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Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.
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7.11.2003
Observations on Jason Davis & Sidney Ponson I watched two excellent pitching performances tonight. The first was by big (6'6"), hard throwing 23-year old Indian Jason Davis vs. the Yankees. He finished up having allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits while walking two and striking out two over six innings, but he pitched quite a bit better than that line would indicate. While his control appeared to leave him at times leaving him behind in the count, he had excellent stuff tonight and made things tough on one of the best offensive teams in baseball. He's 6-6 this season (no decision tonight, the Indians would ultimately win 3-2 in the 10th) with a 4.60 ERA, but that's taking into account an April which saw him accumulate a 6.67 ERA over 27 innings. I shouldn't put too much stock in what I saw in one start and I'll have to go back through the MLB.TV archives and watch some of his other outings, but I was really impressed tonight. I should also point out that he's got the best right handed pickoff move I've ever seen, as he's got ridiculously quick feet. Alfonso Soriano was picked off twice tonight - once at first, once at second - and while he fell asleep on the pickoff at second base, it's fair to say that Davis has a legitimately great move. The second fine performance I was fortunate enough to see was by Oriole righty Sidney Ponson. I was well aware that he's been having a fine year (now 12-5, 3.64), but I hadn't yet seen him this season. His name's been bandied about in trade rumors quite a bit recently, and now I know why. Being a Yankee fan and watching a lot of their games, I've seen Ponson several times over the past few seasons, but he looked like a completely different pitcher tonight. Against the Mariner lineup - certainly no slouch - he completely controlled the strike zone and got ahead of virtually every hitter. Tonight's effort was a complete game, accomplished in only 89 pitches...and only 23 balls, four of which were in a semi-intentional/pitch around four-pitch walk of Ben Davis, the only guy who really hit him tonight. As with (Jason) Davis, I look forward to digging into the archives to see more of the work he's done this season, but he was extremely impressive this evening, and would be a nice fit on a number of contending teams. - |