Any idea why Greg Maddux has found his old magic?

[blueedwards]

Maddux CAREER H/W ratio just 1.13.

Randy Johnson H/W ratio 1.17
Roger Clemens H/W ratio 1.17
Bob Gibson 1.19
Koufax 1.06 (* only pitched til age 30 though)

that is a pretty amazing stat...especially considering that gibson and koufax pitched in an era when a 3-2 game was the norm. no juiced ball, juice hitters, small parks, low mounds, etc.

the one knock on maddux is that he never came up big in the big games (except in 1995). if he had a few curt schilling like world series or playoff games...everyone would say he is one of the best ever.

 

[CHOPTALK]

dont really know the reason however, the one thing i noticed the last couple of years when he wasnt so good...he left the ball up quite a bit. because he doesnt throw hard, when the ball is up in the zone, it gets hammered. this year, everything is down.

I think you nailed it BLUE. Who knows, the guy may pitch another 5 years and come close to 400 wins. I think his goal is to pass Warren Spann at 363. He could do it.

 

[royalfan]

He has found a way to get slightly more LATE movement on his pitches. Just a little more late movement can make a TON of difference as it makes the ball harder to put the barrell on. He is truly incredible.

 

[D2bets]

Imagine where this team would be with Prior and Wood healthy? On top if that Carlos Zambrano has even won a game yet!

The NL Central is on fire.

Might not be only an imagination for very long. Wood should be back in 2-3 weeks and Prior another 2-3 weeks behind, with Wade Miller right around then as well.

 

[DIIICapper]

on espn today they reported that maddux really upped his offseason conditioning program. hope he's not peaking too early.

 

[zone136]

No doubt he will go down as one of the best, but it is a shame as far as the playoffs go he will be known as a failure.

His overall numbers are not bad. 11-14 With an era of 3.22.
My opinion Bobby Cox and Leo Mazzone groomed him for failure in the playoffs by deciding he is only good for 70-90 pitches a game. During the regular season he was never asked to get that extra out. Just as soon as he was even a little bit tired he was out of the game.

It is the reason the Braves only won one World Series. So many games decided with their best pitchers on the bench. What they should have done is use their bullpen for the first 3 innings and brought Glavine and Maddux in the forth so they had something left in the eighth and nineth.

Oh and about doctoring the ball he never did it, but you can bet your ass if he got a ball with a nick in it he knew what to do with it.

 

[WVU]

This pitching ace has won 15 Gold Glove awards which should account for many of those wins as well. He will go down as the best fielding pitcher ever.

 

[blueedwards]

he used to be able to hit pretty good as well.

 

[jeckll]

Several valid reasons have been mentioned above, including that he's managing to keep the ball down almost all the time now, he's got more late movement, and I think he found his screwball again...

Didn't seem to have it the past few years with the Cubs but I get WGN on TV and have managed to watch a large part of his games and that screwball is WORKING this season :toast:

 

[TonyMar]

First thing is he is 100% healthy. The talk is that last year he suffered from hip and low back problems for most of the season, and as the usual he never complained or made an issue about it.

Second key was previously mentioned in this thread...he is in the best shape of his life.

Love to watch him pitch...hope that he continues this way and gets to start for the NL in the mid-summers classic.

 

[tkf18ny]

The comment about Clemens Johnson and Maddux in the playoffs is laughable. While for the most part they have not been Curt Shilling dominant theyve pitched very well.As usaual people place way too much emphasis on a pitchers win loss record.Wins and losses are a team stat.
Everyone talks about Andy Pettites playoff "clutchness" which as a Yankees fan always made me laugh. he is a good p itcher but his playoff success is vastyly overrated.People liked to bring up game 5 in Atlanta in 1996, but conviently forget to mention he got bombed in game 1 ( and for that matter pitched so bad in game 6 in Arizona in 2001 that Randy Johnson didnt have to pitch a complete game-no way Brenly was bringing Kim in again- so he was able to pitch the next night) Ironically Pettites best post season was 2003 where he received no credit.
The reality is that Johnson and Maddux pitched with a crappy closer where Pettite had Rivera to pitch the last 2 innings in his wins. Ironically clemens pitched his ass off in Game 7 of the 2001 WS just to have Rivera blow it.