So Jeff Goldberg at the Hartford Courant has a nice little piece about Kyle this morning. Lots of the same stuff, mentioning his surgeries, how tall he is (no! really? he’s tall? we hadn’t noticed!) and talking about his competing for the fifth spot in the rotation. But Goldberg also touches on something not really mentioned all that much. Apparently, Kyle is quietly intense. So much so that John Farrell thinks the key to getting him to pitch well is to “rein in” that intensity.
Snyder’s focus this spring has been on mechanics and execution. Farrell said the biggest issue is reining in Snyder’s intensity, which can cause his shoulder to fly open, making him miss his spots.
“I do fight being overanxious and I’m trying to throttle it back a little bit,” Snyder said. “It’s a constant evolution. That’s what I believe about who you become as a pitcher.”
Yesterday, in 3 innings, Kyle gave up 5 hits (including a homerun), 5 runs (all earned), 2 walks and had one strikeout. A bit of a bad day at the office. I wish I had been able to actually SEE Kyle pitch yesterday to get a better idea of how his mechanics looked. Since I didn’t, I’m chalking it up to a bad day and moving on. 🙂
I have high hopes for him. That doesn’t change with one game.
I was stupid enough to read the Boston Globe online today. So you don’t have to read it, I’ll sum up the main article in today’s sports page: Dan Shaughnessy still thinks Red Sox fans are stupid bandwagoners who need to be reminded that two WS wins in four seasons does not a dynasty make. “Not even close” the CHB writes. (Oh, he also wants everyone to “Calm Down” about the Red Sox.)
For the love of God, people, what’s wrong with you? Excited about your team? Proud that they’ve won two World Series titles in a decade, nay, MILLENNIUM, where “the most successful franchise in sports history” hasn’t won ONE? How stupid could you possibly be? Why, it’s as if you’re excited for the new season to begin because you have hopes that the team who just won the World Series five months ago and came back to Spring Training with almost every one of the guys who won that World Series could actually have a winning and fun season AGAIN. Where do you get off, people?
I will stop torturing myself some day.
And, no, the CHB doesn’t get a link. The piece is easy enough to find. He even has a couple of good points about books coming out on the Sox, but that gets lost in all the lecturing to the fan base.
Back to Kyle for a moment, there was one line in the piece about Kyle that bugged me. Well, the line itself didn’t bug me, but the fact that he had no follow-up for it did.
Snyder said there was only one time last season when he asked for a day off.
“Just to know I was available every single day for the team and physically responded as well as I could have hoped for, it’s extremely encouraging,” Snyder said.
He writes that there was only one day Kyle asked for off, and follows it with a quote from Kyle about how happy he was to have been available every single day. What he didn’t write was the DAY Kyle asked for off. It was the game that the team clinched the division. Many of us were confused to where Kyle was because he hadn’t missed a game all year. Turns out, his grandfather, who he was very close to, died. In a piece about how far Kyle has come that specifically mentions Kyle’s almost-perfect attendance, it would have been nice for Goldberg to explain why. (And it isn’t as if I’m giving away a secret, it’s been mentioned in other stories.)
But enough nit-picking. For now, anyway. 😆 At 1:05pm, Joshua Patrick pitches against his old team and you can hear it on Game Day Audio – which is my plan.
Have a great day, folks!
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