SI:AM | ’Stros No-No Makes it 2–2

November 3, 2022 Jimm Sallivan

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Well, that’s one way to even a series.

In today’s SI:AM:

🤑 Dan Snyder takes the first step toward selling

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You can’t win if you can’t get a hit

Unlike the night before against Lance McCullers Jr., the Phillies couldn’t figure out Astros starter Cristian Javier in Game 4. At all.

Javier and three relievers (Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly) combined to throw just the second no-hitter in World Series history. Meanwhile, Houston’s hitters touched up Aaron Nola and José Alvarado for five runs in the fifth inning on their way to a 5–0 victory.

I can’t get terribly excited about combined no-hitters but Javier’s start is still one of the best I’ve seen in the postseason. Over six innings of work, he struck out nine and walked two. Only nine balls were put in play and of those, just two had an expected batting average (according to Statcast) of higher than .090. In other words, Javier was untouchable and even when guys did make contact, it was extraordinarily weak. What makes that even more unbelievable, as Tom Verducci explains, is that Javier did it by throwing predominantly fastballs—and not even particularly hard ones:

Of his 97 pitches, Javier threw 70 four-seam fastballs, a remarkable 72% daily dose of heat. Since 2008, when pitch tracking began, nobody had ever thrown that many four-seamers in a World Series game. The previous high was 68 by John Lackey in Game 6 of the ‘13 Series.

Javier averaged 93.4 miles per hour on his heater, slightly below the major league average (93.9) and below his yearly average (93.8). Still, the Phillies tried swatting 41 times at those 70 fastballs, with all the success of trying to catch a gnat in midair with your hand. They whiffed six times, made an out eight times, and ticked off 27 foul balls, most of them straight back and well into the air as they kept nicking the bottom of his fastball. The ball simply was not in the area they tracked it—just a few inches higher because of the gravity-fighting, Matrix-like qualities of that strange heater.

Javier doesn’t throw particularly hard, but it’s the deception of his fastball that makes him so dangerous. Here’s Verducci again:

Every fastball drops. Pitchers throw from an average of about six feet off the ground (Javier actually has a low release point, 5.65 feet, which aids his deception) and the ball crosses the plate at about three feet off the ground near the top of the zone. But because of how the baseball comes out of his hand—his spin is good, but not elite—his fastball doesn’t drop as much as the average fastball of the same velocity. His fastball is three inches higher than where it should be, based on the average fastball. Only the fastball of Nestor Cortes of the Yankees has a greater gap between perception and reality (3.2 inches).

Against McCullers in Game 3, the Phillies knew what was coming. They knew what was coming last night, too. They just couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

It’s a shame Javier’s pitch count got up too high for him to pursue the complete-game no-hitter but the Astros didn’t need him to go any deeper into the game. They turned to their excellent bullpen, which continued to shut down the Philadelphia bats.

The good news for the Phillies is that the series is tied 2–2. Game 5 is tonight, with Noah Syndergaard facing Justin Verlander. The Phillies were able to get to Verlander in Game 1 but it would be a surprise to see the likely AL Cy Young winner struggle again. Can the Phillies’ bats wake up or will the Astros be headed back to Houston with a chance to close out the series?

The best of Sports Illustrated

Carlos M. Saavedra/Sports Illustrated

In today’s Daily Cover, Pat Forde previews the monumental showdown between Tennessee and Georgia this weekend:

Six Vols receivers have caught passes longer than 50 yards. Forget Ohio State; Tennessee is the national leader in explosive pass plays. Through eight games, the Vols have 30 passes of 30 yards or longer, seven more than the national runner-up. (One out of every six Tennessee completions is a 30-plus yarder.) And they have 19 passes of 40 yards or longer, six clear of second place, an average of 2.38 per game. Since 2010, seven FBS teams have averaged two or more 40-plus-yard pass plays per game—but none as high as Tennessee’s current average.

