Lifesaver

He just kind of said, in passing, he goes, 'I understand my responsibility today,' " Francona said.

Tim Wakefield's responsibility, apparently, was to rock.

Comments

[Atheose]

That is a badass quote. I love me some Wakefield.

[Brad]

Ugh. This only makes my quest to rid myself of this guy even worse. Now, and at least until he's rocked for six runs in two innings - three times in a row - everyone will talk about how great this guy is.

[Shelley]

Tim Wakefield was ALL kinds of awesome yesterday. I've been a critic of his...and Tim made me eat my own words. He did what needed to be done and reminded us why he is on the ballclub.

Thanks Wake! Now if Wake and Masterson could just rub off on the rest of the pitching staff, that would be fantastic.

[sam-YF]

Not to take away from a great performance but does wake really have any control of how well he pitches on a given day. I mean he throws the knuckle and the external environment effects its flight more than anything else. Furthermore, quotes like this are really just asinine. If the Sox took the first two games of the series and the pen was rested, would have brought his "B" game? Would he have gone out and just tried to "do his responsibility" by throwing 5 1/3rd innings with 3-4 runs allowed?

[Calin-SF]

Furthermore, quotes like this are really just asinine. If the Sox took the first two games of the series and the pen was rested, would have brought his "B" game? Would he have gone out and just tried to "do his responsibility" by throwing 5 1/3rd innings with 3-4 runs allowed?

That is a ridiculous statement. I think its pretty obvious that his comments showed he understood that he didn't have backup and wanted Tito to keep him in the game even if things didn't go well and his pitch count went high, he got really tired etc. He wasn't saying, don't worry I will actually try and win today, he was saying regardless of the outcome ill be your workhorse for the game so we don't risk sending half the bullpen to the DL.

More complete quote from Wake:
“I understand the circumstances of today,” Wakefield recalled telling his manager. “No matter what, don’t take me out.”

[Atheose]

Maybe that change in mindset helped him win. As opposed to thinking "I need to pitch well, I need to pitch well", he is instead all like "I'm going to be out here for a while so I'm just gunna pitch. The outcome doesn't matter, all the matters is that I go deep." That sort of thing can be liberating. I think we've all seen pitchers over-think at times.

It's like when Wang tries too hard and overthrows, his sinker doesn't sink. He pitches far better when he's relaxed and just does his thing. I think the realization that he was going to be pitching deep no matter what happened could have helped Wake.

[sam-YF]

Well the full context quote makes it a lot easier to understand. I was responding to the post in which it made it seem like he was saying Ive got to go out and pitch great. I agree with Ath's analysis there in which knowing you are gonna be out there no matter what can relax you....

[Paul SF]

Not to take away from a great performance but does wake really have any control of how well he pitches on a given day.

I guess this question could be extrapolated to every pitcher in baseball. I mean, they'd all throw no-hitters every start if they could, right? Sometimes they have no-hit stuff, sometimes they don't. Do they really have much control over how well the ball is coming out of their hand in any given start? The things those pitchers can control -- conditioning, arm strength, mechanics -- are all things Wakefield can control, too.

The main question, which you note, is whether Wakefield's pitch if more affected by the weather than others. It clearly is, but I've heard so much conflicting information about whether the wind blowing this way or that hurts or helps him, or whether he's better or worse in a dome, etc., that I don't think anyone actually knows to what extent that is actually true. There are definitely times when Wakefield doesn't seem to know where the pitch is going once he throws it. There are other times when it looks like he's never going to throw another pitch outside the strike zone. Again, this is true for every pitcher in baseball, just a little more obvious with Wakefield.

[sam-YF]

I totally agree Paul, my comment was more motivated by the fact that the knuckleball is effective due to its random movement. He cant control how it knuckles (ie left right down or up) but the area to which its thrown. Even when he is at the top of his game, there is an element of randomness and chance thrown in. A conventional pitcher at the top of his game is throwing with more precise control...

Again, this isnt a slight against Wake just some commentary on the knuckle