NEW YORK, N.
New Balance Wl574 Black .Y. - Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz already consider themselves relics.Baseball
transformed during the second half of their careers and has been revolutionized
in the five years since their final pitches.Out: big boppers.In: strict pitch
limits, a profusion of relief pitchers and sudden swell in defensive shifts.Old
goats is what Martinez called the newest Hall of Famers, products of another age
— remember back before high definition TVs and mobile Internet browsers were
commonplace?So much has changed so quickly.The game has kind of gone to a
Stratomatic-type baseball game, where hitting is difficult because youre facing
nine and 10 pitchers combined per team, Smoltz said Wednesday. Guys are not
going attain 3,000 innings. Theyre not going to get 3,000 strikeouts.Vive le
difference! seemed to be the motto of their joint news conference.Smoltz, pretty
much average for a pitcher at 6-foot-3, stood on a chair to drop a cap onto the
head of Johnson, the tallest of 215 Hall of Fame players at 6-foot-10. All the
while, the Big Unit struggled to button his cream-colored jersey with Hall of
Fame in red script, unable to line up the buttons with the correct
buttonholes.Those left-handers, Johnson quipped.At 5-foot-11 the shortest
pitcher picked for Cooperstown since Whitey Ford in 1974, Martinez held both
hands up with fingers raised and smiled broadly.The trio of pitchers, elected to
the Hall on Tuesday along with Craig Biggio, are among the all-time greats
statistically, given the era they pitched in.Martinezs 2.93 career ERA is 1.47
below the big league average during the years he pitched, easily the best margin
in major league history among pitchers with 1,500 or more innings, according to
STATS. The next best are Carl Hubbell and Lefty Grove at 1.15, Hoyt Wilheim at
1.14, Greg Maddux at 1.13 and Roger Clemens at 1.12.Johnsons 1.01 is 13th and
Smoltzs 0.97 is 15th.Speaking at a Manhattan hotel, Johnson said the game is
just starting to get back into whack. He thinks pitching became more onerous in
the 1990s and early 2000s because smaller ballparks replaced multiuse stadiums
and Major League Baseball introduced QuesTec, a computer system put in place in
2001 to evaluate ball-strike calls. Umpires responded by shrinking strike zones
back toward the rule-book definition.When I watch old footage of pitchers
throwing strikes from the letters to the knees, its black-and-white footage,
back when dinosaurs roamed. Thats not the strike zone that I pitched in, he
said. Things still are slighted towards offence. Offense is what creates fan
base. But theres still well-pitched games out there, and things are starting to
balance out now, yes, absolutely.Drug testing has played a part, too. Since
urine samples started to be collected in 2003, offence has shrunk along with
muscle mass. And the rise in computing capability has led to defensive shifts
that take away hits, too.At the tail end of the Steroids Era in 2000, scoring
rose to 5.14 runs per team per game and ERA to 4.76, the highest for both since
1930. By last year, runs dropped to 4.07 and ERA to 3.74, the lowest since the
early 1970s.Every team seems to have hard-throwing relievers heading in from the
bullpens in earlier and earlier innings.We never had a pitch limit, Smoltz said.
Your managers eyes and pitching coach knew when your pitch limit reached the
mechanical failures or the fact that you werent getting it done.Johnson won 303
games and struck out 4,875, second-most in major league history. Martinez was
219-100 and struck out 3,154. Smoltz went 213-155 with 154 saves and 3,084
strikeouts, the only pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves.Martinez believes
theres more of a level ground for every team these days because of changes such
as revenue sharing and the luxury tax, which has created additional home-cooked
product, made more teams contenders and heightened competition.I can only
imagine, he said when asked whether his stats would be even better now. I dont
know what it would be like. Im not going to try it. But Ill tell you what, I
enjoyed the way I did it. I enjoyed my era. I enjoyed the way I competed. And
thats the way I wanted it.Smoltz predicts additional evolution, perhaps a return
to the era when starters went deeper into games. He thinks babying arms has led
to more catastrophic injuries. He had a ligament replaced in 2000, then spent
most of four seasons in the bullpen before returning to Atlantas
rotation.Somethings got to change, he said. And I dont think condensing it and
lowering the pitch limit is the reason that were going to save arms.
