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7-4, 5.33 |
5-6, 4.70 |
GAME TIME 12:10 CDT
in the key at-bat of the night, anthony reyes did it his way: he shook off stinnett and went with his best pitch. to reset the situation: 3d inning, two on, one out, a run in, and mvp candidate chase utley at the plate. reyes got ahead 1-2, then went for the kill with a high fastball; utley fouled it off. three consecutive changeups ensued, netting one ball and two fouls; on 2-2 reyes missed with an inside fastball to run the count full. stinnett called for the changeup --- you can see the signal very clearly on the fox midwest feed --- and reyes stepped off the rubber. he stepped back on, and stinnett called for the change again; again reyes stepped off. that brought stinnett to the mound for a quick conversation; when he went back into his crouch he called fastball --- presumably at the pitcher's insistence. the pitch was a high strike; utley fouled it off. great battle, now 10 pitches deep. on the 11th, stinnett called fastball again. it was a four-seamer, belt-high and inside; utley turned on it and lashed it into right for a hit.nary a 2-seamer in the whole sequence; reyes went with his best stuff. that he lost the battle doesn't really bother me. i liked the plan, and i hope he continues to pitch that way.
against the next batter, howard, he got beat on a changeup down in the zone; not a bad pitch, but he had retired howard on a change in the 1st inning and ryan wasn't fooled this time around. aaron rowand singled off a 2-seamer away. . . . . the last six pitches of the inning comprised 5 four-seamers and a changeup.
on the last at-bat of the night --- which came immediately after a visit to the mound by dave duncan --- reyes threw four consecutive 2-seamers to aaron rowand with men at 1st and 2nd: every pitch below the knees, 83 to 86 mph. four-pitch walk. but even that was better than the approach we've seen from reyes heretofore with men on base --- ie, changeups and that useless slurve-thing of his, with the occasional fastball to keep 'em honest. he didn't throw that slurve thing more than 3 or 4 times all night, that i can recall; good riddance.
it was frustrating to watch, but at least reyes was attacking the hitters with men on base. none of this namby-pambying around with substandard off-speed slop. he pitched off the 4-seamer, worked both sides of the plate with it, and threw his changeup over the plate. i'd rather see him get beat that way than with an approach that doesn't suit him. if he fails over time to succeed with his best pitches, then we'll have a meaningful answer about his future (or lack thereof) with the cardinals.
i have one other thing to say, directed to the people who were on the thread last night making fun of reyes' MySpace page and even posting Photoshopped pictures from it to this site: that type of junior-high garbage really pisses me off. make fun of reyes' pitching all you want, but when you take it to a personal level you have crossed the line. read the Community Guidelines. those posts tell me nothing about what type of guy anthony reyes is, but they tell everyone on the site what type of individuals you are.
don't ever post that kind of crap here again.