Scher Thing?

Last night, I tuned into the Phillies - Diamondbacks game in order to watch Max Scherzer's starting pitching debut. Did anyone else watch it as well?

If you didn't, Scherzer's line is relatively unimpressive -- he threw 92 pitches. Here is his line:

4.0 IP, 7 H 5 R 2 ER 2 BB 5 K

Over the course of a season, it is probably better to evaluate a starter by total runs, but in the case of starts themselves, it is often important to actually watch the game to see what the true story was.

In this case, Stephen Drew made an error on a ground ball hit hard, but right at him. It was an error, because it was right at him, but it was a well-hit ball. The hits kept on coming, however, as someone (I don't remember who) followed with a slow grounder up the middle, a ball I would normally expect Orlando Hudson to get. He was nowhere near it (possibly a holdover from his injury against the Mets?), so I guess he was shading the hitter towards first base. Finally, Jamie Moyer drove in a couple with a line drive that just stayed fair inside the leftfield line. Scherzer actually pitched quite well with men on base (though he did not get the best of luck on some softly hit balls) and struck out Pat Burrell twice, blowing him away with a fastball earlier in the game and then getting him swinging on a straight change.

To sum it all up, I think Scherzer looked very good in this start. I had heard that he mainly sticks to his fastball, and it was excellent, but he also changed speeds once in a while for strikes. Please note that there is a very big difference between changing speeds on show-me pitches that are essentially unhittable, and changing speeds for actual strikes.

He was victimized by some bad defense and poor luck on batted balls, but at 23, this kid looks like the real deal. Anyone that young who is throwing breaking pitches for strikes and dials his fastball up to 95 regularly is going to have some success as long as he can stay healthy.

Best of luck, Max (except when you pitch against the Mets!) and I'll be sure to catch your next start as well! Anyone who can blow away Pat Burrell with a fastball is okay by me!