Before Doing Comes Understanding

You might think that people just pitch, not throw, without really thinking about it.  It just starts to happen.  And maybe that's so for some guys.  But Richie Mascheri, pitcher for the Kitsap Bluejackets of Kitsap, Washington doesn't just do it, he understands it.  Or at least his manager, Matt Acker, thinks he does, as he told the Kitsap Sun.

"He understands the concept of pitching, not throwing," Acker said. "He finds a way to compete every day."

Don't laugh...if he didn't understand it...he might just be up there pitching and not knowing why.

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!

Minor Miracle

Some players are blessed with the pure athletic ability that allows them to get to the Majors on Stuff, and then their eyes are opened.  Some, like St. Lucie Mets (A) pitcher Scott Moviel need to see the light a little lower down the ladder, as he told TCPalm.com reporter Laurel Pfahler:

I'm pitching now, not just throwing, and it's starting to come along well for me.

With an attitude like that, we'll see Moviel in Sheati Park soon enough!  Of course, the way the Mets are pitching, we might see me pitching for them soon.

Madness!

Shawn Armstrong started the CUSA tourney opener for East Carolina against Houston.  According to Kevin Travis, of the Sun-Journal in New Bern, NC, Armstrong has "lifted his game the the right time."  To what did Armstrong attribute this game lifting?

"I've been working on my delivery and really just going out there and not worrying about pitching," said Armstrong, who went 3-1 with a 3.89 ERA during the regular season. "I'm just going out there throwing the baseball like I have my whole life.

"I'm really going out there and not even thinking; just throwing the ball."

"Just throwing the ball."  Wow, we must have found the anti-cliche, the guy who doesn't even need to "worry about pitching."

Armstrong gave up 3 runs in 3 1/3 innings in an ECU loss.

Never mind.

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 Cliche is Born

I thought I had heard them all.  Pitch, don't throw.  Throw, don't aim.  Yet, much like baseball itself, the well of baseball cliches is deeper than we ever imagined.  Xavier Candela, a pitcher for Cathedral Prep in Erie, PA, told Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times News:

I just tried to throw and not think

Unfortunately, Xavier did not make clear if he was just skipping "aiming" and going right to "throwing" on his way to the Holy Grail, "pitching," or if thinking comes between aiming and throwing, and he had already stopped aiming and started thinking.  We'll be sure to let you know if we get any updates.

 

Aiming, not Throwing - The Forgotten Cliche

Sometimes we get so caught up in pitching, not throwing, that we forget there's something WORSE than throwing: aiming.  *shudder*  Nick Anderson of St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, MN knows this, as reported by Andy Rennecke in the St. Cloud Times:

I’m just trying to command it and not aim the ball. Just [go] out there and throw it. 

We have hope for Nick, though: at least he's not trying to go straight to pitching.  For those keeping score at home, it's aiming, THEN throwing, then, eventually, if you're lucky and good, pitching.

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.

It can be learned

You might think that pitching, not throwing, is something you're born with.  Or, as many hacks would have us believe, something you stumble on to as your career progresses and you find that pumping 'em by them is resulting in too many created souvenirs.  But, according to Laura Oberle of the geographically accurately named Columbia Missourian, this is not how Eric Anderson of the Missouri University Tigers found his way there:

Anderson spent this season learning how to pitch a baseball, not just throw one

So for those of you wondering, it takes one (1) season to learn how to pitch, not throw.

Cole in your Stocking

How do you know you've made it?  Is it when you make the All-Star game?  Win the World Series?  Heck, win the World Series MVP?  Nope.  It's when you make it to the Hall of Fame...the CLICHE Hall of Fame.  Welcome, Mr. Cole Hamels, thanks to your pitching coach, Rich Dubee, and/or Matt Gelb, Philadelphia Enquirer Phillies beat man:

The 24-year-old kid who won a World Series MVP by throwing a fastball and change-up has become, in Dubee's estimation, a pitcher - not a thrower. 

Whether Dubee used those words or not, one way or another, you, Cole Hamels, have made The Big Time.

HERESY!

"I'm a thrower, not a pitcher," Zolk said.

What?  WHAT!?!?  You can't say that!  That's like admitting you wish failure on yourself and your team!  Why not just say you hate your mom!

Oh, wait...he's not a pitcher...he's Mike Zolk, a 2nd baseman for Neumann-Goretti high school outside Philadelphia who had to serve time on the mound due to a lack of arms on the team.  OK...the Baseball Cliche Police will let uo go this time, Zolk...but watch it!

Mystery Cliche

What happened here?  After he threw a no-hitter against Southern Academy, did Pickens Academy (AL) senior Chase Davidson switch into auto-pilot and go to the cliche well when interviewed by Adam Minichino of The Dispatch?  Or did Davidson give a long, in-depth answer to a question, about how he has worked on really understanding his craft, which Minichino lazily boiled down to the bane of my existence?  We'll never know, thanks to this implied, but not directly attributed quote:

He said he now feels more like a pitcher and not a thrower.

I'm giving the kid the benefit of the doubt. This one's on you, Minichino.

Cliche Averted

For once, the cliche...is not a cliche but just a fact.  It's true: throwing is not pitching.  However, it has been generally treated as a lazy way of saying that a pitcher is not working his craft, but merely throwing the ball as hard as he can.  But Ashley Burnett, coach of Gilbert High in South Carolina, actually used the phrase to differentiate between two radically different activities performed by Austin LaBounty, as reported at TheState.com:

For the last few weeks, he was able to start throwing. We put out of a bucket of balls for him, but that’s not the same as pitching.

Thanks you, Mr. Burnett, thank you.

Over the Hurdle

When you're managing the worst team in baseball over the last decade+, why not break out the worst cliche in baseball?  Pirates manager Clint Hurdle on James McDonald:

He needs to pitch. I don't think he's been pitching. There's been more throwing going on.

Double bonus for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Colin Dunlap throwing (not pitching) it into his headline:

Pirates Notebook: McDonald must pitch, not throw, says Hurdle

If at first you don't cliche...

Travis Swachik, of the Charleston Post and Courier, wasn't sure if you'd understand that throwing hard wasn't as useful as throwing accurately and well, so he went to the well, though throwing "synonymous" definitely took the old saw up a level in sophistication describing a Clemson pitcher.

Still, to prove velocity isn’t everything, to prove pitching is not synonymous with throwing is exhibit A: Jonathan Meyer

Going South

As old school as Rays Manager Joe Maddon's glasses are, so are his cliches, this time to the St. Pete's Times about Wade Davis:

So as of right now, I'm liking what he's doing. I like the feel. He's using all of his pitches. He's pitching. He's not just out there throwing.

The Kids Aren't Alright

Like a kid on the playground imitating his favorite player's stance, Sheffield, AL coach Chuck Smith obviously takes his cues from the pros, as he told the Florence, AL Times Daily:

The main thing now is that they have learned how to pitch. A lot of high school kids know how to throw, but not how to pitch.

Leading Off: The Plain Dealer

Cleveland Plain Dealer headline from 4.4.11:

Pitching, not throwing, at the heart of Cleveland Indians starter Josh Tomlin's formula for success

(Thanks to Nikhil Rao for the heads up)