SF Gate: Bruce Jenkins’ 3-Dot Lounge

190+ pitch outings by Mike Krukoww-oww!

Mike Krukow had some scathing, spot-on comments about pitch counts yesterday on the Gary Radnich show. Krukow plays it close to the vest during telecasts, honoring the game’s trend toward caution and protecting young arms, but he revealed his true feelings with Radnich, ridiculing the notion of effective pitchers being replaced after 100-odd pitches and calling it “the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

...As Krukow told Radnich, the way you become a winning pitcher is by finishing a game, working your way through a batting order three or four times. Anyone can win the first couple of matchups, but once you’ve figured out how to out-perform that guy every time, especially when it counts, you’re a better pitcher and a better man. Krukow said he routinely had 150-pitch games during his career, clearing 190 a couple of times in college, and that if you decide to stick with a pitcher who has it all going, after 110-120 pitches, “It’s not going to hurt him, OK?” said Krukow. “It’s just not.”

The worst of it is, Hinch probably won’t even think twice about his decision. He and a thousand other managers will take the paranoia route every time. That’s how you lose games, respect and any chance of making an impression in this division.