11/05/24
December 15, 2012
SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Perhaps by way of analysis our esteemed font of all things statistical, grum, can take a look at Tim Wakefield's numbers in Toronto and on a seasonal basis, in all cities. I would think that Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, and Chicago might be comparable on a meteorological basis with Toronto should a larger sample size be necessary. Since I'm far too lazy to undertake such research, I will defer to the true expert. Besides this, my wife is glaring at me with purse in hand waiting for me to go (ugh) shopping with her.
posted by Howard_T at 01:50 PM on December 15, 2012
Cleveland: 15G, 86IP, 3.86 ERA
Detroit (both): 17G, 79IP, 4.71 ERA
Minnesota (both): 14G, 85IP, 4.72 ERA
Chicago (both): 22G, 106IP, 4.75 ERA
Career ERA (all ballparks, all years): 4.41
posted by grum@work at 04:33 PM on December 15, 2012
Isn't Dickey's knuckleball noticeably faster than Wakefield's?
posted by drezdn at 08:29 PM on December 15, 2012
Career ERA (all ballparks, all years): 4.41
So it appears there's nothing to hang your hat on in respect to a significant difference.
Isn't Dickey's knuckleball noticeably faster than Wakefield's?
I believe Dickey's fast ball is quite a bit faster than Wakefield's, but for the knuckle ball to be effective, it must be rather slow in order to maximize its downward velocity.
posted by Howard_T at 08:39 PM on December 15, 2012
Dickey can throw his knuckleball at different speeds. The fastest knuckleball he throws is much faster, but I believe he also throws a slower knuckleball that is a similar speed.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 09:53 PM on December 15, 2012
Dickey often throws his knuckleball harder than Wakefield threw his fastball.
posted by justgary at 12:51 AM on December 16, 2012
That's a great linked article on Dickey's pitching.
Does Toronto have someone who can catch him?
Also wondering if because he throws harder, does he need more rest between appearances than the "throws soft - could pitch every day if needed" type of knuckler.
posted by beaverboard at 07:23 AM on December 16, 2012
If the Jays follow through and obtain Dickey from the Mets, will he be able to have equal success in Toronto?
At first glance, the cooler, drier Ontario air for more of the baseball season doesn't seem like it might be an optimal environment for throwing the knuckler.
I always thought that the knuckleball was more of a mid-summer, high humidity kind of pitch.
Maybe they schedule his starts for mostly away games at either end of the season.
Just idle thoughts because...well, because at the moment, having an occasional idle thought is a welcome respite from the concerns of the day.