One of my favorite things right now is LVBPTV, which features streaming live, and recorded, coverage of Venezuelan games.
Tonight, Rich Hill, pitching for Aragua, faced Caracas and made his second appearance on Venezuelan TV. I think you can get the "Max" channel with some DirecTV packages, and hopefully the MLB Network will cover these games in the future. For now, so-so quality streaming video is all I've got.
There were issues with the broadcast, so I haven't seen the first inning yet. It started with a single, followed by a Matt Murton grounder that Ronny Cedeno turned into a six-four-three double play. Cubs, and ex-Cubs all over this game.
In the second, Hill threw two nice curveballs, one a first pitch strike. Still, you could see he was missing spots with the fastball, and only threw one slider.
With two out, Rich threw eight straight balls to put two on. On one pitch, he dropped down almost side arm (or so it looked), and seemed to be speeding up his delivery on others.
What followed was a stern talking to by the manager or pitching coach (not sure which), which seemed to work.
Hill got Gregorio Petit on a generous third strike. The zone was so generous on that call, Petit really let the umpire have it between innings. As they played back the outburst after the commercial break, I was amazed, but not surprised, that Petit wasn't ejected.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Randy Newsom (a true sidearming lefty), who is idling in the Caracas bullpen, has been blogging about his stay in Venezuela, and recently mentioned how it seems impossible to get tossed.
Hill's third inning started with another called third strike. This one legitimate, on a nice big curveball that finished up and away, but a clear strike. That type of pitch isn't fair to hitters. The second hitter of the inning was also called out on strikes, this time a nice slider.
The next man up was Murton, who went 2-2 on another ridiculous curveball. After fouling one off, Murton ripped a double into left-center. Sam Fuld cut the ball off, but he couldn't get anything on the throw. On a 2-2 count, Murton stole third without a throw.
Murton was plated when a 3-2 grounder deflected off Hill. Cedeno barehanded the ball but threw it wide of first. The ball got past everyone, but bounced of the wall quickly, and Jesus Guzman could not advance. With Guzman at first, Hill got Josh Kroeger looking at a slider, after slinging one more pitch sidearm.
Hill's half of the fourth, after Aragua tied the game in the third on a Franklin Morales balk, started with a fly to Fuld. It was the second time Hill got a batter on a high fly off his curveball.
Carlos Maldanado got a first pitch curve, for a strike, but managed to stroke an 0-2 curve past Cedeno in the hole for a single and stole second.
Maldanado's swipe put pressure on Hill, and he responded by issuing a walk, putting two men on for Petit. Petit reached on a fielders choice, putting runners at the corners with two out. With two more curveballs, one taken for a strike, one for a weak grounder to third, Hill escaped again.
That was it for Hill, as he racked-up 82 pitches in those four innings, according to Gameday. Hill allowed one run on four hits and three walks. He struck-out four and showed both sides of his game - the good and the bad.
Rich threw a lot of good first pitch curves, seemed to drop his arm a few times on lefties, and managed to look good, even very good, at times. But, fragile is the best word to describe him, and talented is the second best word. Rich Hill has a world class curveball, there's no doubt about that.
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about 1 month ago
So it still seems like he doesn't quite have it together all the way. What a shame, hopefully he can come back.
from about 1 month ago
I agree, but a comeback seems doubtful. He's been horrible again since this outing and he just seems to have lost his feel for pitching. The curve looks great, but his fastball command is off, and the sheer volume of wild pitches he's thrown, along with >1 walk per inning, well, that doesn't give me much hope, unfortunately.
about 1 month ago
What Rich needs is a change of scenery---The Cubs would be best to ship him to San Diego where the manager is a former left handed pitcher and the ball park is more friendly to a flyball pitcher like Hill. Hill is in Piniella's doghouse. He needs a new set of eyes and ideas to re-invent. When I see Hill drop that power curve ball in on lefties, I see the second coming of Paul Assenmacher, a guy who pushed his career into his late thirties as a situation lefty killer....I've heard Piniella critique Hill as "too cerebral" and he hates nibblers...my fear is the Cubs hold onto him too long and sink his value to next to nothing and then the Cardinals and Dave Duncan swoop in and he "gets re-invented" and develops under the Redbirds/
about 1 month ago
Power curve? His curve is a slow looper, nothing power to it. It is an awesome pitch, however.
His problem is fastball command. In that he has none. He's changing his mechanics to eliminate the severe tilt, but he's still not comfortable, or so it seems.
It will be very interesting to see how the Cubs handle him in the Spring. Because, I think you're right, someone may be able to turn him around. But the Cubs are a contending team, and it may not be a risk they can afford.
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