sdshelby

Notes from Sunday's game:

RHP Brian Powell was less than impressive. He started a bad trend of
throwing as many balls as strikes. He threw 70+ pitches in 3 innings.
Jeff Urban made just the 3rd relief appearance of his career and
suffered the same fate. He threw about 65 pitches. I think he
pitched better than his line would appear. He got hit harder in the
end, with several of the hits being over the OFers' heads, although
Urban should not have fatigued given his starter's endurance. He had
no strikeouts. RHP Matt Montgomery was not sharp when he entered the
game. He struggled with his control, i.e., 2 strikes in his first 8
pitches. After regaining his control, he was effective, allowing just
a triple to 1B Graham Koonce that went right over the first base bag.

I was impressed how soft Justin Duchscherer threw. He throws his
pitches with less velocity than Jeff Urban. He had a perfect game
through 4 innings. There was some 5th inning promotion if the home
pitcher threw a perfect game. Clay Bellinger and Rob Ryan promptly
hit singles to put runners at the corners.

Lance Niekro then GiDPed to score a run. Niekro had an even worse
night in the field. First, he failed to block a throw from Carlos
Valderrama, leading to Valderrama's error. Then Niekro made an error
on a ball with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd that allowed 2 runs
to score. Later Niekro had another error when he dropped a foul ball.
Later still, Niekro collided with C Guillermo Rodriguez and neither
caught the infield fly about ten feet from home plate (but fortunately
the infield fly rule had been invoked).

Hammonds remains hitless with Fresno, but he had a great diving catch
while playing CF.

The Grizzlies managed just 5 hits and no walks. How unsurprising is
the latter given the Grizzlies hitters and Duchscherer's pitching!
Guillermo's hit was a bit of a bloop in the 7th(?) inning. Linden hit
a HR to the LF side of deep CF in the 8th inning. That would be a 400
foot shot and also I believe his first XBH in Sacramento. Ransom, who
gave Duscherer half his strikeouts, got a double to RCF off RHP Joe
Valentine (with his 94 mph fastball) in the 9th.

The game was not in doubt, which is probably a contributing factor,
but Sacramento still never challenged any of the Fresno OF arms, even
with Jason Ellison getting a day off. The one time they did, the
throw was cut off and Graham Koonce was caught in a rundown (1st
inning?).

sdshelby

A friend of mine thinks that Duchscherer should be starting for the
A's tonight instead of Harden. I think that Duchscherer's reportoire
of pitches is pretty similar to Urban's. Most every pitch they threw
was 1-3 mph slower for Duchscherer. Duchscherer's pitches ranged from
69-85 mph as I recall. Urban was probably more like 73-87 mph. Yes,
Duchschere has had an awesome year with his really low WHIP.

michael bakunin

wow. that's like Rueter on an off-day, assuming it was on a slow gun.
how do you remember him working hitters?

sdshelby

Isn't Rueter's fastball generally 83-85 mph?
I have a tought time now recalling Duchscherer's patterns. Since he
is one of those so-called strike-throwing machines, I think he has the
ability to throw all of his pitches in any count. Of course, against
Fresno he may have never had a 3-ball count. I think his first pitch
was generally strike one and then his second pitch was typically a
lazy fly ball.

I don't know that the scoreboard gun in Sacramento would be a slow
gun. It seems to have matched my expecations with other pitchers,
like Ryan Jensen, Jerome Williams and Rich Harden.

I think one thing I like about having seen Duchscherer is that it
gives me hope for Bruso. If he can learn a good breaking ball, I
think that he can be a better pitcher than Duchscherer. If nothing
else, maybe a good breaking ball allow Bruso to become a Tim Worrell
type reliever (maybe not as good as the current version given what
Worrell has learned from years of experience, and Worrell also has
maybe a tick more velocity than Bruso).