Thanks, Zach

Sometimes a writer's job is not just to tell you what happened, but explain what happened.  Or, in this case of Zachary Levine writing about Astros pitcher Brett Myers for the Houston Chronicle's blog. explain what was said:

“I just think I pitched a little bit more, used my head a little bit better,” Myers said, using “pitched” as a contrast to simply throwing.

Thank you, Zach. Without your help, I would have been confused something awful.  Why would throwing more pitches, which I would have thought he meant by "pitched a little bit more," help someone?  I thought they wanted to be efficient, to pitch less.  I am still confused, however, as to how he did it with his head.  Did he throw it with his head?  Or just use his head for other things, like stopping the ball after it was hit?  Help me, Zach!

Bad News For Parnell

Oftentimes you'll have to wait until halfway through an article or blog post to find our favorite phrase.  Not with Matthew Cerrone and his Metsblog.  No sir - he gives Bobby Parnell the kiss of death right in the title of his post:

About Last Night: Parnell is just throwing, not pitching

In case you missed it, Cerrone explains later in his piece:

he still looks like just a thrower, not a pitcher.

Poor, poor Bobby Parnell.  Best watch out, Bobby, we all know the Mets have Scott Moviel in the minors, and I have a feeling Matthew Cerrone might have a soft spot for him.

 

What's better than saying it? SAYING IT!

Mavo, a commenter on the San Jose Mercury News Giants blog "Extra Baggs" (from either Carl Steward, according to the "posted by, or Andrew Baggarly, of the blog title) wants you to know that Tim Lincecum pitched a good game today.  He also wants you to know he did not "throw" a good game today.  But how to get that across to the average reader, who might miss the subtlety of "pitching, not throwing"?  The answer, of course, CAPS, the currency of the commenter:

What a dominating PITCHING performance from Timmy today! And I mean PITCHING … not just throwing!!

And he remembered the cardinal rule of commenting: when in doubt, use exclamation points!  POINTS, not POINT!!

A Prayer for the Children

 MLB Reports (seemingly his full name) just cares.  He's looking at the guys leading the Majors in walks, and he knows what's wrong.  It's what's wrong with every pitcher having trouble.  He just wants them to get it.  And since obviously their pitching coaches, managers, and teammates have all failed to get the message through, he lays it out for them:

The emphasis is on pitching, not throwing: I hope these guys understand that one day.

We all so, MLB Reports, we all do.

Turnabout is Fair Play

We learned back on May 9th that most injuries happen when throwing, not pitching.  Or so we thought.  Kyle, Webmaster and Founder of Driveline Baseball, begs to differ:

Throwing – not pitching – more frequently does many good things

See?  You blind proponents of pitching not throwing!  Throwing, NOT pitching does many good things.  Many! Not, like one or two.  MANY!  Eat it!

Even commenters know

Who is Walt?  Walt is an Orioles fan.  Walt is someone who, at 3 in the morning, was struck by the need to share the following piece of information as a comment on Mike Gonzalez, Orioles reliever, on the O's Baltimore Sun blog.  Gonzalez is having a tough time this year, with an 8.53 ERA, well above his career 2.92 mark.  Why?  There are many possibilities.  Could be age catching up with him - he's 32, though that's not really old for a reliever, where the Jesse Oroscos of the world toil into their 70's, seemingly.  Maybe he has an injury he doesn't want to disclose.  No, none of these things.  Walt's got it figured out:

Hard fought game, but once again, Gonzalez forgot to pitch and not THROW.

Thanks, Walt.  We'll be sure to pass that on to Mike.

The Yahoo answer? You know what it is...

JJ is worried.  JJ wants to know how to pitch a faster fastball.  Deadhead feels his pain.  Deadhead doesn't want him to panic about not having the heater that some of his teenage companions must be chucking.  So Deadhead gives him the advice he took hours crafting, putting into just the right words:

Many great careers have been made out of pitching, not throwing.

Specifically - mine.  He should have just told him to become a left-handed reliever, then he could pitch forever.

Scouts Say it - Must be True

What's lazier than using cliches?  Citing unnamed sources as using cliches.  Yet that's what Razzball.com decided to do in its analysis of Danny Duffy, the Royals' minor league hurler:

 Scouts state that Duffy knows how to pitch, not just throw hard.

I guess I should give them credit for saying "throw hard," instead of "not just throw" - but I won't.

Starting 'Em Young

Whether or not Matt Lawson, senior pitcher for Glen Rock (NJ), goes on to a successful career in the majors is not something on which I will speculate.  I will, say, however, that he is ready for the bigs right now, interview-wise.  When NorthJersey.com wanted to talk about his stellar control, Lawson went right to his pro stuff:

Baseball, pitching, is so much more than just going out there and throwing.

Darn tooting, Matt.

Turning It On Its Head

Every reporter knows to look out for that Man Bites Dog story out there, that to reel in your reader you need to turn a cliche on its head.  Obviously, BraveTiger of the OperationSports.com blog message boards knew this maxim, as he took our beloved old chestnut and flipped it on us when discussing how to throw a curveball...in MLB The Show:

Anyways, start off throwing not pitching, otherwords don't think just do.

Granted, he's talking about a VIDEO GAME, but hey, points for originality.

Yahoo and the Yanks

Yahoo's Joba Chamberlain fantasy advice (through Rotowire) features our favorite chestnut:

Recommendation: Unlike fellow Yankee Phil Hughes, however, there's no real reason to be concerned about Chamberlain's velocity, as he's reached 96 mph multiple times this season. He believes he's become more of a "pitcher" and less of the throw-as-hard-as-possible "thrower" he was when he was first called up. He has pitched very well at times this year, and although he's also had three shaky outings, he remains the Yankees' first choice in the seventh inning.

Was WFNY listening?

Following up on the PD's lead, Tribe blog Wait For Next Year threw this out on their 4.17.11 post:

 What separates Tomlin from others though is his ability to “pitch”, not simply throw as some pitchers do.

(Nod, again, to Nikhil Rao on the notification)