Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Fri Nov 9 07:13:32 2001

Having watched Clemens for many years in Boston. The best way to beat him is with speed. Get men on base and run against his high leg kick and slow delivery to the plate. When he is going well you have to scratch out runs and this is his only weakness.
> BTW The high strike has helped Clemens. He has always has a great rising fastball. In Boston Clemens was a fastball, curveball pitcher. He had could not change speeds. He has finally perfected the forkball(split finger) and is now almost un-hittable throwing exclusively forkballs and fastballs. You no longer can sit on his fastball. IMHO this will add longevity to his career since there is far less strain than curveballs.

I agree - Clemens and Shilling have the same approach. High fastballs and low splitters. This combination, a binary one, is really tough on hitters. The pitch height (line of sight) changes as well as the speed of the pitch.
The killer is when at 0-2 or 1-2 the hitter tells himself not to swing at the low 'strike' because it will be a splitter and the pitcher comes back with a knee high fastball. Called strike three. Dave Justice got victimized a few times on this and just turned and walked away.
With the extra height of the strike zone, the north-south pitchers can really attack up and down as long as they have velocity and control. Mr. Splitty is the pitch of this decade just as the circle change was the pitch of the 90's and is still the best pitch to complement a low ball pitcher.