All About Adjustments

1. What makes a player great in any professional sport is not simply talent or even hard work. The essence of games is adjustments. Case in point, the AL Rookie of the Month, Scott Ritchmond. He's had problems his last two starts, and last night he didn't get out of the second inning. He couldn't locate his slider, and he had nothing else to fall back on. The Yankees ripped his fastball, as well they should have, because without the threat of the slider his fastball is very average. Over the course of the year Richmond will have to make adjustents as the hitters adjust to him. What will he do if he can't locate a certain pitch? What happens if he is having an "off-stuff" night?

Incidentally, this is what makes Halladay one of the top two pitchers in the game. Kevin Cash, the backup catcher for the Yankees who caught Halladay when he won the Cy Young in 2003, noted after Tuesday's game that Halladay can now throw his cutter and sinker to both sides of the plate. That is, he's a better pitcher now than he was when he won the award for the league's best pitcher! When people call Zach Greinke, who is having an unbelievable season with the Royals, the best pitcher in the game, baseball purists should be objecting to that kind of hyperbole. Yes, he's a great talent, but when he is able to do it year after year, when the hitters are consistently behind and off balance, well, we check back. Until then, recognize the great players, like Albert Pujols and Doc, have been great for a long time. And it's all about their ability to make adjustments.

2. What happened to the fans on Wednesday night? Where did everyone go? To watch the Leafs? We're a fickle town, Toronto...

3. I'm glad Jay Triano got the head coaching gig for the Raptors. Very good news for Canada basketball. However, I'm not convinced the Raptors will be any good next year. Get us a wing, Brian!

-Steve

The Importance of an Ace

Halladay: The Most Important Blue Jay

You can feel it in the dugout. It not only changes the rhythm of the day, but the rhythm of the week and the month. Once, every five days, you have a better chance to win than the other team. As a player, it is energizing and necessary, especially through the long months of the baseball season. This is the reason the Yankees paid so much for C. C. Sabathia this past off-season, and why the Royals are suddenly relevant again with the presence of the emerging Zach Greinke, the recent Sports Illustrated cover boy. Greinke beat the Blue Jays for his fifth win of the season the other night. In so doing, he surrendered his first two earned runs of the season.

Anyone who has ever played the game understands the importance of pitching and the value in having one "super pitcher." Unfortunately, that isn't always true of broadcasters and writers, many of whom were simply not athletic enough to make their high school teams. Bob McCown, the FAN590's main voice during the week (And an excellent broadcaster), has at times suggested the Blue Jays trade Roy Halladay. "Blow it up and get what you can for him." It a suggestion so ridiculous and 'unbaseball' it is almost impossible to deconstruct. Kind of like attacking Yogi Berra quotes. Where do you start?

The best thing about the Blue Jays' hot start is that they will not be contemplating trading one of the best two pitchers in baseball for the next little while at least. Halladay is signed through 2010, and at thirteen million per year (3 years for forty million), is the best bargain in baseball. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how many Blue Jay fans realize that pitchers like Halladay are rare, and while he continues to build his Hall of Fame credentials, he will have to contend with the uneducated and ridiculous notions by members of the media who have never played the game.

Greinke, the object of a good New York Times article, has single handedly turned the Royals into a dangerous team. Who wants to face the Royals, long a laughingstock in the league, for a three game series with Greinke pitching one of those games? Suddenly the pressure is on the opponent, and as we've seen this past week, the Royals were able to force the red hot Jays to submit. Without their own Ace going, the Jays lost their first series of the year.

Tomorrow, Halladay will take the hill for the Jays, and don't believe that the Orioles aren't thinking about it. It's what an Ace gives you, and why any notions of trading Halladay reveal a dangerous ignorance about the game.

-Steve

From 2002-2008, Halladay has a .698 winning percentage, 113 Wins, 9 shutouts, 37 Compete games, and 7.14 Innings Per Start, all of which are best in the American League in that time frame.