OT: I miss JV
Ten starts into the season: 4-2, 1.06 ERA, 83 SO in 67 2/3 innings. His two loses were the last two starts in which he gave up a total of two earned runs and six hits.
He just got out of a one out two on jam on a 97 mph fastball on the corner to get Trout to check-swing groundout in the bottom of the 8th to preserve the shutout. Nobody is up in the bullpen, so he is coming out to finish the game in a few minutes. He is at 99 pitches.
He'll likely get to 200 wins this year. Here's to hoping he gets a victory lap contract back with the Tigers in a couple years and wins a world series with us and our bunch of youngsters.
Update: 5-2 1.05 ERA, 84 SO in 68 2/3 innings after a complete game-five hit-shutout against the Angels.
It was poetic justice and ironic that the Dodgers refused to trade for Verlander, and instead got Yu Darvish who cost them the World Series.
The Dodges realized how much they fucked up when game 7 ended last year.
I would say 200 wins is more than a bit optimistic. It's mathematically impossible in one season.
It's obvious that the OP meant 200 wins for his career but I can't blame Mr. Owl not being able to pass up a good joke opportunity.
Struck out Shohei Otani on three pitches for the 2500th of his career (33rd to get to that number), popped out Justin Upton on one pitch, gave up a single to Pujols, walked Andrelton Simmons on five pitches, and I had thought I jinxed him.
Challenged Zack Cozart with a 97 mph fastball down the middle and got a weak pop-out in the infield to end it on his 118th pitch.
Great game for JV. I miss him wearing the old English D.
My first thought was the John Glenn Rockets in Westland... ahh, the good old JV days.
That is 100% where my mind went too.
This really does help to underline the reasons he had so many issues for several years. He should have never been back when he was from that abdominal surgery just due to the pure force that is required with pitching. He in essence was playing injured, and as Miggy so non-elegantly put, nobody appreciates when you play injured.
But we could argue that year did help him in this resurgance as he learned how to master his secondary pitches and pitch with decreased velocity.
Well, as a Tigers fan, this might irk me a little bit, but I would still have all the memories of Verlander as a Detroit Tiger, so I think you can only be so upset. Actually, didn't Reggie Jackson go into the HOF as a New York Yankee? I wonder how Oakland fans feel about that sometimes. There are other examples of this, of course, but I don't think it ever robs anyone of their basbeall memories and you would hope it doesn't diminish their standing in the eyes of fans.
Do HOF players go in with the last team they played for or do they get a choice of what team they want to represent?
Someone please post.
....sorry JT, ever since Brian's SBB (Sexy Bits Ban) this is the only gyrating that is allowed on MGoBlog. If this is ever not allowed, then we are DOOMED, DOOMED I SAY!!!
When I first saw the title, I thought you were talking about JV or Freshman football teams, like Michigan used to have back in the 60s and 70s.
His success has always been contingent on his ability to use his changeup for outs. Good fastball and a big “show me” curve that hitters have to respect but when he had his 3rd pitch working especially when it was the changeup is when he would frustrate hitters the most. Watch his no-hitters or any playoff appearance against Oakland or NY to see what I mean. Injuries slowed him down because he had trouble keeping the ball down as much as he lost velocity. Sure he had a few years he didn’t throw 95-97mph but hitters strikeout on 91-93mph fastballs every single day across baseball so the drop in strikeout rate is NOT strictly a function of him losing velocity. It’s a function of him leaving the ball straight and up in the zone at times when hitters knew they didn’t have to respect his curve because he wasn’t throwing it sharply for strikes and he didn’t have his changeup. Sometimes this would happen even when he was throwing 100mph (like the All-Star game when he put the AL down like 4/5-0 in the first or second) because he fell in love with his fastball and forgot to mix it up. Injuries have affected his velocity but also his ability to get the ball down in the zone and his ability to have command of his change and curve/slider. He has of course overcome those injuries with time.
PED's aren't just about being jacked. In fact the majority of the drugs are focused around recovery and health. Guys with a career arc like Verlander's have almost certainly used performance enhancing drugs. Bodies with a decade of wear don't magically get healthier and stronger after a series of injuries in your mid 30s.
But as a former amateur pitcher who once had a roommate using (and knew plenty of other guys who did) and having met Verlander a few times my gut tells me he’s clean. Plenty of pitchers have overcome similar injuries to go on to long and effective careers without using. Sometimes it’s just genetics and luck.
I don't think enough Tigers fans appreciated what we had with him. I don't want to see another 35 for the Tigers until it's on the bricks in the outfield.
JV has talked at length about that as well. He thinks it has helped him tremendously since going to the Astros.
When you speak of JV not in a Tiger uniform, this is my reaction:
I was so happy for him to finally get a World Series ring but was sad that it wasn't in a Tiger uni. An all-timer in the Old English D for sure.
While this is theoretically true, rainouts and schedule differences mean pitching matchups are mostly random. The one data point, I have actually contradicts my point for Verlander, but still shows better data.
https://www.billjamesonline.com/stats242/
As it randomizes further into the season, you only face a fellow #1 on 1/5 of your starts.
The HOF decides. They consider input from the player, but it's ultimately the HOF's decision.
EDIT: This was supposed to be a response to Sledgehammer's question above.
I miss Kate...
As jbrandimore said, the Astros pitching coaches, along with some of their technology and ananytics staff, has revitalized JV. Supposedly they had some super-slow-motion recording equipment there that helped JV fix a problem in his delivery that he said made a HUGE difference.
And the spin-rate thing is big too. Something is going on with the Astros and spin rate. Either their coaches are really good and they are teaching some way to increase spin rate (quite possible) or they have figured out something else that may be skirting on the edge of being legal. Every pitcher they pick up increases their spin rate when they come to Houston. Morton's rate went up HUGE.
https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2018/5/3/17316840/digging-into-the-data-a…