PHILADELPHIA – Bud Selig had the right idea but the wrong target. When rain forced suspension of Game 5 of the World Series after 5½ innings, Commissioner Selig, recognizing the forecast of bad weather for Philadelphia, said the remainder of the game would not be moved to Florida.
“No,” he said, “we’ll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here.”
A nice thought. Celebrating Thanksgiving in Philadelphia would be patriotic, linking the Pilgrims with the United States Constitution and the founding of the country. As we prepare for the election of a new President, a patriotic nod from baseball would be apt.
I have a more appropriate idea. Thanksgiving and patriotism would be nice, but it would be better if baseball recognized one of its own. The Phillies, the Rays and the commissioner can stay in Philadelphia until nine days before Thanksgiving and celebrate Jamie Moyer’s 46th birthday. Better to have cake and ice cream than turkey and cranberry sauce.
Moyer, after all, just may be responsible for putting the Phillies in command of this rain-interrupted World Series, providing the pivotal pitching performance in Game 3. The second oldest pitcher to start a World Series game, Moyer followed the Rays’ 4-2 second-game victory by limiting them to one run in the first six innings of Game 3, leaving in the seventh with a 4-1 lead.
The resilient Rays had thoughts of winning Game 3 and taking control of the Series themselves, but Moyer thwarted those plans and propelled the Phillies in the Series-winning direction.
I must admit I did not think Moyer had it in him to stage such a performance. In fact, as he pitched in Game 3, which began at 10:06 p.m., the latest Series start ever, I watched from the press box and was concerned that Moyer might fall asleep in the middle of his windup. Older people have a tendency to fall asleep involuntarily as the evening wears on, and this evening wore on.
Moyer will turn 46 on Nov. 18. Jack Quinn was already 46 when he started Game 4 of the 1929 World Series for the Philadelphia Athletics. However, Quinn allowed the Cubs six runs (five earned) in five innings.
Moyer not only pitched more effectively than Quinn, but he also pitched later. Quinn pitched in the afternoon. Moyer threw his first pitch at 10:06 p.m. and was still pitching after midnight. More impressive, he was still wide awake.
“He’s come off two rough starts for us and I think he knew this was a key game for him,” said Dallas Green, a senior adviser to general manager Pat Gillick. “It obviously was for us as a team but moreso for him as a person and as a pitcher, and he responded. But he’s been that way all year.”
Green has spent his life in baseball, serving in his post-playing career as a manager and a general manager. A pitcher himself, in the 1960s, mostly for the Phillies, the 74-year-old Green knows something about the art of pitching. He loves the way Moyer practices the art.
“He paints and he battles,” Green said. “He puts his heart and soul into his pitching. He studies the game. He studies what he has to do and he goes out there and executes. I just love the guy. I always have. I signed the guy.”
Indeed, Green was the Cubs general manager in 1984 when the Cubs drafted and signed Moyer out of St. Joseph’s University. Twenty-four years later, Moyer has seven children and an impressive 246-185 won-lost record for a career .571 winning percentage. He spent more than half of his 21-year career with Seattle, earning the name the Ancient Mariner.
“He’s one of the hardest workers we have on the team,” Green said. “He’s a workaholic and he takes care of himself. He’s as sound fundamentally as any pitcher we have. He was taught well and he takes pride in what he’s doing. I just love the guy.”
The left-handed Moyer doesn’t throw hard, but that aspect of his pitching is deceptive.
“He knows how to keep hitters off balance no matter what,” said Scott Kazmir, the Rays’ admiring left-handed pitcher, who was born the year Moyer was drafted. “He’s throwing 81-82 and hitters who haven’t seen him are licking their chops. He likes that. He wants them to get a little overanxious and swing at pitches out of the zone. That’s how he gets the job done.”
Moyer gets batters out, Green explained, “because guys are home run happy today and they’re going to swing at everything. He makes them work every time at bat. He throws everything you can name, but his bread and butter is changeup and command.”
B.J. Upton had a single in three times at bat against Moyer in Game 3. “He mixes his pitches well,” Upton said. “He’s been doing it for a long time. He throws a lot of balls off the plate and if you’re not disciplined enough to lay off of them, he’s going to do what he did against us.”
Like Upton, Carlos Pena took a third strike from Moyer. He walked in three at-bats.
“Jamie is a great pitcher,” Pena said. “He’s unbelievable. He’s out there throwing outside corner, insider corner. Looking back at my game against him, I wonder how many pitches in the zone I got to hit. I can count one and that was the first one. It caught me off guard. As soon as I looked up he was coming and I said ‘o.k., just take it.’ That was the best pitch I got to hit all night.
“He was going off the corners, inside, outside, very effective, throwing a lot of strikes. Not only on me but I think on everybody else in the lineup. He pitched the game of his life.”
Kazmir said he watched Moyer closely to see how he worked hitters and adjusted from at-bat to at-bat
“He knows exactly what he wants to do,” Kazmir said. “He was working B.J. in all the time and got him looking and kept him off balance by throwing it away. It’s not that he has an overpowering fastball. He just gets the job done by locating.”
Upton was impressed by Moyer’s knowledge of pitching. Moyer, of course, has been around long enough to learn a few things. “He’s been in the league longer than some of the guys’ age in here,” said Upton, who was born two months after Moyer was drafted.
Speaking of Moyer’s age, Pena said, “It’s awesome; that’s a great story. It’s inspiring to everyone, an example of professionalism, tenacity, hard work. It’s an example for all of us to follow.”