Aced in October

Any more doubts how special this year has been for pitchers? Two days into October baseball and we have two pitching debuts for the ages along with another solid outing from last year's October darling Cliff Lee.

On a night when Tim Lincecum pitches a 2-hit, 14-strikeout masterpiece against Atlanta, everyone's still buzzing about what Doc Halladay did yesterday. The best part of his no-hitter? He helped his own cause with an RBI single and he threw under 100 pitches.

As much as I respect CC Sabathia, Halladay's the best pitcher in baseball right now and had he not had great games spoiled by Toronto's lack of run support, he'd be closer to 200 wins than he is now. I honestly think that's one of the greatest postseason debuts in any sport I can recall. The only thing I can recall is Dwyane Wade hitting a buzzer beater to win his first playoff series. 

Two no-hitters in a season. 21 wins. An almost guaranteed Cy Young award for a great all-around season. Welcome to Doctober.

(Welcome to the Freak Show - October edition)

It's crazy that Timmy the Freak goes out, throws the 3rd most strikeouts in a shutout and yet he'll almost be overshadowed. Just a reminder that in a down year, he's still the Freak who throws like a young Pedro despite weighing less than most HS defensive backs. 

Cliff Lee picking up where he left off last year. Game 1 saw him pitch another 7 IP (minimum), 10 K game, setting a Rangers K record.. Ho-hum. Dude's pitched 3 of these games but it's still amazing because he's almost a guaranteed W when he steps on the mound. If he gets a lead, its a wrap. 

Sabathia's so-so performance in Game 1 was woefully overshadowed by these 3 brilliant starts. He was bailed out by 4 runs in the 6th inning so he didn't pitch his way to a win as much as he was saved. More ammo for the King Felix for Cy Young committee but one game is only one game.

Biggest surprise to me has been how bad the Rays have looked. There's a reason why they've been no-hit three times over the past season and a half and the Rangers pitching has found that magic. And I get having Matt Garza in Game 3 for a must-win on the road but 2nd guessing Joe Madden feels totally normal on saving him for that. You gotta go with your best weapons up front because nothing is guaranteed in October.

Well, except for the Yankees owning Minnesota. As happy as I am for Orlando Hudson reaching the postseason to stick it to the team that gave up on him, there's no chance they're coming back. 

It sickens me almost that the Dodgers had a chance to get CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee and somehow we didn't make it happen. Almost as bad as Cleveland watching 2/5 of their 2008 Opening Day lineup start in October without them. I digress, angry rant of a Dodger fan missing October baseball for the 1st time in 3 years.

Just a reminder that October is for aces, pretenders not need apply. Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, Jack Morris, Orel Hershiser, Curt Schilling, Livan Hernandez approve of this statement.

Baseball's better when great pitching trumps great hitting and great hitting finds a way to shine around it. This year has been a great one in every sense of the word so October can only be better. And that's why it's the best month in sports. MLB postseason, NBA and NHL return, college and pro football in full swing. Wouldn't have it any other way.

20 for CC Sabathia - A Black Ace

When CC Sabathia lost on Monday, I was hoping he'd redeem himself this past weekend and add some more birthday mojo to a great weekend. Sitting in the karoake lounge Saturday, I was happy to see he did - finally winning his 20th game for the first time in his career.

In the past four seasons, Sabathia's become something we haven't seen in baseball since Dave Stewart in the late 80's/early 90's - a Black pitcher who's the proven ace of a staff. It's a tradition that started with Don Newcombe and continued with the likes Bob Gibson, Vida Blue, Fergie Jenkins and briefly Dwight Gooden.

With the number of Black players dwindling in baseball, the Black pitchers dropped severely. If you look at all the great pitchers from the mid-90's to 2007, there's nary a Black face in the bunch. Sabathia's changed that.

Over the past 3 years, he's won a Cy Young, nearly took Cleveland to their first WS since 1997, singlehandedly led the Milwaukee Brewers to the first playoff appearance since 1982, helped the Yankees win their first World Series since 2000 (shaking off his own postseason demons) and became the youngest pitcher to win 150 games.

