I would like all the curve players to rank the 5 best non-all-stars in RBI. Would like to put that info in the FAQ and Rankings page. My ignorant guess:
1) Roger Clemens
2) Nolan Ryan
3) Dwight Gooden
4) Mike Krukow?
5) Frank Viola
My votes won't be counted, but just to give you an idea. Any comments you want to add are fine...
1. blyleven: has a nasty hook
2. Clemens/Ryan: very similar pitchers
3. Mike Witt has great movement both ways
4. Doyle Alexander: throws slow but lots of movement
5. Tudor/Viola: similars southpaws; wicked sliders
honorable mention: krukow- only pitcher on sf who can get outs.
jeff reardon: noticed recently that he has a great slider out of the pen
1. Clemens
2. Nolan
3. Tudor
4. Krukow
5. Brnger
thats a tough list to make, here's some others that are damn good in curve-style:
Hurst, Hernandz, Witt, Blylvn,Viola
That's very interesting, I would never had thought Bertus would be a #1 pitcher. Do others agree with this?
pines, brngr doesnt have a curve ball does he... he throws 100+ though.
the pitchers with the fastball-curve combination are the toughest; i.e. clemens, ryan, gooden, tudor(doesnt have the velocity of the others)
In no particular order, I think Nolan (he is the man), Clemens (see Nolan) , Gooden (the drugs are working for him), Senor Smoke Juan Berenguer (too fast for a middle reliever), Witt (just because he is nasty), Krukow for the same reason, and Doyle for all the wins he gets.
ask pines about blyleven who won mvp for the championships winning three games while compiling 31 strikeouts... the guy flat out can pitch and he showed it tonight... he strengthened his hold as my favorite pitcher in the game. viola was effective and did pick up one victory.
Yes the staff from Minnesota was most unprecidented last night, Detroit's pitching officially suck, Hernandez proved to efectively last about 4 hitters, King is bad, Morris is really bad, alexander cant pitch every game.
Congrats on your second Tengen Title win, but you know that is only small potatoes compared to winning the RBI Championship. Someday pehaps!
the best pitchers out there, by my accord....in no real order are
Clemens
Nolan Ryan
Mike Scott
Mike Witt
Doc Gooden
honorable mentions:
doyle alexander/jack morris (youre getting pretty much the same guy out there....)
mike krukow
bruce hurst
juan bernger
john tudor
best action--
krukow
mike witt
tudor
mike scott
bob stanley
bbban, after playing against detroit last night in a seven game series i will tell you that alexander has much more movement on his pitches than does morris... they're righthanded and throw the same velocity but that is where their similarities end.
clemens is nasty, however, you must make sure that he doesnt blow his load too soon.
blyleven was unbelievable last night... he regularly went into the 7th inning amassing double digits in k's.
most starts cant make it through five innings.
viola got lit up in game two but came back to win game 5, setting up the climactic win in game six.
ill give you that gwynn...doyle does have some motion,but id say taht mr morris has more grit....i just picture him pounding his glove on the mound...and i seem to go right after t with him more than alexander...
and is blylevn's name bert "be home" blyleven...cause if not, it should be...
i can see morris on the mound cussing to his glove... alexander for john smoltz... not the best deal for the tigers...
I guess Ithat means the top5 will be Clemens, Gooden, Ryan, Krukow and Tudor. Good mix of everyon'es picks, it'll go in the FAQ today...
I really think Blylvn should be substituted for Gooden, Gooden isn't in the same league as the Rocket and Ryan, and Krukow,Blylvn, and Tudor are a bitch to hit.
How does everyone else feel about Bertus vs. Gooden? I put the Doctor on there because Gwynn was the only person who put Blylvn on his top5...
i just feel that although bertus has better action, because of his speed and durabillity, the doctor should be up there...i know i tee off more on bert because he gets tired in the 4th as opposed to gooden who can still throw 90 in the 8th...
i havent played since i took home the tengen title a week ago... blyleven went strong into the 7th inning in each of his starts. velocity is overrated; if you hit your spots and keep the hitters from making solid contact it is much more effective and your pitcher lasts longer.
if you make a bad pitch with a fastball, it ends up over the wall... you have more room for error with the softer stuff.
1. nolan ryan
2. clemens
3. gooden
4. tudor
5. sutton
glenn,
those are some good choices.
lately, it has been bert blyleven that has dominated the tengen league.
I have to disagree with Blyeven. He is never a top 10 pitcher for us. He has nothing. It must be luck with yall, because we only use him if we have to.
Blyleven is ok, he has a ton of juice (curve) but sometimes that makes it hard to hit the plate. Sometimes you end up over compensating to try to get a strike and leave a ball in the middle of the plate and get hurt. I guess thats the case with all the pitchers with good curves but for some reason blyleven seems to have more problems than the others with this. Also my cousin has a weird baseball facts book that says blyleven picks his nose.
That is hilarous. LOL. Please, if you have any more strange facts, do tell. We have a theory that Franky V's breath smells really bad. See if that is in there.
Okay, I just ran across this site, and this is my first time posting, but I have to say that I feel welcome already. My roommate and I play obscene amounts of RBI baseball, but I thought we were the only people in the world who still play it. This is great that I actually have a place now to discuss everything RBI.
As far as the best curve pitcthers, no-one has even mentioned my and my roommate's personal favorite: Fernando Venenzuala. The other night, my roommate pitched a shutout with venenzuala when I was Boston (9 innings, too, not a shortened game) and then I came back and only allowed two runs when he was boston. Venenzuala may have the worst fastball of any player in the game other than krukow, but his curve is nasty.
fernando is good... but on this site, allstars are usually overlooked cause we seldom use those teams... he is the best of the allstars in my opinion with saberahagen right behind him.
Okay, that explains it. I firmly do believe, however, that boston is a far better team than the american league all stars. The bottom of the al all stars is horrible, and mcgwire is the only decent guy on the bench. I guess this is a topic for another post, though.
i concur... the all star teams have stuggled mightily over the last couple of months. they have gone down to houston, detroit, california... they are playing well below their ability.
My friends and I have played straight pitch for years. However, when I went to college, another group of friends of mine played curve pitch. Maybe I haven't played enough curve pitch, but as far as pure curve ball, junk ball, crap pitching pitchers go:
1. Krukow throws all junk. Deadly corner catching slow curves. Especially effective against Rooks.
2. Reuschel. (See Krukow) He doesn't last as long, though.
3. Blyleven. This guy can throw nasty breaking balls. His shit always hits the dirt even in the late innings when other pitchers can't get it to drop.
4. Tudor. Not as nasty as the aforementioned, but can throw some tailing action that locks up opposing hitters. However, shit left out over the plate can get rocked a long fucking way.
5. Jimmy Key. I know he's an all-star, but he has good junk.
These are my picks for best junk ball, corner catching, strike em out looking pitchers. To me, Clemens and Gooden are slider pitchers. The fast heat can catch the corner, but it is the speed that overwhelms the hitter. Later in the game when they slow down, the curves aren't really there. These 5 are the best junk ballers.