The 27-year-old left-hander Chris Waters, who began his professional career in 2000, had the best big league debut of any Orioles pitcher since Sept. 18, 1988, when right-hander Bob Milacki beat Detroit 2-0 with eight innings of one-hit ball, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. McNally pitched a complete-game one-hitter against the Kansas City Athletics on Sept. 26, 1962.
Waters' teammates were ecstatic about his performance against Angels veteran Jon Garland .
''That's great. Nine years of frustration, and he took it out on the best team in baseball,'' designated hitter Aubrey Huff said.
over 3 years ago
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One more important point
’’I don’t care how much of a scouting report you have. When you step in the box the ball is moving, it’s different than words,’’ Torii Hunter said. ’’He didn’t throw the offspeed stuff until the second time around. He threw all fastballs and one changeup the first time around. ... He knew what he was doing.’‘
That’s important – he actually slightly changed his pitch speed the 2nd time through the lineup. Are you listening, Dennis Sarfate?
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
That's awesome.
It’s no fluke to do that. The offense is at a disadvantage if nobody’s ever seen you before. Probably for 2-3 innings. To go 8, changing your approach the 2nd time through, not showing them all of your pitches – that’s pitching. That’s a veteran game plan.
Waters is not as good as last night’s game would suggest. But it sounds like he’s capable & could stick.
I hope he’s around a while, we certainly need the arm.
From the Land of Pleasant Living...
That's why I kinda got excited at that quote
To be an emergency call up, who’s not had a great season, and to go in with enough confidence to have a plan for the 2nd and 3rd through the lineup and save pitches for those spots – well, that’s impressive.
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
Even better...
here’s what was missing from the elipses, according to the full quote on Pete’s blog:
The third time around he brought the slider out. He knew what he was doing. He didn’t want us to see all his pitches. He’s kind of bright.”
Holding pitches back until the THIRD time through a lineup? In your ML debut? You gotta be kidding me.
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
Heh
I love “He’s kind of bright.” thanks, Torii.
"There is a value to breaking the string of losing seasons as an organization or as a franchise. But breaking that streak can’t come at the expense of doing what you need to do to get your franchise to the point where it can reach the postseason." ~Andy MacPhail
well, again...
a major league debut for a 28 year old is a bit different than a raw rook, but that’s kind of cool. busting out pitches is one thing. i think as most of the rotation has shown time and again this year, throwing them for strikes is quite another.
foghat goes with everything--birdman, 5/16/08
More....
From The Sun’s game report:
Waters became just the sixth pitcher in the last 50 years to throw eight-plus innings with no runs and one hit in a major league debut, according to ESPN.com.
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
And three of them were O's!
I told you guys in Monday’s game thread that we would win. Five straight wins on August 5. Let’s hope Chris can stick around.
Yes, yes you did
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
Yahoo's Writers
Per Andy Behrens
Baltimore journeyman Chris Waters had mediocre Triple-A stats before his call-up (5.70 ERA, 1.56 WHIP), so feel free to ignore his gem against the Angels. It’s a fluke
You got to love the outside critics who simply look at the overall stats like the Angels did. Welcome to Birdland Chris Waters!
Yeah, but he's right
It’s a pretty awesome accomplishment, but do you really think he’s suddenly learned how to pitch?
"Hey Yankees... you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!" --Tanner Boyle
by BirdFanInPhilly on Aug 6, 2008 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
I'd love to think...
he’s Jeremy Guthrie redux – another pitcher some other team gave up on too soon.
But you look at those MiLB numbers, and man, nothing except a few starts in Bowie and his last two in Norfolk give you any reason to believe this guy is going to be able to have success in the bigs.
But last night certainly was nice! For one night – for a little more than two hours – he was the best pitcher in the Major Leagues. He’ll go to his grave with that and it will never change. Not many people in life get to say that.
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
Waters
I think everyone jumped the gun on him. He had an ugly beginning at AAA and put together a sub 4 ERA and a 4-1 record in the past month at Norfolk. In all honesty, I’d rather see him in our rotation rather than Penn (but I’d rather see Penn than Sarfate with how Dennis hasn’t figured out relief and starting are different). We need a 2nd lefty in our rotation, and he just needs to eat innings at the back-end of the rotation. I don’t expect him to be an ace, but a solid #4 or #5 starter is not out of the question.
I'm on the Waters bandwagon, too
And why not? As an Orioles fan, we now have one more reason to tune in for the rest of the season: to see if Waters can come close to repeating his performance yesterday.
Sounds good to me.
IF he keeps changing speeds and throwing strikes...
the sky’s the limit. I mean, a guy that knows to change speeds against teh #1 lineup in teh AL, that’s saying something. Past performance tells us not to expect a repeat, but stranger things have happened. Too bad I’ll mis his next start. Stupid Walt Disney World….
"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby
believe me
The chances of you having a good time at Disney World thrash the chances of you having a good time watching Chris Waters pitch.
"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum
Jeremy Guthrie was a highly-touted first round draft pick from Stanford and one of the best college pitching prospects in his draft class. Chris Waters is a former 5th round pick of the Braves from South Florida Community College who took about seven years to even reach AAA. It’s a world of difference.
"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum
Waters is sweet.....
I think he looked really good last night and hope this is something for the future. He is much better than Liz, he has more control and isn’t as wild. He is 27 but when Guthrie started he was 29 so age isn’t much of a concern.
by WatercoolerBS.blogspot.com on Aug 6, 2008 1:32 PM EDT reply actions
no?
Guthrie reached the majors when he was 25. He’s 29 now.
"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum
guys
You’re all high on crack cocaine if you’re starting to consider Chris Waters for the future of the rotation. I’m serious.
"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum
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