Tuesday, June 19, 2007

GAME SIXTY EIGHT: 40 is the new 50.



This is the great Satchel Paige, the black Cy Young. When he finally came over from the Negro Leagues to the American League, he was supposedly 42, but many thought he was more like 50. Older than Jessie Orosco, older than El Duque. He pitched pretty good, and had he pitched a full season in '48, might have merited some, er, "Rookie" of the Year attention.



This is Curt Schilling. A power/location pitcher who probably can't get away with throwing in the high-to-mid 80s for an entire night, as his changeup is not Pedro Martinez's, and his splitter hangs more than it used to. He caught a cuff or two last night from the team of Chief Nokahoma, now located in the city of parking lots. His ability to locate gives him a chance to pitch well even when his velocity is shit, as it was last night. (Note: during the no-hitter, Schilling hit 95 a couple times. Last night he hit 90. Once.) For right now, he's still a former power pitcher trying to figure out what he is, and is especially confused due to periods of time (sometimes just one start) where he is a power pitcher again. Then again, maybe age is just mind over matter: if you don't mind, it don't matter.

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Nah. It matters. For some pitchers, 40 may as well be 50. And for the rest of us, 30 ain't the new 20, either. Jay-Z's damn near 40, anyway, which is 60 in rapper years.

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