WS Game 2 Top 1

A brief review: I believe that pitch counts matter, not as a tool for knowing when to pull the pitcher, but as an indication of command (ball/strike ratio). I also subscribe to the Leo Mazzone Theory that a major league pitcher should be able to retire his opponents on 13 pitches per inning. I think this matter more than the Innings Pitched statistic. Ok, a guy pitches an inning. Hooray! But what kind of an inning was it? 3 popups on 4 pitches? That's one kind of inning. Four runs on five hits and a walk with deep counts to every batter? That's a whole different inning, with different implications for the bullpen in the rest of the game. Pitchers who have a 30 pitch inning are not likely to pitch more than 5 innings. Pitchers who hang around 13 pitches, with a 5 or 6 pitch inning here or there haven't been stressed and required to throw a lot of high pressure pitches.
First pitch strikes are the quickest indication of command. No pitcher wants to throw down 2-0 or 3-1. Those are the counts that turn .220 hitters in .310 hitters. You can't put yourself in the position of having to throw a fastball when they know you have to throw a fastball. Strike one is the best pitch in the world, because it lets the pitcher dictate the at bat, rather than the count.
Simple!
New statistic of the night: Ads for Male Equipment: 1 (Flomax; why didn't they just name it Peegood?)
James Taylor on the Anthem! Basic and straightforward, as it should be. Well done, sir! John Williams and the Boston Pops for Game 1, JT for Game 2. Let's see, the Rockies can call on...well, maybe they can dig up John Denver? Oh, that was tacky. True, but tacky.
If you haven't heard, Chevy is an American Revolution!
Man, Tim McCarver looks old.
Impotence ad #1...oh, sorry; that's an ad for the Republican candidate for governor in Mississippi. Same thing!
Still waiting for them to send the wheelchair to the bullpen to bring Schilling to the dugout.
Foul ball at 7:31 pm, cdt. If Taveras wants to bunt, he should do it on the first pitch, not down 0-1 like he just did. At 1-2 Taveras gets hit on the hand.
Matsui is a whole lot better as a Rockie than he ever was as a Met. Strike 1. 0-2. Everything's been a strike but the one that clipped Taveras. On the fourth 0-2 pitch, Matsui flied to Ellsbury on the track.
Ball one to Holliday. At 2-1 Holliday rips one that Lowell knocked down; when Schilling didn't cover third, Taveras took it; Lowell tried to stop his throw, which turned it into a spike; Holliday to second on the error. Second and third, one out.
Ball one to Todd Helton. Helton, the Professional Hitter, grounds to Youk who underhands to Schill covering; Taveras scores and Holliday moves to third with two out.
Atkins takes strike 1. Whatever became of Cindy Atkins? Or was it Adkins? Can anyone be more random than me? Probably not. At 2-1, Garrett grounds to Lowell for the third out.
1-0 Rockies.
Schilling: 22 pitches, 14 of them strikes. Good damage control; too many pressure pitches.