Another pitching gem

I stayed up very late last night, I am on vacation, to watch what I figured to be a great pitching duel between Mark Buehrle and Felix Hernandez. They did not disappoint. I was struck by two things in the game.

First, I do not think that there is a pitcher in baseball that works quicker than Buehrle. He gets the ball back from Pierzynski and sees a quick sign and throws. He does not throw real hard but he mixes up his pitches well. He never shakes off his catcher. Whatever AJ calls he throws, and he does it well. Last night he threw 8 innings of shutout ball.

Second, Felix Hernandez is the coolest pitcher I have seen on the mound in sometime. If there is a more relaxed pitcher, I am not sure who it would be. Felix throws a pitch, blows a bubble with his chewing gum, gets the ball back goes to the rubber, gets his sign and pitches. This was never more evident than in the top of the seventh, when he had runners at first and third with no outs. Felix goes to the mound blows a couple of bubbles and throws. He strikes out the hitter with a great series of pitches. He knows what he needs now, a double play. He throws a great low pitch and induces the twin killer and walks off the field, blowing more bubbles. So relaxed.

It must be so much fun for the fielders to play behind those guys. One works so fast and is so calm, the other is a little more methodical but is soooooooo relaxed. On top of that they know how to pitch. Between them they pitched 15 innings and gave up 0 runs. The game was much like the Yankees Red Sox game a few days earlier. This game went into the bottom of the 14th before "the man", Ken Griffey Jr. drove in the game winning run.

It is such a shame that no one got a "W", but on the other hand no one got an "L" either. I guess that is the way it should be when two phenomenal pitchers get together.