Fear not Tiger fans. If you're anything like me, you watched Justin Verlander get lit up in the first inning of the All Star game last night and you worried superstitiously that perhaps Verlander had lost his edge because he's hooking up with Kate Upton. But after the game we learned the truth:
Verlander gave up five runs, four hits and four walks in the first inning not because he had Kate Upton's sugar plums dancing in his head, but because he was trying to throw as hard as he could so he could please the fans.
"Obviously, I don’t want to give up runs. I know it means something, but we’re here for the fans. And I know the fans don’t want to see me throw 90 and try to hit the corners. Just let it eat," Verlander said.
At one point, in a 3-2 count to Carlos Beltran, Verlander hit 100 mph on the radar, and Beltran fouled the pitch back to stay alive. Verlander's Detroit Tigers teammate Prince Fielder, playing behind him at first base, wanted more.
"Ver," Prince said. "One-oh-one."
Verlander complied, hitting 101 mph on the next pitch - and walking Beltran in the process.
"That’s why I don’t try to throw a hundred in the first inning," Verlander said with a grin. "It doesn’t usually work out too well for me."
"Usually he’s throwing that 91, spotting up, when we’re facing him in the regular season," said Rangers catcher Mike Napoli, who caught Verlander last night. "He kind of made a comment to me: 'People didn’t come here to see 91.' He was just letting it go."
Verlander may be right that fans want to see a spectacular display on the radar gun. They want to see the best hitters in the world try to hit pitches at 101 mph. But there were also a lot of people who probably didn't want to see the American League's starting pitcher give up five first inning runs - after all, the All-Star game is supposed to "mean something" now.
You had Tony LaRussa in one dugout overthinking everything, refusing to start R.A. Dickey, the pitcher everyone wanted to see, out of irrational fear that he'd be too tough for NL catcher Buster Posey. And Verlander threw it all out the window by trying to throw through a brick wall in the first inning, just because he could.
Do you have a problem with Verlander trying harder to "put on a show" than to get outs?
One thing Verlander may have made certain of: he might not ever get asked to start another All Star game.
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