Stephanie Apstein looks at the role backup catcher Christian Vázquez played in the Astros’ no-hitter. … Albert Breer has a detailed analysis of Dan Snyder’s decision to explore a sale of the Commanders, including how much the franchise could sell for and who might want to buy it. … Conor Orr argues that the NFL should look at more than the wealth of a prospective owner when approving a potential sale of the Commanders. … Kevin Sweeney ranked all 363 teams in Division I men’s basketball. … Chris Mannix explains why Russell Westbrook has what it takes to be a great sixth man. … Super Bowl ticket reservation prices for the Seahawks rose another 106% following Seattle’s third straight win.

Around the sports world

Kyrie Irving released a statement about spreading antisemitism but did not apologize. … Browns GM Andrew Berry said he expects Deshaun Watson to start the first game he’s eligible to. … This is an interesting article about the Bonneville salt flats, the popular destination for land speed record attempts, which is in danger of disappearing. … This excerpt from Timothy Bella’s new biography of Charles Barkley details a story I didn’t know about: the persistent ’90s rumor that Chuck was dating Madonna. … Gonzaga is reportedly interested in joining the Big 12. That road trip to UCF would be a tough one. … ESPN has hired Aces coach Becky Hammon as an NBA analyst.

The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. Lamar Jackson’s reaction to getting called out by Chris Jericho at AEW Dynamite.

4. Tyler Herro’s game-winner against the Kings.

3. Central Michigan’s jump-pass fake field goal.

2. Kyle Schwarber’s thoughts on being part of history.

1. Matt Ryan’s game-tying three for the Lakers and his reaction to all the reporters crowding around his locker: “I feel like LeBron.”

SIQ

On this day in 2013, two months after Peyton Manning accomplished the feat, which quarterback became the seventh player in NFL history to pass for a record seven touchdowns in a game?

Philip Rivers
Matthew Stafford
Tony Romo
Nick Foles

Yesterday’s SIQ: On Nov. 2, 1990, the Suns and Jazz opened their seasons by playing the first regular-season games outside North America for any major U.S. sports league. Where did they play?

London
Paris
Beijing
Tokyo

Answer: Tokyo. They played two games, with Phoenix winning the first and Utah taking the second.

The biggest challenge for the teams was overcoming the jet lag associated with traveling to the other side of the world. Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, Jack McCallum wrote in SI at the time, tried to get his players used to the time difference by holding two practices back in Phoenix at 3 a.m. before the team flew to Tokyo. The Jazz had a harder time. They closed out the preseason with games in Toronto and Providence before traveling to New York to catch a commercial flight to Tokyo. Utah coach Jerry Sloan had a questionable strategy for getting his guys acclimated, McCallum wrote:

Sloan’s theory on fighting fatigue and jet lag had his players working out as soon as they arrived in Tokyo. He said at a press conference last week that athletes “need to get out and work a little” after a tiring trip, at which point his two superstars, [Karl] Malone and [John] Stockton, who were sitting nearby, rolled their eyes.

By all accounts, though, the games were pretty good. Malone scored a combined 62 points, including two clutch free throws in the final minute of Utah’s one-point win in the second game. And everyone involved was glad that the teams split the two games. “The regular-season schedule is tough enough and long enough without having one team start at 0–2 three quarters of the way across the Pacific Ocean,” McCallum wrote.

From the Vault: Nov. 3, 1986

Ronald C. Modra/Sports Illustrated

Thanks to the Mets’ miraculous comeback in the bottom of the 10th inning (aided by Bill Buckner’s infamous error at first base), Game 6 of the 1986 World Series is one of the most famous games in baseball history. You’ve seen that clip of the ball going through Buckner’s legs and Ray Knight jumping for joy as he heads home a million times. Unless you’re a big baseball fan, maybe you haven’t heard the great behind-the-scenes story of the quickly scuttled celebration in the Boston clubhouse. Here’s how Ron Fimrite relayed it in that week’s issue of SI:

The suddenness of the Red Sox’ demise in Game 6, and their proximity to the Promised Land, might best be illustrated by what happened to NBC broadcaster Bob Costas and his crew in the bottom of the 10th. Costas was perched in the corner of the visiting dugout nearest to the runway leading to the clubhouse. It was past midnight, of course, because with the television-induced late starts, this had become the Witching Hour Series. Costas had taken up his position in anticipation of the historic Red Sox victory. The rest of his crew was already inside the clubhouse, busily setting up the interview platform, positioning the cameras and aiming the lighting. They were ready for the big moment.

