Baltimore rookie right-hander Chris Tillman pitched five innings against Boston Saturday, giving up two runs on two hits - a fourth-inning double to Dustin Pedroia followed by a home run to left field by Kevin Youkilis - and a walk with one strikeout. "I thought it went real well today," Tillman said. "I felt good warming up before the game and when I missed, I missed down. I felt real good about it, even the two hits. Pedroia, I thought that was a great pitch, but he got his hands to it. I was happy with it. And the one that Youkilis hit out, I went back to the cutter. It's a new pitch, and I was fairly happy with it. It was a little bit up and he just barreled it up." Tillman was a second-round pick of the Seattle Mariners in 2006 but was traded to the Orioles, along with four players, for pitcher Erik Bedard before the 2008 season. "Good, real good," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Tillman's outing. "They made some moves a couple years ago that, their young kids weren't ready to show at the big league level. But now, unfortunately, some of those kids are starting to mature and we're going to see them in the big leagues. They got a chance to be pretty good."

Tillman is the real deal. I like this guy.

Got a chance to add some new phrases to my Pitch-Speak vocabulary from the Tillman quotes Milt provided:

"Got his hands to it" = he hit it
"Barreled it up" = he hit it a long way

I think I'm way behind on my Pitch-Speak vocabulary list. What are some other phrases that I should include?

I was thinking that a pitcher might say, "I was feeling the ball real good today," meaning he had his "stuff," as a hitter might say, "I was seeing the ball real good today," or an umpire might say, "I was hearing the ball real good today."

I'd rather hear that from a pitcher than a urologist.

I heard an older gentleman refer to a curveball as an "Uncle Charlie" the other day. That was a new one to me.

I'll try to make one up:

"Getting a close look": An understated term for the trouser-dampening experience of narrowly ducking a come-backer as in...

"I kinda served one up in the middle of the zone, he swung hard, and then I got a close look at it."

Eh, maybe not.

Bark:

It would be especially bad if you had to visit a urologist, and he started by saying, just think of me as your Uncle Charlie.

At an annual exam, a few years ago, I took minimal solace in my MDs' comment that he had skinny fingers.

Or when one of my clients, who was accused of having an intimate relationship with a 14 year, kept finishing his comments with, You feel me, Cuz?

How about the "yellow hammer" for the overhand curve ball? I found that archaic term in John Bagonzi's "The Act of Pitching." It might be the most useful book on pitching that I've read in that it gave me the idea for a cut-fastball/slider which, for some reason, is the pitch I seem to throw most often for strikes (see "got a close look" above).

I'm not sure if I qualify for the term "older gentleman" in every particular, but I am familiar with the term "Uncle Charlie" as well as "the yakker" for a curve ball.

I am trying to have a skull session to come up with good phrases for pitchers, but can't find anything new.

But I can say this. I hate it when our guys are pitching from behind, it never ends well. And our guys rarely seem to pound the batter inside, which may not be all bad.

Here is a strange phrase: get off the schneid

To break a scoreless, hitless, or winless streak (i.e., a schneid). According to the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term "schneid" comes to baseball via gin rummy, and in turn comes from German / Yiddish "schneider," one who cuts cloth, i.e., a tailor.

News to me.

Speaking of good 5 inning outtings, Millwood had a good line for yesterday's game. If this is a sign, he turned the corner pretty quickly.

We are all hoping for more of the same during the season.

I think Matusz seems to be having the best spring. 18 Ks in just 15 IP. I think on Friday he shut down the Phillies major league lineup; just two hits, two BBs, and 6 Ks.

Matusz is doing what he was billed to do... throw strikes, fool batters and pitch efficiently. Tillman is exceeding my expectations. My (absurd) hopes are pinned on Jake Arrieta becoming the best of the bunch.

Welcome R.O.

It would be great if you were right.

What led you to that hope? Have you seen him pitch, and the others too?

A few of the folks here are fortunate enough to get to minor league games out that way. I am on the left coast and have a difficult time getting to the east coast for any reason. I catch plenty of Oakland As games and a few Giants.

Never heard either of those before, but they both sound like they could refer to hitting a difficult pitch. If I had to guess, I'd say that:

"Got his hands to it" = hit a pitch that you have to have a quick bat to get to, like the letter-high fastball on the outer third

"Barreled it up" = got the meat of the bat to a pitch you're not supposed to, like the belt-high inside fastball

I saw Tillman pitch AA in Portland once when he had just turned 20, and you could tell he was special. Then again, I saw Clay Buccholz pitch AA three times the year before that, and he's about *this close* to being a major-league washout at this point. I will be very surprised if he pulls it back together.

Taking nothing from Tillman, not so sure that is absurd, Ro-boat.

Welcome Shipman.

I've always viewed Matusz and Tillman as 1a and 1b. I've even heard or read people say that they think Tillman has a higher ceiling than Matusz. One thing to consider is that Matusz pitched a full 4 years in college whereas I believe Tillman came directly out of high school, and I think that's a huge advantage for Matusz over Tillman early in their careers.

My understanding is that Arrieta has control issues. I hear a lot of good things about Zach Britton, and it sounds like he's surpassing Arrieta in development. The good news is that no matter where you place your hopes, it's becoming obvious that the attention the organization has paid to pitching is finally starting to pay off.

back in 2007, i had the great pleasure of watching Arrieta pitch in the Arizona Fall League against Evan Longoria, Delwyn Young, Andy LaRoche, Steven Pearce, and a guy named Ruggiano.

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saw him pitch in Harrisburg (with AA Bowie) and he was already starting to show signs of those control issues. needless to say, i'm disappointed, but TNSTAAPP (there's no such thing as a 'pitching prospect'). :( there's still a chance that he'll get it together. i hope so. i love those thighs :biggrin: (seriously, they're like tree trunks).

in May 2008, i got to see Tillman in Bowie. i have no idea why someone rated this video with 5 stars, as the quality is awful, but i guess at that time no one had had the chance to see him in person yet. you can't even see the placement of the ball most of the time, but a couple of angles aren't toooo bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c3noONmgp0

here's the thing, tho. i was still just using the little Canon A95 to capture the video. not for long...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTCXUNC_OKE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0032201730.html

That wouldn't be good. Just like I never understood why the dentist wants me to turn my head and cough... :wtf:

Nope that is a new one to me as well. I am used to "bender", "hook", "the deuce", and "old number 2".

I only saw "yakker" when I googled "Uncle Charlie". It is always good to expand one's baseball vocabulary.