Quote Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg View Post
I'd settle for them making it thru 7-8 innings and turning it over to a closer. This 4/5 innings crap every start is awful.
In the '91 series where Morris out dueled Smoltz - Morris threw 126 pitches over 10 innings - thats under 13 pitches an inning. Guys now are racking up 100 pitches in half that. Learn to GD pitch and throw strikes!
Pitching has just changed. Guys don't pitch to contact, and part of the reason why is because hitters are gunning for extra-base hits. A guy like Maddux could easily pitch to contact, induce a bunch of grounders and even give up his share of hits, but if they're all singles with a few doubles, the damage is minimized. Now if you pitch too much to contact, those singles and doubles become doubles and HR and suddenly you're giving up 4-5 runs instead of 1-2.

It's just harder to pitch now. It's also harder to hit now, too. Which is why you see so many K's but also so many HR.