Feliz.
I had a pretty good arm in high school. Nothing with pro potential, but I threw well from shortstop and the outfield, and topped out at 86 on the mound. Earlier tonight, Neftali Feliz struck out the first four big league batters he faced. The first two swung through changeups for strike three. At 90 miles per hour. And 91. The velocity on a change isn't important per se. The subtraction off the fastball is, and when you're able to dial it up at 99-101 like Feliz routinely does, and did tonight, a changeup at 90-91 can tie a hitter up by completely disrupting his rhythm. It almost makes me laugh to think that if my fastball could have tripped a number on the gun like the ones Feliz was clocking with his changeup, I might have played a little longer. This is not to overlook some really, really good moundwork by several of Feliz's teammates, or to ignore the brutal, harsh way that game got away, in a season that has been extraordinarily short on ninth-inning collapses and that, despite conventional wisdom that points to 2010 and beyond as when this club is supposed to contend, is nonetheless a contending season, four months in, but losses like this do happen from time to time. On the other hand, the pitcher who took the mound for the first time as a big leaguer in the sixth and seventh? They don't come along like that very often. Whether tonight's wrenching loss has a lasting impact on this team's 2009 fortunes is something we won't know for weeks. What we saw from the first reliever Texas ran out to the hill tonight was impact stuff that's going to figure in for many, many years, in a big way. Feliz (fə-LEEZ), adj.: Happy. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar. (c) Jamey Newberg http://www.newbergreport.com Twitter @newbergreport If you want to be removed from this list, please e-mail me at newbergreport@sbcglobal.net