Inside is off-limits
06/20/2002
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I wonder what it's like to be a big league pitcher these days, knowing that if one errant fastball sails up and in on a hitter, if one breaking ball just doesn't quite break enough, if one slider slides a bit too far, you'll be in the clubhouse faster than you can say, "It was an accident."
That seems to be the disturbing trend that's slowly developed over the past few years, a trend fostered by unnecessary bench warnings from umpires and ridiculous fines from league officials, a trend that's made it more and more difficult for pitchers to exploit the inside part of the plate.
Think about it -- how many times this year have you seen an umpire, after a batter from each team is plunked, threaten to toss both the pitcher and his manager if anybody else is hit? It doesn't seem to matter if the pitches were obvious mistakes, unintentional bean balls that just moved a little too much off the plate. If a guy from each team gets drilled, out come the warnings for both benches.
And then, knowing that one errant toss will send him to the showers, the inside portion of the plate is nearly off-limits for any pitcher with less than impeccable control.
You say I'm exaggerating? This exact scene unfolded in Florida Tuesday night during an Indians/Marlins match-up. Ryan Dempster hit Matt Lawton in the hip to lead off the sixth inning with a 1-0 lead. Lawton, who initially tried to stay in the game, eventually was lifted for a pinch runner.
Was it an intentional pitch? Of course not. First, why would a pitcher who's tossing a shutout ever want to plunk the leadoff hitter in the sixth inning with a one-run lead, especially with Omar Vizquel (.308, nine homers, 43 RBI), Ellis Burks (.267, 11 homers, 35 RBI) and Jim Thome (.270, 19 homers, 50 RBI) all due next? Suddenly, the go-ahead run's standing at the plate -- not exactly a position you'd want to willingly put yourself into.
Second, these two teams haven't even faced each other since the 1997 World Series, and if anybody carries hard feelings from that showdown, it's the Tribe. Plus, it's not like there's really any history between Lawton and the Fish -- before this series, the right fielder had logged exactly 28 at-bats versus Florida, hitting .286 with no homers and five RBI. Why would Dempster have any reason to purposely bean Lawton?
He wouldn't.
In fact, Lawton was so disturbed by these actions that, on his way to first base, instead of pointing or yelling at Dempster, he picked up the ball and underhanded it back to the pitcher.
Pretty volatile stuff here, I know.
But despite the obvious accidental nature of the situation, home plate umpire Jerry Layne felt it was necessary to warn both benches after Cleveland's David Riske hit third baseman Mike Lowell in the bottom of the sixth on an 0-2 count. Again, was it intentional? No, it was merely a tailing fastball that came a little too far inside and caught Lowell on the hand. Much like the Dempster/Lawton situation, why would a reliever with a two-strike count deliberately put a man on first in a one-run game, especially in the late innings? And let's not forget that, on the season, Riske had walked 19 batters and hit one more in just 26.2 innings of work, and throughout his career he's issued a total of 43 free passes and plunked five batters in just 69 innings.
In other words, we're not exactly talking about Curt Schilling here.
Nonetheless, the warnings were issued, and to further illustrate my point, the very next batter, Derrek Lee, launched a two-run homer to left off Riske, giving the Marlins a 3-0 lead. Doesn't sound like a winning strategy, does it?
Then, in the top of the seventh, Dempster drilled Travis Fryman on a 1-2 count, prompting an immediate ejection for both the pitcher and Florida manager Jeff Torborg.
Let's think about this for a second. Dempster, a guy with a 5.40 ERA and just four wins heading into the game, has a total of two shutouts during his brief five-year career, none of them coming this season. He'd thrown only 73 pitches through six innings and allowed just four hits. Why on earth would he intentionally throw at Fryman knowing he'd get the gate, thus ending a bid for his first shutout of the year? Why would a guy with an ERA well above 5.00 willingly get himself tossed from a game that he was winning 3-0?
Again, he wouldn't.
The umpire misconstrued simple wildness for malicious intent Tuesday night, forcing Dempster to hand his brilliantly pitched game over to a mediocre bullpen with a combined 3.70 ERA and 11 blown saves in the seventh inning. I already pointed to Riske's erratic career numbers -- Dempster's are even worse, walking 388 batters and hitting 36 more in his 738.2 innings of work. In fact, after surrendering 93 free passes in 1999 (in just 147 innings) and 97 in 2000, the Florida righty walked 112 hitters last year and already has 48 this season.