New Balance 576 Made In Uk . Louis Cardinals have agreed to a one-year contract.
New Balance 574 Black Nz . But this time, the Gunners weathered the storm. Arsene Wengers team was on the ropes in the early
stages of a lively FA Cup tie, until Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a goal
against the run of the play.ST. LOUIS -- David Backes and his St. Louis Blues
teammates were just trying to keep pace with the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday
night. Backes had a goal and assist in the first period to lead the Blues to a
4-2 win over the Nashville Predators in the season opener for both teams. St.
Louis scored three times in the first 9:45 to jump in front 3-0 and chase
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne. The early scoring came on the heels of the
Cardinals 9-1 win over Pittsburgh in the opening game of the NL Division Series.
The start of the hockey game was moved back 30 minutes to allow the fans time to
make the five-block trek from Busch Stadium, "The Cards scored nine today, we
were trying to keep up," Backes said. The baseball game was shown on the
scoreboard before the Blues game, charging up the already crazed crowd. Watching
the Cardinals roll to an easy win set the tone for hockey team, which came out
on a roll. "Its exciting, everything thats going on in this city," defenceman
Alex Pietrangelo said. "It was a great day for St. Louis sports. The fans were
really into it. "Im just glad we were able to put on a good show." Pietrangelo
had two first-period assists to pace the early scoring. Jaroslav Halak made 28
saves for the Blues and improved to 9-3-3 against the Predators. Backes,
Vladimir Sobotka, T.J. Oshie and Alex Steen scored for St. Louis, which was 2 of
4 on the power play. St. Louis has won four of its past five home openers.
Nashville, which missed the playoffs last season, is 7-7-1 in season openers.
The Blues came out aggressively, scoring three times on their first six shots.
"The first 10 minutes were ideal," Backes said. "This was a result we can love.
Its just a first step, but we had a lot of guys contribute on the score sheet
and off the score sheet. "It all adds up to a pretty good team victory." St.
Louis coach Ken Hitchcock was also pleased. "I thought that the players that
have been here a while really put their best foot forward," he said.
New Balance 574 Grey. "This gives us a chance to build on some things." Backes scored from close range at 2:05, just three
seconds after Matt Cullen was sent off for tripping. Backes pounced on a shot
from the blue line by Pietrangelo. The goal came 51 minutes after the final out
of the baseball game. Sobotka tallied on a break along the left wing to make it
2-0. He went by Kevin Klein and sent a backhand behind Rinne. Oshie converted on
a pass from Steen to push the lead to 3-0. Rinne was pulled after that tally.
"Obviously, Im not happy with the result, not happy with the effort," Rinne
said. Nashville climbed within 3-2 on goals by Mike Fisher and David Legwand,
who scored off a pass from Patric Hornqvist. Steen scored a power-play goal at
11:16 of the second period to stretch the lead to 4-2. Halak then made nine
third-period saves to preserve the lead. Nashville defenceman Seth Jones, the
No. 4 overall pick in the draft, played 18:35 and had three shots on goal in his
debut. "I had a couple good shifts to start the game and that carried me
throughout out the game," Jones said. Jones, who was celebrating his 19th
birthday, is the son of former NBA journeyman Popeye Jones. Popeye Jones, an
assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, was in attendance. "It was a thrill, Im
just excited to be here for this," Popeye Jones said. NOTES: St. Louis has made
the playoffs in 37 of its 46 seasons. ... Nashville coach Barry Trotz is the
longest-tenured head coach with the same team with 1,115 games. ... St. Louis LW
Brenden Morrow fixed his work-visa problems earlier in the day and was able to
play. ... Hitchcock improved to 10-3-4 in season openers.... Halak, who played
in just 16 games last season due to groin injuries, last won on March 23, 2012,
a 3-0 win over Edmonton.
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