Mark Teixeira thinks he can play tonight after getting hit on the knee Tuesday night, but the Yankees will likely hold him out. Jon Lester explains why the cut fastball is a dangerous pitch for batters:
“The Teixeira ball was obviously a terrible pitch,” Lester said. “It’s what comes with that pitch, sometimes it gets away from you. That’s the bad thing about it. A lot of guys don’t move because of that pitch. It looks like a fastball and breaks in and they don’t have time to react by the time it gets there. It’s tough to hit a guy like that and see him go off the field.”
The Red Sox lead the majors in hit by pitches, as noted in the comments last night. They also throw the second highest percentage of cut fastballs in the majors.
I think pft’s comment last night was right on, regarding the ‘fine line’. Of course, I’m quite sure Lester did not intentionally hit Teixeira. But if there were serious consequences (either by rule, which would be very difficult to manage, or as in the NL where the pitcher could feel some pain of retaliation himself), you can bet that Jon would be a lot more careful with his cutter.
I really don’t mean to single out Jon Lester, whom I like; this is more of a general point.