” and “gleng” (if I recall correctly, to gleng is to pull the inside car door handle at the exact instant someone tries to open the door from the outside)
I think doing a wemby may have a rather negative meaning now, so let's not wemby this up any more...
I hate to have this always in the back of my mind, but ... Miz strikes me as The Next Guy.
As an ATL fan, we had that guy just a couple of seasons ago. Spencer Strider, as a rookie in 2021, often topped 100mph, had a 2.67 ERA in 131 innings and struck out 13.8 batters per nine. Among other gems, he had an 8 inning, two hit, no runs, 16 Ks, no walk outing, setting the club's strikeout in a game record.
The next season, he could have won the Cy Young award when he lead the NL in wins, winning percentage, Ks, K/9, and FIP.
And in a tale as old as time, the next year he went under the knife with elbow issues. He is still trying to get back to anything remotely like that and, unfortunately, was pulled from Friday's game after elbow issues that were apparent on the radar gun with his FB down to the mid 80s before being removed.
I think Shohei would be a better verb
I understand the skepticism that today’s pitchers are so much better than those from past years. But when you look at the things that we can objectively measure, today’s athletes are far and away superior. Track and field and swimming, , field goal kickers… why would pitchers be any different?
And think about how perfect Nolan Ryan’s mechanics were. Same for Seaver who is mentioned. Now, almost every pitcher uses very similar mechanics to that.
Joe's comment about Nolan Ryan reminded me that I was at Ryan's last start, in the Kingdome, when his arm finally fell off in the first inning. By an odd coincidence, two weeks ago I had coffee in London (I now live in Iowa) with the guy with whom I went to that game. Neither of us saw the pitch where Ryan lost it because we were way up in the 300 level in line for hot dogs. It was the first inning after all. My friend has a four year gig in London taking care of their dogs and doing whatever else he wants while his wife is a high-powered exec for a well-known corporation. What a life!
I thought Wood's game score was 105?
That is what bbref shows: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199805060.shtml
The car is too fast for the the boy is what I hear in my head when I ingest this young mans efforts
I find him enthralling, and then I think, how is it possible? And some of the possible answers worry me.
the Phils were very vocal about Misiorowski being selected to the ASG last year. And not in a nice way. Wonder if that was any motivation in last night’s effort
Misiorowski’s has cut his walk rate from 4.2 to 2.3. In less than a year. That’s amazing
Add to that: in about 230 minor league innings across four years, his BB/9 was about 5.3.
Dont think a human brain can be quick enough to determine if pitch is ball, strike, or where its going at that speed....Anyone who gets a hit off of him, is strictly luck....Dont think even the best hitters have the ability to hit at that speed
As was said about bonds to anticipate is good...to guess is bad
AND it was a Maddux, setting a new record for most strikeouts in a Maddux!
To strike out 15 batters and still only throw 95 pitches across nine innings boggles the mind.
I believe Joe was a contributor to the film “Fastball” in which a scientist, using a comparison between pitches clocked at release (current) vs crossing the plate (past, say 1970s 1980s ) calculated Ryan’s 100.9 at the plate as equivalent to ~ 107-108 if measured at release. All of which is to say that people forget what a frightening , overpowering, unhittable force he was when he went to the Angels in 1972 and for the years after. The few hitters still around who faced him in those years attest to the experience unlike any other pitcher at that time, compounded admittedly by the lack of control. Joe pretty much captures the
Four words: Norm Cash Chair Leg.
I've been fond of the Ralph Garr anecdote. Here, I'll let Joe tell it:
"In 1979, late May, there was a Sunday afternoon game between Nolan Ryan’s Angels and the White Sox. The leadoff hitter for Chicago that day was Ralph Garr, who struck out on three pitches, raced back to the dugout and shouted in his distinctly high-pitched voice: “Boys, we got NO shot today.”"
https://www.joeposnanski.com/p/no-70-nolan-ryan
The Scherzer near perfect game should have been perfect. The 27th batter leaned in to the pitch trying to get plunked. The ump can - and imho should - deny the batter a base. See, for example, the Drysdale scoreless inning streak.