Pitching in the Playoffs

I've been busy...can you tell? It's been over a month since my last post and I've been letting you down. So apologies for that.

In the meantime, there has been fantastic pitching performances going on left and right. There is nothing better than October baseball. Every team is running their best starters out each night. Almost not since the opening day of the season do you get to see so many quality starters going against one another. Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Carl Pavano, CC Sabathia, Matt Garza...the list goes on and on.

What may not translate directly to the camera is how much pressure these guys are under. Playoff baseball has a different feel to it, because the games finally matter. Not to say that the day/night double header these guys are playing in June doesn't matter....but these games REALLY matter. As in, if you lose twice you're probably done. It takes a special kind of player to be able to understand the magnitude of the game, but still remain calm and controlled enough to repeat their deliveries and throw strike one.

For my money, the best to watch is Roy Halladay. He is masterful. Never mind he threw only the second no hitter in playoff hitter (with respects to all other pitchers mentioned), he is, day in and day out, the best pitcher in the game today. Nothing he throws goes the same direction and still he threw 42 strikes in his first 50 pitches...thats 84%. Attacking the hitter is an understatement.

As we get deeper into the playoffs, the games will mean more and more. Stay tuned to see who it is all on their game.