Can somebody explain why the $200 million Yankees trotted out a first baseman to pitch last night?
Because over the last 24 hours they had used 6 of their relievers, and were down by 10 runs.
Yankees lost 15-5. Usually the manager wouldn’t want to use a pitcher in a loss like that and used Swisher instead. Also possible Swisher has been wanting to pitch at least once and this was a good time to do it.
So Swisher has pitched in the major leagues before?
He hadn’t pitched since his freshman year. Of high school.
This isn’t as uncommon as you think. If a team is down by 12 runs in the 8th or 9th inning, the manager KNOWS his team is going to lose. At that point, BOTH teams just want to get the game over with.
And tha manager of the losing team doesn’t want to put a GOOD pitcher in, because that’s a waste. Why put an ace reliever in to pitch one or two innings in a games that’s already lost? It’s better not to tire him out. He may ne needed tomorrow night, in a game that can still be won.
When this scenario comes up, when a team is taking a huge beating in the 8th or 9th inning, and there’s no realistic chance of winning, the manager will usually ask the guys on his bench, “Is there anybody here with ANY pitching experience?” If a utility infielder says, “Yeah, I pitched in high school,” the manager will put him in for mop-up duty. Most of the time, the team that’s ahead will take it easy on the new “pitcher,” figuring it’s best to take a few token swings and go home.
Earl Weaver used to use backup catcher Elrod Hendricks as a pitcher in these circumstances.
Of course, this CAN backfire. Many will recall that Jose Canseco once volunteered to pitch, under these circumstances, and sustained an arm injury that kept him out of action for weeks.
I’m still waiting for the day when Ichiro will get a chance to show off his stuff on the mound. Reports are he’s well past decent. I’ve had to watch Aaron Miles pitch 3 times. Free Ichiro!
ETA: Here’s Ichiro in the NPB All-Star game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoOnzwJOAFM
He pitched a scoreless inning. He was the only Yankee pitcher of the night not to give up a run. So, hey, why argue?
Well, when you put it like that…
I was just surprised that they’d risk an injury to an every-day player than to a reliever… especially considering that Swisher could potentially be a bigger injury risk, since he doesn’t train and practice with the pitchers.
According to the stories, one of the reasons they chose Swisher is that when told “Don’t overthrow and hurt yourself” he’d actually take it easy.
Some guys would go out there and try to blow it in there as fast as possible. If you watch the replay, you can tell Swisher is finding the experience hilarious - he commenced his appearance by pretending to shake off a sign, even though the catcher wasn’t giving him signs - and clearly just wants to avoid walking everyone.
Here’s MLB’s video.
I loved it. He was having fun and the game was blown anyway.
That final play in the outfield almost got ugly. And it looked like Pena was clearly swinging for the fences on his fly out.
You can hardly blame the Rays for wanting to bury the Yankees for once, can you? I know I was rooting for them to reach 20 runs.
Swisher is a great guy and I’m sure he jumped at the chance to have a go at it. As an A’s fan I’m pretty used to guys moving on but he’s one I’d like to have back…it just isn’t right seeing him in pinstripes.
Odd baseball stat: Of all pitchers with a career ERA of 0.00 and 0 losses, the one with the most wins (with 3), and arguably thereby the greatest pitcher ever, was Rocky Colavito.
Ichiro has a mid-90s fast ball. This isn’t surprising, as he can gun out guys at the plate from right field.
Yes, it’s typically a “conserve the relief arms in a blowout” scenario when you see position players take the mound. It happens one or two times just about every year, across all teams in MLB if not to the Yankees.
There’s also a “ran out of pitchers” scenario when a team yanks its starter very early (as the Yankees were forced to do with Wang), but also is down a man in the bullpen for whatever reason.
One of the reasons I love baseball is this story from 2000, when the Rockies’ Catcher Was The Winning Pitcher.
Prior to that, the last time a position player was recorded as the winning pitcher was in 1968. As noted by ElvisL1ves, that was when the Yankees sent out Rocky Colavito (in his brief career-ending stint with his hometown team) to pitch in a close game that was the front end of a double-header (thus conserving the pitchers for the second game). He threw 2-2/3 shutout innings too.
Man, how embarrassing is it to be struck out by a first baseman?
He came across as pretty likable. If you can catch a clip of his deep hit last night, which Carl Crawford made a great leaping catch on, he seems to tip his cap (okay, batting helmet) as he jogs back to the dugout, as if he was acknowledging the great catch. He smiled when he did it, although not sure if it was ironic.