Now he's finally a member of the Black Aces with the other 13 Black pitchers who have won 20 games. He may be with the Yankees but I always root for him because of what he represents.

He's a power pitcher with great control. He's a workhorse who can be counted on to go 7 innings or more - pitch counts be darned. He's also the only pitcher in my opinion who has a chance to win 300 games if he keeps it up for another decade.

(FYI. All-time winningest Black pitchers. Fergie Jenkis (284), Gibson (251), Blue (209), Doc Gooden (194), Dave Stewart (168). CC's gonna be top-5 next year at 156,)

Personal note, I worked with a cousin of his at my last job and when he started heating up in 07, we used to always talk about him and his family. In 2008, he pitched at Dodger Stadium and showed his brilliance on the mound (7 innings, 5 hits) and the plate (hitting a 440-foot shot to right field that nearly made me jump in the press box).

I wrote about that game as a potential showcase for the Dodgers acquiring him. CC was intimidating at 6-7, 290 lbs but he was also friendly to the press. It was a homecoming for him almost with 30 of his family from up North in Vallejo and down South in Louisiana.

Watching him pitch for the Yankees makes me a bit bitter because I wish the Dodgers acquired him in the winter of '08. He wanted to pitch on the West Coast, he wanted to pitch for the Dodgers, he told GM Ned Colletti he wanted to meet with them. But the team never even met with him or followed up.

Needless to say, I was disappointed. It prompted to me to write this furious response to the team (probably my best impression of LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke).

That aside, he's still my favorite pitcher and I root for him every time he takes the mound. I was privately happy when I watched him win Game 4 of the ALCS last year and I'll be rooting for him to have another great postseason this year, along with hopefully winning his second Cy Young award.

In the same way, I root for David Price - another upstanding young pitcher who throws hard with great control and has a great story.

He's a model of class (taking out a full page ad to thank Cleveland and Milwaukee), professionalism and service (constantly giving back to Oakland and other communities). Congrats but as he'll be the first to say, the job ain't done til he gets another ring.

(Apologies for the grammatical errors in those stories - the drawback of being your own proofreader and not having another pair of eyes see it)

VSR: Welcome Back, Pedro

I'd be remiss if I didn't shoutout Pedro Martinez for doing what he's doing right now. Two years, we thought he was injured, done and only a press conference away from the 5-year waiting period to Cooperstown. Last year, the Mets cast him off like he was finished.

It was the first time Pedro had been unwanted since the Dodgers traded him for the immortal Delino Deshields in 1993. The pitcher who Tommy Lasorda and them thought was too frail to be a pitcher was becoming frail and injury prone, no longer the dominant pitcher he was from 1997-2004.

Then he pitched in the World Baseball Classic....6 innings, 6 strikeouts, 0 runs. Could it be that the old arm had something left in him? Nobody took a chance and the Mets let him go but the Phillies thought maybe he could be a No. 4-5 guy.

His first start was shaky but he still picked up the W in 5 innings. The next three were even more shaky - one win in 3 appearances and just maybe, Pedro just didnt have it. 2 innings in his last August start. Nah, man. This guy will be a flash but not a consistent star.

All of a sudden, September struck and something happened. The pitch counts increased. The strikeouts increased, the innings eaten up. The W's being earned instead of given by the offense. And then came the motivation, Sunday against the Mets, the team that cast him off.

Read the box score. 8 IP, 0 runs, 6 Hits, 7 strikeouts - 130 PITCHES! He almost stayed in too long but worked his way out of the jam with some great defense behind him. It was vintage Pedro and now he's 5-0 with a 2.87 ERA.

Suddenly, the Phillies got a LOT scarier and Pedro just reminded everyone why he's been the best pitcher we've seen of his cloth since Bob Gibson. Intimidation, power, precision and just the chance to dominate on any given night. That's why I respected him so much in his prime when he should've won the 1999 MVP. He takes the ball and despite being 5-11 and 170 lbs dripping wet, he pitches with his heart.

Welcome Back, Pedro. I fear what will happen if you pitch the Dodgers and just use that trade as motivation.