Despite some O’Neill Theory action in the ninth inning, there was another very bright spot in last night’s 6-3 loss against the Phillies.
Now, I never thought I’d say this, but Boone Logan was great last night. He pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless ball, striking out three, walking one (IBB), and inducing four grounders and one fly ball.
My favorite part of Logan’s night can be summarized in this chart:
Look at the yellow dots that represent swinging strikes. They’re all in very good locations: down and in to lefties and up at the batter’s eyes. Those locations will likely induce swings and misses–like they did last night–or very weak contact.
Speaking of contact, Logan’s locations on pitches that ended in contact–fouls or in play, outs–aren’t great. They’re in locations that look like they’d get crushed. That didn’t happen against Boone last night. This tells me that the Philadelphia hitters were kept off balance by Logan and when they did get pitches that were in hittable locations, they didn’t do much with them.
Now, this outing could be a double edged sword. It’s great that Logan did as well as he did to keep the Yankees in the game, but this performance did come in a low leverage situation. To be a little sarcastic/half kidding but not really, this good performance worries me a bit. It worries me because it will encourage Joe Girardi to use Logan more. Last night’s performance not withstanding, more Boone Logan is not really a good thing. But, honestly, let’s just take it when we get it.
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One Response to Last Night's Bright Spot
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TIQ IQ
If I may get veer of topic a little, but was I the only one who got tired of the announcers last night? First let me say that I absolutely love Paul O’Neill and Al Leiter, but the cliches got a bit much for me last night. Sure Moyer pitched a great game, but that doesn’t mean they have to go on for 3+ innings on how unfair it is that prospects who pitch in the 80′s don’t get a legit shot. For starters Moyer is 47, I think he’s learned how to pitch to major leaguers. Not to mention he didn’t always throw 80 mph. If you are only throwing mid 80s when your in your early 20s, odds are you won’t get any big league hitters out, no matter how intelligent you are as a pitcher. And I hate hate hate how people use Greg Maddux as an example, as they conveniently forget that when Maddux was in his prime he was throwing in the low to mid 90s. Sorry end of rant.