What Are You Throwing?

From June 16, 2007

Now the Yankees have a pitcher named Farnsworth. Six foot something. Pretty strong guy, young. He can throw the ball 98 mph. That’s fast. 92 mph is fast. 98 is even faster. He can throw the ball unbelievable. Every time he comes in about the seventh inning. Every time they put him in the game, he walks people. His walk ratio is pathetic.

Every time they put him in the game I go: NO GODDAMN WAY! DON’T PUT HIM IN THE GAME! Why? I know what he’s going to do. He’s going to walk the guys. And what do you think is going to happen? They’re going to lose the game. Sure enough, I’m watching the game, they put him in and walk, walk, walk, the bases loaded. They lost the game. I can’t believe it.

Now here’s the important thing to know: Do you know why the guy walks all these people? He doesn’t want them to hit the ball. So what do you think he does? He has no faith in the people out in the field. If they hit the ball the team will get it. He won’t throw the ball across the plate. He wants the batters to swing at balls that are outside.

Think about that. You’re a professional. You’re going to get up to bat, and he’s going to give you nothing but bad pitches to hit. You’re going to wait and you’re going to walk. That’s what he does. All the time. And every once in a while they go talk to him and they go, “throw it across the plate. You’ve got nine guys.”

And they walk back. He’ll throw one across the plate, and then the other ones go off. No confidence. This is a guy that should be getting the Cy Young Award. He doesn’t believe in that his team is behind him. Throw the goddamn ball.

Is that clear? Where are you playing?

If you’re going to play, if you’re a pitcher, you play to get them out. I don’t care how you get them out. You know what I’m saying? It doesn’t mean you have to get a strike out every time. I need to get him to hit the ball so that we get him out.

Anybody hear of Rivera? He throws the ball. Ninth inning comes in he saves the game. Guess why. He throws the ball, they hit the ball, it’s always on the ground, they pick it up, throw it out at first. Out one, out two, out three.

Not Farnsworth. He’s going to throw 8,000 balls an inning. Then he gets himself in a position where he has to throw it across the plate. Last time it was a home run, they cleared the bases. Grand slam. I get so mad.

Where are you playing? Are you throwing or are you pitching? What are you doing when you’re up there? What are you doing when you’re the pitcher? What are you doing when you’re the hitter? How are you playing?

If you’re pitching, you’ve got to throw sinkers. You’ve got to throw sliders. You’ve got to throw fastballs. You’ve got to throw the changeups. You’ve got to be willing to do that. You’ve got to be at risk. Every time you throw that ball you’re at risk. They may hit it out of the park. But that’s the game. What am I going to do, throw it outside? And then I get myself into a situation I’ve got to put it across the plate. Every time, home run.

So, in life, you throw a curve ball. You throw a sinker. You throw a fastball. You throw a changeup. You never throw the same ball. You’ve got to be at risk.