Wanna know what’s fun? How about watching baseball games on TV and then not writing about them afterwards?
Oh, the converse is fun, too. But it isn’t too often that folks that hang around the ballpark all summer long get a chance to sit in front of the tube and watch a game without rushing around in attempt to find good ideas and interesting angles.
But for those of us who don’t wake up early and keep baseball hours, yeah, watching a game from the coast with nothing to do is a good time.
Nevertheless, I’m still marveling over the fact that soft-tossing lefty Jamie Moyer needs just one more win to equal the total of the great Bob Gibson with 251.
Could there be two pitchers that were more different than Moyer and Gibson?
Think about it… Moyer gets by with guile and guts. He throws a changeup off his changeup and probably couldn’t crack glass with his fastball. He signs autographs before games, counsels teammates and foes and has set up the Moyer Foundation which was just one of the reasons why he was given the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award.
Gibson was a study in sheer power and brute force. He threw fastballs to set up fastballs. He’d also prefer to drill a hitter in the ribs than to throw four balls to give up first base. Moreover, he disliked opponents and probably his teammates, too. When a young Dusty Baker joined the Braves, veteran Hank Aaron told him:
“Don't dig in against Bob Gibson, he'll knock you down. He'd knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don't stare at him, don't smile at him, don't talk to him. He doesn't like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don't run too slow, don't run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don't charge the mound, because he's a Gold Glove boxer.”
No one will ever accuse Moyer of being a tough guy and if he were to “drill” a hitter with a pitch, it would likely just be brushed off like a mosquito bite. But there they are together in the 250-win club.
How many more will Moyer get? Who knows, but based on the numbers he probably will win 8-to-10 more games this season and 12-to-14 in 2010. That puts him around 270 wins and means he probably would need three more seasons to get the magical 300.
If Moyer pitched to get 300 wins under this time frame, it would take him past his 50th birthday.
Could he do it? Sure, why not. He'll likely have to deal with hacks like me pointing out his rough patches, but whatever... he's been there, done that.