There was Halladay not having allowed a hit since the first inning, his pitch count at a reasonable 92, his competitive streak showing, his work ethic legendary. He’d achieved plenty in a Hall of Fame-qualified career, but never an opening-day complete game. Chances were he would never have more cooperative April weather or opponents’ bats than he did in PNC Park. It could have been another of his signature moments.
Instead, he was pulled from the game.
“I understand it at this point,” Halladay said. “But a couple weeks from now, I am going to fight him.”
Manuel, who enjoys a good fight himself, understood that. Yet he realized, too, that the Phillies had spent $50,000,058 for Papelbon and not a crisp fifty-dollar bill less, and that they expected him to save enough 1-0 games to help an ever-disintegrating offensive team win a pennant anyway.
“That (having Papelbon) did make it easier,” Manuel said. “It did.”
So out came Halladay and in came Papelbon, who would fire 10 pitches, nine for strikes, zero that weren’t as hard and as straight as he could throw a baseball. Together, two of the better pitchers of their generation would need only 2 hours and 14 minutes to make the Phillies 1-0 in a season in which every achievement should matter in a deeper National League East.
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1. Sean Forman Posted: April 06, 2012 at 08:33 AM (#4099206)What was that $58 all about? Beer and fried chicken?
Jonathan Papelbon has the best ERA+ in history for a reliever, through the age of 30, minimum 200 IP.
197 ERA+, 429 IP - Papelbon
181 ERA+, 315 IP - Soria
180 ERA+, 452 IP - Rivera
172 ERA+, 649 IP - Rodriguez
172 ERA+, 377 IP - Harvey
(Yes, he's been better than Rivera. So far.) How many scoreless innings does he need to throw in Philly to get back above the 200 plateau?
He's number 58.
197 ERA+, 429 IP - Papelbon
181 ERA+, 315 IP - Soria
180 ERA+, 452 IP - Rivera
172 ERA+, 649 IP - Rodriguez
172 ERA+, 377 IP - Harvey
(Yes, he's been better than Rivera. So far.)
That's true, but after 1995, when he went back and forth between starting and relieving, Rivera's ERA+ from 1996 through 2000 was 223, and he's now at 206 through age 41. Let's see if Paps can match that. (Not saying that you're arguing that he will.)
But if spoken, it must be in spanish. Cinco Ocho.
Only because you are counting Rivera's time as a starter.
Rivera as a reliever through age 30 - 223 ERA+, 385.1 IP
Ah, dammit.
Wait... he only started 3 games. And his ERA as a starter is lower than as a reliever.
227 ERA+, 759 IP
Dude's gotta be a robot or something.
But it's hard to top the perfection in the 2 games he pitched: 4 batters faced, 4 outs, and every single pitch thrown was a strike.
Throwing every pitch as hard, and especially as straight, as you can, is not a recipe for success.
that's not how contracts work. {[{pet peeve}]}
His fastball isn't darting all over the place, but there's no way he's gotten this far in his career, throwing 90% fastballs, without meaningful movement and life on the ball. It has that effect where it "explodes" on the hitter, which I think it a function of a little bit of tailing action and the way he hides the ball in his uniform on release.
Same for Papelbon! It's like Lincoln and Kennedy!
that's not how contracts work. {[{pet peeve}]}
Didn't you hear Nate? They paid him the entire sum up front in cash. They counted out 500,000 $100 bills, a fifty, a five, 2 ones and 4 quarters to feed the parking meter.
Damn, five hundred thousand Franklins.
That makes me dislike him even more. I hate when stupidity is rewarded.
He's violating two of the cardinal rules of pitching: work fast, throw strikes and change speeds.
Really, there's no youtube of the SNL change bank commercial for me to link. Oh well, consider this a conceptual joke then.
Billy Koch says hello.
No YouTube SNL anything. I liked it anyway, though.
I see you're using "con" in the Francophone sense.
I'm pretty sure that those rules are more meaningfully applied to starters. Relievers can get away with not following them so slavishly.
Yes, I'd like to see Papelbon work faster as well.
Here you go.
Netflix has every episode and some "best of" collections.
Hilarious that I knew this was Fly without even checking.
Well, two of them anyway.
He's only thrown like 430 innings and he hasn't hit his decline yet. It's far more likely he flames out and doesn't sniff the HoF, like K-Rod, than he pitches at this level for another 600+ innings.
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