Slow is not necessarily better. But it sure is a nice complement to fast.
Last night the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 with Jamie Moyer pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run and six hits. Slow pitched, in that Jamie Moyer style. The D-backs stood around waiting for his 74MPH fastballs and sinkers to catch up to their bats.
But that’s not the slowest accomplishment for the 49 year old veteran (2-3).
In the bottom of the 4th with Jordan Pacheco on 3rd and Dexter Fowler on 2nd, Moyer dribbles a roller down the 1st base line.
So slow a roller, D-backs pitcher Patrick Corbin just stood by in amazement, stunned by its timelessness.
Arizona 1st basement Paul Goldschmidt needed to abandon his post in pursuit of the dribble, and then two time it back to the bag to try and tag Moyer out in time. Moyer ran slow, but Goldschmidt’s return was a tad slower. Safe. Had the ball rolled any faster, things might have been different.
But like we said, slow complements speed.
While the play at 1st was creating its own freeze-frame replay, Dexter Fowler rocketed around 3rd and snuck in for a completely unseen score at the plate. I was there. I didn’t see it. Jamie Moyer didn’t see it. The in-house replay didn’t even catch it.
“I assumed he’d be on third base,” Moyer said after the game. “Then I looked at the scoreboard, and realized he had scored.”
Sometimes time passes like that. You don’t see it . You just notice later on the scoreboard.
When I got home from the game, I saw my buddy Tim Lyons skulking the neighborhood. He says he was out running, but it was slower than running. More like skulking.
Then he told me about his latest You Tube video – him performing his own The Ballad of Dick Cheney. It’s a nice slow waltz. Slow enough even a guy like me or Jamie Moyer can get up and dance to it. Slow enough that you’re likely to notice.
Here it is here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVlFUt1f-0