When [Wally] Backman flied out meekly to open the 10th, Costas edged toward the tunnel. Then when Hernandez lined out, Costas headed for the clubhouse, mentally preparing himself for the champagne-soaked interviews that would follow within minutes. Inside the locker room, Costas learned that he would be flanked on the platform by Red Sox president Jean Yawkey and chief executive officer Haywood Sullivan, both of whom were waiting in the wings. Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth would be there to present the World Series trophy to them and to read a congratulatory message from President Reagan. Costas was told that [Bruce] Hurst, winner of two Series games, would be given the Most Valuable Player award. The cellophane was draped over the players’ cubicles to protect their belongings from the spray of champagne. Costas decided to check the NBC monitor. Hmmm, [Gary] Carter was on first base. The game hadn’t ended. Then [Kevin] Mitchell got a hit, and Knight another. The game was far from over. Dave Alworth, the commissioner’s liaison man for television, dashed nervously into the busy room. If the Mets tied the game, he told Costas and crew, they would have to clear out of there, bag and baggage, in a big hurry.

Then came the wild pitch to [Mookie] Wilson. “I swear,” said Costas, “that ball had not stopped rolling before the technicians had packed up and gotten out of there. I had never seen anyone move so fast. I stayed behind to watch the monitor. And when that ground ball rolled between Buckner’s legs, they just pulled the plug on me and hustled me out of sight. We were all gone by the time the Red Sox, uttering what epithets you can imagine, got back there. It was amazing. It all happened so fast. We just disappeared.” And so did victory for the Red Sox.

Imagine how quickly Costas and the NBC crew had to clear out of the clubhouse. They must have been moving faster than even Knight.

Check out more of SI’s archives and historic images at vault.si.com.

Sports Illustrated may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.

1 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Orioles Broadcaster Jim Palmer Absolutely Torches Ump After Terrible Called Strike

Three decades have passed since the end of Hall of Fame former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer's distinguished career.

However, antipathy toward shoddy umpiring never leaves former players. Palmer proved as such during the Orioles' 4-2 win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, which he called for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

After shortstop Gunnar Henderson was called out on strikes on a pitch outside the zone in the first inning, Palmer lit into umpire C.B. Bucknor.

"You kinda wonder how bad he's gonna be and he's shown us already in the first inning," Palmer said. "All you want is a guy that understands the strike zone."

"He shouldn't be umpiring and he is, and they know it."
MASN announcer Jim Palmer rips into home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor (again) pic.twitter.com/Xh7Kw0SAju
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 1, 2024

According to Umpire Scorecards, Bucknor's 91.6% accuracy on pitches called is tied for the lowest in baseball this season among umpires who've worked at least five games.

Umpire: CB Bucknor
Final: Yankees 2, Orioles 4#RepBX // #Birdland #NYYvsBAL // #BALvsNYY
More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/XzhglnTFAz pic.twitter.com/TOaLL874lI
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) May 1, 2024

"He shouldn't be umpiring and he is, and they know it," Palmer said. "He's been around a long time, it doesn't mean you—it's kinda like pitching. When I couldn't get people out, I became a broadcaster."

Bucknor, who's worked five postseasons and two All-Star Games, has been an MLB umpire since 1996.

5 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Tigers’ Jack Flaherty Finds Resurgence in Detroit With Fast Start

Like race car drivers and opera singers, pitchers need to summon another gear in pivotal moments. It is how Jack Flaherty in 2019, at just 23 years old, joined Clayton Kershaw and Roger Clemens as the youngest pitchers in the past 48 years with a league-leading WHIP under 1.00. Averaging 93.8 mph with his heater, Flaherty, then with the St. Louis Cardinals, could hit 97 when he floored it.

The complement of two sharp breaking balls also made him the best young pitcher in the game. Riches and awards were to follow as surely as they did for Kershaw and Clemens.

