At 44, Jamie Moyer is the oldest pitcher in the National League. The Phillies haven't treated him as such. Here's a look at Moyer's pitch count in his first eight starts:93 -- April 6 at Florida
114 -- April 12 at NY Mets
111 -- April 19 at Washington
100 -- April 24 vs. Washington
100 -- April 29 vs. Florida
103 -- May 4 at San Francisco
91 -- May 9 at Arizona
100 -- May 14 vs. Chi Cubs
Since then, Moyer has thrown 106 pitches May 25 at Atlanta, 101 June 5 at the NY Mets, 98 June 16 against Detroit, 103 June 22 at St. Louis, 101 July 2 at Houston and 95 July 7 at Colorado. He has averaged 95.9 pitches per start. Considering the options the Phillies have in their bullpen, Charlie Manuel has had little choice but to stick with Moyer, sometimes longer than he'd like. And the workload has been substantial for a guy who began pitching in the majors when Ronald Reagan was still President.
I mention this because Moyer got throttled for 10 runs last night by the Dodgers. He hadn't allowed that many earned runs in a start since Aug. 9, 2000, when he surrendered 11 against the Chicago White Sox. In his first seven starts, Moyer was 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA. In his last 12 starts, he's 3-6 with a 6.34 ERA.
Moyer denies he's fatigued, but maybe, just maybe, he's burned out.
Wouldn't that be a scary proposition for the Phils?
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Trade rumor: The Yankees, still trying to decide if they're buyers or sellers, could make relievers Mike Myers and Luis Vizcaino available and may have interest in a veteran backup catcher like Rod Barajas. Myers and Vizcaino will be free agents after the season. One veteran catcher came off the market yesterday when Jason Kendall was traded to the Cubs.
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With the Phillies in LA, I'm reminded of my favorite all-time baseball scene from a movie. Cracks me up every time.
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Trivia answer: Juan Samuel (1989), Lenny Dykstra (1993) and Jimmy Rollins (2004, 2005, 2006) shared the Phillies record for leadoff homers in a season with four until Rollins hit his fifth Saturday. Thanks to all who worked so hard to come up with Samuel and Dykstra. I'll try to post another question later this week.
2 comments:
That's funny... My favorite baseball scene is when Crash Davis tells "Meat" at the mound that he told the hitter what was coming.
Im not willing to bury Moyer yet. He got off to a very solid start in the first couple months of the season. He has struggled the last month or so. I just can't believe with his level of preparation and the way he takes of himself that he's burned out. I think that he's just going through a rough patch right now, like all pitchers do. The other thing is he hadn't pitched for a week before last night. For a guy who relies on changing speeds and location, I don't think that helped him.
And Moyer won't say that he's burned out and he won't look for excuses. He's a class guy and a total professional. There's no reason after a few rough starts to claim he's burned out. Now, if three weeks from now he's still getting lit up, then maybe it's time to talk about it.
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