As fans in the UK, we’re used to focusing more on day games played in the States as those are normally the ones that we can catch live.  However, some night-game match-ups are too good to miss and that was certainly true last Tuesday.

The Phillies and Marlins were meeting in Florida, with Roy Halladay and Josh Johnson taking the mound.  What more could you ask for from a pitching match-up? 

It was the master against the apprentice; Halladay being the reigning NL Cy Young winner and Johnson watching Halladay’s bullpen sessions and picking his brain at last year’s All-Star Game.  A ten past midnight UK start was no hardship with those two pitching.

It is always helpful if games in the early hours move along at a decent pace, holding the need for sleep at bay for a few hours, and Jimmy Rollins grounding out on the very first pitch suggested that this game was going to go by quickly.

There are many factors that make Halladay and Johnson so devastating, but two of the most important are that they can throw all their different pitches for strikes and that they attack batters by pounding the strikezone, rather than nibbling at the corners.  Johnson is learning to do this more consistently this year and the results are there for all to see.  In the first inning, 9 of Johnson’s 10 pitches were strikes, for Halladay it was 10 from 12.

An unrelenting strike-throwing approach creates a fascinating dynamic between the pitcher and hitter.  If a pitcher is attacking the strikezone then there is some merit in going up there swinging, knowing that if you’re passive at the plate you will soon find yourself down 0-2. 

However, quick outs only hand a greater advantage to the pitcher who can carry that momentum forward and go deeper into games, and that’s what makes the likes of Halladay and Johnson so formidable.  It’s not that they simply throw strikes – strikes down the middle of the plate will be hit a mile in the Majors – they throw strikes on the corners that invariably the hitter can’t do much with even if they do make contact. 

Halladay was particularly impressive (as always) in this respect, while Johnson had to deal with a few more baserunner early on; however one person that Halladay didn’t throw strikes to was his opposing pitcher.

Halladay walked Johnson in the third inning.  It was the first time he had ever walked a pitcher (he has spent most of his career in the American League, of course) and he made his frustration clear by yelling “god dammit!”.  I had to laugh when the commentators kindly apologised to any viewers who had heard it.  It wasn’t exactly a vein-throbbing Wayne Rooney yelling an expletive directly down a camera.  Maybe we’ve found Halladay’s one weakness: he’s just not very good at being obscene.

Halladay also threw a wild pitch in the eighth inning which ultimately led to the Marlins’ winning run in a 2-1 final score.  It was a rare mistake from a great pitcher in what turned out to be an excellent game, one that was well worth losing some sleep over.

More pain for Morales

Walk-off home runs can be devastating for the team that has to trudge off the field as losers, but they shouldn’t be devastating for the team that crowds around the plate as the hero heads for home.

Kendrys Morales’ home run on 29 May 2010 has turned out to be a very hollow victory for the player and his club.  The Angels’ slugger fractured his lower left leg as he jumped onto the plate and missed the rest of the 2010 season.  Spring Training came and went without him returning to action and it was finally announced last Wednesday that Morales requires another surgical procedure that will rule him out for the whole of the 2011 season.

The Angels’ had a frustrating offseason, being outbid by the Red Sox and Rangers on Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre.  Vernon Wells, the one player they did sign (in what can only be seen as a panic move), struggled through his first 35 games of the season before hitting the Disabled List with a groin strain. 

Despite all this and the absence of Morales, the Angels are firmly in the AL West race and their offence has been one of the better ones in the Majors. Mark Trumbo has performed admirably so far, but if he tails off during the season then you have to wonder what the Angels will do at first base as Morales’ return as an offensive force has to be in some doubt. 

A mid-season trade is unlikely considering that any potential trade partner will be asking for their outstanding prospect Mike Trout and/or Peter Bourjos to be included in any deal.  So that throws us forward to the offseason and the potential free agent first baseman Prince Fielder (and potentially Albert Pujols, although we’ll leave that matter to another day).  The Angels, Fielder’s agent Scott Boras and a lucrative multi-year contract for the Brew Crew basher don’t seem a likely combination judging by the way in which L.A. have refused to meet the high demands of top free agents in the last few years. 

Maybe recent disappointments on the free agent market and Morales’ continuing woes could make the Angels change their approach?

Seeing-eye singles

Jason Kubel had the Target Field crowd on their feet when he launched a three-run homer to give the Twins the lead against the Tigers on Wednesday.  It was a surprise to learn that this was the Twins’ first three-run jack of the 2011 season, although that reveals something about why they have started the year so poorly.  As did the way Jhonny Peralta reduced the crowd to a deathly hush when he put the Tigers back on top.

During the Giants-Cubs game on Friday, the commentators Len Kasper and Bob Brenly made an interesting observation about San Francisco’s starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner.  As Kasper noted, you often hear people talk of pitchers with a ‘short-arm’ delivery, yet Bumgarner is a model example of the exact opposite.  Whether new to baseball or not, it’s worth looking at Bumgarner’s pitching motion to get an idea of what a ‘long-arm’ delivery is like.  Worth also comparing it to someone like the Braves’ Tommy Hanson and how different motions can still be very effective.

I’ll never get used to the term ‘web gem’.  Let’s just call it an outstanding catch by the Washington Nationals’ (and Netherlands) outfielder Roger Bernadina.