His ascension never happened. The pandemic and injuries, especially to his oblique and shoulder, cast him into such a four-year wilderness of mediocrity (4.42 ERA) that when he hit free agency last winter at the prime age of 28, he could do no better than a one-year, $14 million prove-it flier with the Detroit Tigers.

That contract today looks like one of the best bargains of the winter. Jack is back. Entering a start Monday against the Cleveland Guardians, Flaherty leads the league in strikeouts, has posted a historic strikeout-to-walk rate to start a season, has tweaked his delivery and pitch usage and, yes, has rediscovered that extra oomph when he steps on the gas.

Look no further than the 1-and-2 fastball he threw to Lars Nootbar of the Cardinals in his last start Tuesday. Dotting the outside corner, the pitch was clocked at 97.8 miles per hour, as hard as Flaherty has thrown a baseball in five years.

“There were definitely times last year where I wanted to go to another gear and it was like it just stayed the same,” Flaherty says in a conversation I had with him earlier this year. “It was weird, and it just wasn't there, for whatever reason. And this year when I want to go to another gear, I’ve been able to get there.”

Says Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, “He was electric in his last start. He can really miss bats with his two breaking balls. His fastball was special the other day.”

Flaherty tied an American League record by striking out the first seven batters he faced in that game against his former team. He tied a career high and an MLB season high with 14 strikeouts overall. His average fastball velocity was 95.1, the fourth highest game average of his career and his best in four years. He obtained 24 swinging strikes, one short of his career high set in 2018. Ten of those whiffs came on his fastball, tying a career high.

The rebuilding of Flaherty began as a free agent after last season, which included telephone conversations with Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter and assistant pitching coaches Robin Lund and Juan Nieves. They noticed his fastball properties improved after his Aug. 1 trade to the Baltimore Orioles, though his ERA in nine games with Baltimore was 6.75.

“I didn't feel great and by the end, it was just, ‘How can I get outs?’ “ Flaherty says. “Regardless of how it feels and whatnot, it's September. You’re put into a pennant chase. It was, ‘We'll just see. Find a way.’”

The Tigers’ coaches had success that year rebuilding another free agent pitcher, Michael Lorenzen, then 31. They de-emphasized his sinker in favor of more high-spin four-seamers. Lorenzen set career highs in wins, innings and strikeouts, made his first All-Star team and, after a trade to Philadelphia, threw a no-hitter. They had plans for Flaherty, but only hinted at them during the recruitment.

“When things were getting serious, we were on a call for two hours,” Flaherty says. “We talked this out. They presented ideas, but they don't want to … Those are tricky calls. They can't give you everything, like, ‘Here's all the secrets of what we think is going to make you better.’ But like, ‘You know, here's what we saw last year, and we can kind of help you get back.’ I've definitely never gone through it.

“Those calls are tricky because it's like, how do you ask them, ‘What can you do to help me?’ And then they give you a little bit, but not be able to give you everything because ‘If you don't sign here, we don't want to tell you this is what to do.’

“But in the end, it was their effort and the attention to detail that sold me.”

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty — Flaherty pitches against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park on April 14.

Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports

Flaherty signed with Detroit on Dec. 20. Two weeks later, Frankie Montas, who is three years older than Flaherty and threw just 1 1/3 innings last season, signed with the Cincinnati Reds for $16 million, $2 million above Flaherty’s salary.

“Obviously it was a different offseason,” says Flaherty, who was a free agent for the first time. “At first it was not like having a team or anybody to go to and say, ‘Hey, what adjustments need to be made?’ So, I was kind of diving into it with my own team, my group, and figuring out, ‘What do we need to change?’ Because obviously, I was healthy, great, but I was not able to sustain success the way I wanted to. I didn't feel like the ball came out the same way. So, we had to dive into that and start making those adjustments.

“Once we signed here, then it was constant conversation [with the Detroit coaches]. ‘Okay, these are the adjustments that we think we can make.’ Now I had somebody to bounce ideas off of and go back and forth and send video to when it came time for a [bullpen]. So, it was a little bit more of, I kind of had to get back to a daily grind. Every day. And try to get back to the way I wanted my body to feel.”

