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A Major League pitcher is primed for success. He literally has 7 men standing behind him ready to do whatever it takes to help him accomplish his task and another man squatting 60' 6" in front of him directing his every move. In Petco Park, a pitcher also has the benefit of the moist sea air and spacious outfield to assist in his task. More often than not, this success is realized.
The odds are notably stacked in favor of a pitcher and because of this, there is never a need to be "scrappy" when pitching.
A scrappy position player has the odds against him and can be compared to the fisherman from Ernest Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea. His physical prowess has long escaped him (if ever it was there) and he is forced to rely on wits, luck and sheer determination to accomplish his task, which no one expects him to do. In contrast, Major League pitchers are captains of Japanese whaling boats, literally commanding a team of men to help him throw spears into a defenseless animal, minding its own business, that has to come up for air eventually.
0 recs | 48 comments
We should vote on who is the "scrappiest" Gaslampballer
Ron Mexico - January 25, 2012
My vote is for Kev (RIP by the way)
Dead, yet he manages to post from time to time. That’s pretty scrappy.
All Things SD - January 25, 2012
That's a good one
I’d also throw a vote in for Jonathan Holmes. I’m still not sure how he manages to get himself into and out of the various comment threads he gets stuck in.
Dex - January 25, 2012
that would be my pick
but Drama is scrappy too, scrappy like a lifetime movie.
Ron Mexico - January 25, 2012
I hereby second this
StrangeBroP25 - January 25, 2012
jodes
Because she’s short.
TheThinGwynn - January 25, 2012
I think you're pretty scrappy
Sam (sdsuaztec4) - January 25, 2012
Appearances can be deceiving.
Even though I have the body of a scrapper (5’10", buck-o-nine), I’m more like Manny Ramirez: a lazy malcontent full of female hormones who can’t get a job and alienates everyone he comes in contact with.
TheThinGwynn - January 25, 2012
Yuh huh.
padmadfan - January 25, 2012
What if the pitcher had something hindering them?
Like a metal brace? Lou Brissie (who is the subject of the book The Corporal Was A Pitcher)
Friar Fever - January 25, 2012
Like Jim Abbott?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOU5dogqhGc
turbopan - January 25, 2012
Jim Abbot was amaze and all
But his career is more a testament to how little is expected of a pitcher after he’s thrown the ball. And the other pitcher famous for having a handicapped hand (3 finger brown) is a HoFer.
Dex - January 25, 2012
Like Cooper Brannan?
StrangeBroP25 - January 25, 2012
like
Dock Ellis?
Hormel - January 25, 2012
Of course there's scrappy pitchers
They just call them “wily” or “crafty.” They change speeds, set up hitters, and rely on their knowledge of hitters and of pitching once their fastball no longer misses bats. Greg Maddox, Jamie Moyer, Woody Williams, and Trevor Hoffman don’t ring any bells?
bringbackbuddytrees - January 25, 2012
not scrappy
To call any of those players scrappy ignores the fact that they’re super talented pitchers. Nobody ever accused Maddox of scrapping through an innings when he was hitting every spot and making batters look foolish.
Dex - January 25, 2012
The only way I'd consider a pitcher scrappy
is in instances like when Maddux pinch ran or that time Roy Oswalt played LF.
TheThinGwynn - January 26, 2012
Or when Bochi sent Fernando in to pinch hit...
and got a hit? That’s pretty scrappy for a pitcher.
Jsn L - January 26, 2012
When Maddox got lit up
by the Dbacks right after the marathon game in 2008 and he kept going back out there. That was scrappy.
field39 - January 29, 2012
I was at that game
sat right above the padres bullpen in phoenix. It was that night I accepted that 2008 was going to be a long and crappy year.
Nater Tater - January 29, 2012
Andy Ashby and Sterling Hitchcock were scrappy.
MrDanielX - January 26, 2012
hmmm
Andy Ashby once pitched a complete game throwing 70 fastballs. That’s not scrapping. That’s bullying. Whats the hitting equivalent? Hitting 8 doubles in a row?
Dex - January 26, 2012 via iPhone app
Scrappy players can't be headcases.
Thus, Ashby is disqualified.
Darklighter - January 26, 2012
How was he a headcase?
jbox - January 26, 2012
I'm working off the recollections of 13 year old me...
