I can't vouch for the accuracy of this post at Soxtalk.com, but it comes from a reputable poster, and hasn't been blown to bits by the mob, so it passes the smell test. Anyway the info he provided, now 4th-hand from John Dewan of Baseball Info Solutions and the Fielding Bible, is intriguing enough to speak for itself.
Yesterday on the Score there was an interview with John Dewann from Baseball Infosolutions, whom you may have heard of. They track just about everything there is to track, and he was talking about our 5 starters plus BMac, and their fastballs. Specifically, how many of each guy's fastballs hit 90 mph. From lowest to highest percentage, they were Buerhle, Garcia, Garland, Vazquez, McCarthy and Contreras. That's probably what most of us would have thought. He added, however, that Garcia's percentage from last year to this year went from 89% (meaning 89% of his fastballs were over 90 mph last year) to 48% this year.
Anyone feel like charting Buehrle tonight, as Keith suggested in yesterday's gamethread?
Then he added this: last year Buerhle's fast ball, when it was on, was at 85 mph. This year he reaches 85 only 44% of the time.