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May 23, 2005
Mister Efficiency
The answer is... Jake Woods, Matt Wise, Francisco Cordero, Vinnie Chulk and Lance Carter. The question was, "On Sunday, which five relief pitchers threw as many or more pitches out of the strike zone as did Derek Lowe in his 79-pitch, 65-strikes stroll through the Angels' lineup?" That's right, Lowe threw only 14 pitches out of the strike zone in 7 innings of work. The Angels, not known for taking pitches, did not receive a single walk all day, not that one was being offered, as the three Dodger pitchers threw only 20 balls out of 104 total pitches.
Now, Lowe did give up 9 hits in 7 innings, so the Angels did have some chances to get more than the 2 runs that they put on the board, but after the second inning, it seemed as if every Angel hitter approaching home plate was being informed by the umpire that he already had 2 strikes on him. "Don't bother digging in. You won't be here long."
As for the answer to the question... Woods threw 35 pitches, 14 out of the strike zone, in 1 and 2/3rds innings; Wise, 38 pitches, 17 balls, in 1 and 2/3rds innings; Cordero, 31 pitches, 16 balls, in 1 inning (walked 2, struck out 3, picked up a save for his trouble); Chulk produced 30 pitches, 14 balls, in 1 and 1/3rd; and Carter totaled 39 pitches, 16 balls, in 1 and 2/3rds innings.
Addendum: Ex-Angel reliever Derek Turnbow, who must have read some of the favorable reviews he has received of late, decided to stick around and give the folks a little something extra. He threw 40 pitches in 1 and 1/3rd innings while blowing the save for Milwaukee on Sunday. In fact, Wise and Turnbow combined to throw 78 pitches (29 balls) over 3 innings of relief for the Brewers. I'm sure that would just make Lowe's arm ache if he had reason to think about it.
Posted by Andrew Torres at 1:05 AM
