Bowden answers as the captain calls the shots

August 31, 2008 | Providence Journal | By Steve Krasner

 

Well, almost all the shots!


"I think I shook Varitek off one time, and the one time I did it was a base hit (laughs), so I probably shouldn't have shook him off. Piersynksi I think, it was a fastball away." -- Michael Bowden on his first start as a Major Leaguer

 


BOSTON — Boston manager Terry Francona didn’t want to overload Michael Bowden with advice before his first major-league start last night against Chicago.


Basically what Francona told Bowden was that he should throw whatever pitch called for by catcher and team captain Jason Varitek. It was reminiscent of the advice Nook Laloosh received from his veteran catcher Crash Davis in the movie, Bull Durham — “Don’t think, Meat. Just throw.”


So last night, with Varitek’s pitch-calling help and the ability to put enough of his pitches where Varitek wanted them, Bowden was able to limit the powerful hard-hitting White Sox to two runs in five innings (89 pitches) in winning his debut, 8-2, at Fenway Park.


Varitek, sensing the nervousness the youngster felt in his first big-league start, tried to get Bowden, who will turn 22 on Sept. 9, into a comfort zone by calling for fastball after fastball. The first time through the Chicago lineup Bowden threw 42 pitches — 35 of which were fastballs, all in the 90-94 mph range.


The right-hander didn’t throw his first changeup until his 41st pitch of the outing, to Joe Crede, the ninth batter he faced. To that point, he had thrown only six curveballs, three to Nick Swisher in notching his first big-league whiff, ending the second.


Of course, the White Sox caught on to his dependence on the fastball and were sitting on it, which helped Crede crush a 2-and-2 fastball off the center-field wall for a leadoff triple in the third.


That’s when Varitek changed Bowden’s attack, mixing in changeups. His second time through the lineup, Bowden threw 31 pitches, 11 of which were changeups and three were curveballs. His third time through, which consisted of four batters before he was lifted, was a mixture of all three of his pitches.


There were a few at-bats that stood out from a pitch-calling and execution standpoint.


In the fourth, the White Sox, trailing by 5-2, had runners at second and third with two outs. Swisher was at the plate. The count went to 3 and 1. More often than not, the pitcher will throw a fastball in that situation.


But the Sox had first base open, Swisher was batting left-handed and there was a right-handed hitter on-deck. Varitek called for a changeup. A surprised Swisher, clearly expecting a fastball, waved at it and missed it, running the count full.


Now Swisher, who had flailed and missed a curveball in the dirt for a strikeout in the second, had no idea what Bowden would be throwing. Varitek called for two fastballs. Swisher fouled each back.


Then he called for a changeup. Bowden executed it perfectly. Swisher was frozen, unable to take the bat off his shoulder as strike three floated over the heart of the plate at 84 mph.


In the fifth, with two on and one out, Bowden faced two power threats, Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye. After a meeting on the mound with pitching coach John Farrell, Varitek had Bowden pump in four fastballs to Quentin, who flied out to left on the final one.

Then the sequence to Dye was fastball (called strike), changeup (strike, waving) curveball (ball in dirt) and fastball (flyout to the warning track in left).


After the game, Bowden said he shook off Varitek just once, in the fifth inning, and A.J. Pierzynski stroked a single.

Bowden could use some work on his secondary pitches, but what 21-year-old rookie making his debut doesn’t? And five innings isn’t extraordinary.


Overall, though, with Varitek’s help and his own composure and stuff, it was a very promising first outing for Michael Bowden.

No give-up in Guillen


An interesting note from the White Sox side of things.


Manager Ozzie Guillen plays every game down to the last out and run, even to the point of seeming ridiculousness.


He especially likes to utilize the intentional walk. He ordered one with Chicago losing, 8-0, in the eighth Friday night, and last night he had his pitchers issue intentional walks with his team down 7-2 in the seventh and 8-2 in the eighth.


Guillen, obviously, does not own a white flag.