There was absolutely no reason to think that any of the three incidents Tuesday night were anything more than sheer wildness. Lawton, Fryman and Lowell didn't seem to take offense -- none of the three even stared at the opposing pitcher after their respective plunkings. They understood what was going on. The umpires, unfortunately, did not.
But was it really Jerry Layne's fault? Did he overact to a harmless situation or was he just following orders? During the game, third-base umpire Ed Montague reportedly told Cleveland coach Joel Skinner that this is exactly how the league wants these situations handled, whether there's any evidence of intent or not.
Excuse me? Isn't a hitter trotting down to first base without swinging the bat enough punishment for being a little wild on the mound? Now pitchers can also be ejected from games and possibly fined for their inconsistency? That's just foolish.
If pitchers suddenly feel like they no longer have the right to throw inside, to back hitters off the plate, then their aggressiveness is immediately endangered. Take the inside part of the plate away from guys like Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, and they're no longer the same dominating hurlers they once were.
During a Cubs/Astros game on June 10, Kerry Wood had a 1-2 count on Houston second baseman Craig Biggio when he unleashed a fastball high-and-tight that quickly sent Biggio to the dirt. Fans booed, Biggio looked shaken, but Wood was in control. The next pitch was a breaking ball that hit about three or four feet in front of the plate and Biggio, with the images of the previous pitch still playing in his mind, swung wildly and missed for strike three. The Cubs ended up losing the game 4-2 but Wood's willingness to throw inside is one of the reasons he's one of the best young power pitchers in baseball -- if you can back someone off the plate with a high hard one, you'll then be even more effective on the outer half. It's called pitching, and the game's elite use both sides of the plate regardless of the consequences -- how do you think Roger Clemens built up his nasty reputation along with those Hall-of-Fame numbers?
It's just a shame umpires and league officials have taken some of that aggressiveness away from younger, less experienced pitchers. To win in this league, you have to be able to throw inside and outside, and today's young guys are struggling because they're just too timid on the mound, too afraid to throw one under the chin.
It's baseball -- guys are going to get hit. It's the nature of the game. You try throwing a ball across a 17-inch piece of plastic from 60 feet, six inches away with someone like Barry Bonds crowding the plate. Sure, some of those beanings are going to be intentional, but a lot of them are mistakes, plain and simple.
Unfortunately, because umpires now make such a big deal about every fastball in the hip, many hitters in turn get all bent out of shape whenever they get plunked. This "don't you dare hit me" mentality has made it even more difficult for erratic pitchers to throw inside, because not only do they have to worry about getting the gate, but now they also may have a 240-pound slugger galloping toward the mound with a bat in his hand and a chip on his shoulder.
Just this week, after Tampa Bay's Travis Harper threw a ball behind Barry Bonds, the San Fran left fielder walked toward the 26-year-old pitcher, screaming and pointing at him as both benches emptied. There were no ejections and no physical confrontations, but after the game Bonds said, "I just had a lot of buildup. That's all. Too many balls have been thrown at me in one year, and that's enough. I just couldn't take it anymore. It probably wasn't an intentional pitch. When balls get thrown at you quite a bit, eventually you're going to get upset."
If you don't think it was intentional, then why was it even an issue? Sure, Bonds has been plunked six times this year, the most recent by Clemens at Yankee Stadium. But when you've got your elbow hanging out over the plate, not only should you expect to get hit from time to time, but you deserve a bean ball every so often -- the pitchers have as much right to that part of the strike zone as you do. Just shut up and take your base.
For guys like Schilling and Greg Maddux, guys with flawless control, this isn't even really an issue. They throw inside, outside, up and down with more confidence than anybody else in the league.
But most pitchers don't have that kind of accuracy on the mound. Most pitchers can't consistently paint the black on a 2-2 count. And until something changes, the Ryan Dempsters and David Riskes of the league are just one tailing fastball away from a hefty fine and an early exit.
In the Bullz-Eye
Every NBA franchise. The NBA draft is set for next Wednesday, June 26, and while everyone seems to agree that the Houston Rockets will take Yao Ming with the first overall pick and the Chicago Bulls will select Jay Williams with the day's second pick, the rest of the draft seems to be up in the air. Are Drew Gooden and Caron Butler top-five choices? Is Italy's Nikoloz Tskitishvili worth a possible three-year wait? Where the heck will Jared Jeffries go? What about Amare Stoudamire, the high schooler from Orlando? Should be very interesting.