… but I remember there being two different Ashbys. Amazeballs Ashby, and Have You Ever Seen A Baseball Before Ashby.
Darklighter - January 26, 2012
I do seem to recall him as a choke artist.
padmadfan - January 26, 2012
Playing off the scrappy pitcher conversation,
out of the available free agents who could you see the Padres taking a flier on for starting pitching depth? Rich Harden? Brandon Webb? Chris Young? I guess it all depends on demands. I’d be stoked to pick up Harden – he’ll be 30 and signed for $1.5M last season.
IputtheYinTony - January 26, 2012
are pitchers scrappy when they hit?
latos looked pretty scrappy at times.
iheartyourfart - January 26, 2012
Yes
Hitters are scrappy. Woody Williams could be considered scrappy this way, but that doesn’t make him a scrappy pitcher. He was a pitcher who was a scrappy hitter.
Dex - January 26, 2012
hmmm
Can a pitcher at least have a scrappy performance, e.g., doesn’t have his best stuff but scraps through 6 2/3 innings?
Smoove V - January 26, 2012 via Android app
Only in VERY specific cases
1. There has to be no one available to relieve him if he starts to falter.
2. At least four fielders on his defense must be playing hurt or in a position that they’ve never played before.
3. He has to have very recently pitched 4+ innings within the last day.
4. He can not be taller than 6 feet.
5. He must be wearing eye black.
6. Every ball must be thrown while sticking out his tongue like a six year old doing math homework.
Even if he meets this criteria, an independent observer must roll a six sided die and if any of the numbers 2 through 6 come up, this performance should be referred to as “gutsy” as opposed to “scrappy”.
Dex - January 26, 2012
what about if you
get a player half your age in a headlock and punch him several times in the dome?
Smoove V - January 26, 2012 via Android app
That's like traditional scrappy
But I don’t know about Baseball Scrappy. I need to find my copy of Dickson’s Baseball Dictionary. I’m sure that would clear things up.
Dex - January 26, 2012
What about Derek Lowe
in Game 7 of the ALCS…..pitching on 2 days rest after appearing in releif.
That was scrappy.
Ron Mexico - January 26, 2012
Gutsy!
Dex - January 26, 2012
the above criteria are waived
if the pitcher is chris denorfia
iheartyourfart - January 26, 2012
how about
the kid from Rookie of the Year?
turbopan - January 26, 2012
NOT SCRAPPY!
“Against all odds, he fought off 8 great pitches before leaning into one, getting hit by a pitch. Later he scored on a single from first, when the short stop wasn’t paying attention in receiving the throw from the outfield.”
vs
“Against all odds, a pre-teen’s surgically repaired arm enables him to embarrass hitters with a blazing fastball.”
Dex - January 26, 2012
pretty sure there was no surgery on his arm
freak accidents ftw
iheartyourfart - January 26, 2012
right
it was broken and it just healed that way right?
turbopan - January 26, 2012
yes
#thingsimashamedtoknow
iheartyourfart - January 27, 2012
FUNKY BUTTLOVIN'
kevintheoman - January 27, 2012
What if the pitcher happens to be a position player...
that’s brought into a game to pitch because the game won’t end? A la Sean Burroughs in that dreadful game against the Rockies? Although he did give up a 3 run bomb…so maybe it weren’t so scrappy.
Jsn L - January 26, 2012
Hmmm....
Why would that ever be referred to as scrappy as opposed to anything else?
Dex - January 26, 2012
Yeah...
I remember him coming in to pitch…which is pretty scrappy. But I forgot about the 3 run homer…which is the antithesis of scrappy.
Jsn L - January 26, 2012
Santiago
Love me some Santiago!
Jonny Dub - January 26, 2012
I can't believe that nobody has suggested a
knuckleballer.
Knuckleballers are bottom of the barrel types. Scourge of the earth. Tim Wakefield and RA Dickey? Scrappy! They’re the only ones though.
AIChief - January 27, 2012
What about Candiotti?
I guess he can’t be scrappy because Piazza got hung with a million passed balls that
should have been called wild pitches. That happened to Josh Bard when he caught
Wakefield in Boston, so I guess not even knucklers can be scrappy when their mistakes
are charged to others. That’s a good thing in politics though.
wegotballsley - January 31, 2012
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