Gavin Floyd was the easiest pitcher in baseball to steal bases off of last season. (I think. ESPN stats have been known to be wrong.) So when he teamed with AJ Pierzynsi on Saturday to gun down two potential base stealers, he surprised himself.
Pierzynski wasn't quite as shocked. He's been working out, you know."I was pretty excited I gave A.J. a shot to throw out guys," Floyd said. "We've been working on that."
"I mean last year it got a little ridiculous with how guys were just taking off all the time, so I’ve worked a lot on my throwing with Chief (bullpen catcher Mark Salas) and J.O. (minor league catching coordinator John Orton) on the other side," Pierzynski said. "Every day I don’t play I’ve been throwing, just trying to get better.
"For me, it was embarrassing. I was embarrassed, everyone was embarrassed. We’re just trying to do the little things, I mean 90 feet, it’s a big thing in this game, especially with our pitching. We just don’t want to give them up like we did last year a lot."