Flaherty did not overhaul his delivery. He still has the smooth, old-school, three-part windup – hands over the head, kick and fire. He worked at fine-tuning the tempo and sequencing of that delivery. Ever since he starred on the mound and at shortstop for Harvard-Westlake High in California, Flaherty has been at his best when he relies on athleticism more so than pure mechanics. The injuries had compromised that athleticism.

“There were points last year where I just didn't … I tried as hard as I could to just be an athlete and for whatever reason it just felt weird,” he says. “I would say that I'm moving a lot better this year. Whether you want to call that mechanical? Sure. But I think the way that I'm going to fix it is the way I've moved, the stuff that works better for me. We really dove into the way that I was moving last year, and it would just be like, ‘Yeah, that's it!’”

An even bigger change came with how Flaherty used his pitches. Back in 2019, Flaherty threw fastballs 58.4% of the time. Since then, as analytics grew more sophisticated and technology around the game exploded, fastball use in MLB has declined every year—down to 46.7% this season, an all-time low.

The change was driven by a new generation of coaches, such as Fetter, who grew up with those modern tools. They know average spin is harder to hit than above-average velocity, and that the shape of spin can be custom designed. Fetter, 38, was hired by the Tigers after the 2020 season after serving as pitching coach for the University of Michigan. In a reversal of the historical paradigm, change flowed up to the majors from amateur baseball, including colleges and private instruction facilities.

Under Fetter, the Tigers have reduced their fastball use for a fourth straight year, ranking among the bottom 11 teams. Despite finding his turbo-boosted fastball again, Flaherty is throwing about as many fastballs as he did last year (43.7%), which is below major league average.

The biggest changes Flaherty has made under Fetter are ditching his ineffective cutter (.545 slugging percentage last year) and leaning much more on his swing-and-miss slider and curveball. He is throwing a career-high 52.6% breaking pitches, up from 44% last year and the fourth-most in MLB (min. 500 pitches). He has cut the batting average against his slider from .339 to .224 and his curveball has the third-most horizontal movement in MLB (min. 100 curves).

Pitchers who trade fastballs for spin often do so at the cost of more walks. Not Flaherty. He became only the seventh pitcher with 50 strikeouts and no more than five walks through the month of April. Even allowing that the modern era features more games in April, he joined a very impressive group:

Sure, it’s only six starts. And Flaherty hasn’t thrown 150 innings in a season since his breakout year of 2019. But one month into this season, the baseball is jumping out of Flaherty’s hand again. The athletic feel in his delivery has returned. So has 97 when he steps on the gas. It took an entire winter, when a 28-year-old free agent starter could do no better than a one-year deal, to bring back Jack.

“There’s working hard,” he says about his way back, “and then there's also being super intentional about it.”

30 Apr 24 Jimm Sallivan

Bill Murray Watched the Cubs Beat the Mets, Rode the 7 Train With Fans

As an actor, Bill Murray gets to pick his projects and largely set his schedule, and he's created one that allows him to check out a tremendous amount of live sporting events. Fresh off checking out UConn's second consecutive national title with his son Luke, who is an assistant coach, Murray was in Queens on Monday night to take in the Chicago Cubs-New York Mets game at Citi Field.

Murray has been long-tenured as the Cubs' most notable celebrity fan and has a rich history with the franchise, from appearing in the broadcast with Harry Caray to serving as a good luck charm in 2016's curse-breaking World Series. So a regular season road game in the month of April isn't entirely a significant entry in his fandom, but it was an exciting night at the ballpark as Chicago broke up a no-hitter late and escaped with a 3-1 win.

Which meant Murray had a happier subway ride back to Manhattan than the Mets fans who also piled into the 7 train. And thanks to the magic of social media, we now that is something that happened.

Riding the train after a Cubs win with Bill Murray. I just never thought it would be in New York. pic.twitter.com/COfoJ69k9e
— Josh (@BlainPlanes) April 30, 2024

Christopher Morel sealed things for the Cubs with a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth inning. He did not ride the 7 train after the game.

Bill Murray was pumped up after Christopher Morel’s go-ahead home run! pic.twitter.com/G12uhs18mX
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 30, 2024

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