Four pitches.

A typical nonsense appraisal of a bad pitching peformance is that the pitcher threw "one bad pitch" or "made one mistake."

Predictably, that was the reaction by Torre & Stottlemyre & Pavano after Wednesday afternoon's loss.

Maybe they really believe it, maybe they don't. When Torre speaks to the press, it always sounds like he's playing shell games. Of course, this "one bad pitch" assessment is not true. More likely, Pavano threw about 30 bad pitches and 28 of them were fouled back. The guy with the 4-6 record and the 4.69 ERA is throwing lots of bad pitches.

How do you know they're bad pitches? The hitters tell you. The hitters are hitting .310 against Pavano this season. Pavano magically transforms all of them into batting champs.


My point is, the outcome of almost every game is the result of a few important batters and a few important pitches.

I can play that trick with just about every game. Take last night's 9-4 loss to Tampa Bay. I want to change four pitches:

1. First-inning pitch to Cantu.
2. Third-ininng pitch to Cantu.
3. Eighth-inning pitch to Sierra.
4. Ninth-inning pitch to Hollins.

That was easy. I just wiped 7 runs off the board for Tampa Bay and, giving Sierra a bloop single instead of a ground out, I've added 2 runs to the Yankees' score.

The Yankees didn't really lose 9-4. They won 6-2.

"Yankees win! Thuuuuuuuuh Yankees win!

The New York Yankees, the most successful franchise in sports history, have beaten the Tampa Bay Devil Rays by a score of 6-2, cutting Baltimore's lead in the AL East to just four games and gaining momentum heading into this weekend's Subway Series. Suzyn will be right back with the dugout report. When Johnny Gomes grounded out, it was the 15th out of the game. You can save 15% off your car insurance in 15 minutes."


Funny how that works. Funny how the losing teams always seem to make the bad pitches at the wrong time and the winning teams make the good pitches at the right time.

It's the difference between winning and losing; it's the difference between Bob Gibson and Robert Person.