Ha! This isn't about a body part. It's about a whole body, a substantial amount of body, 285 pounds worth of location and command from the fertile pitching fingers of Bartolo Colon, the 42-year-old rotation mainstay in New York's northeast outer borough.
Colon stymied Baltimore last night on a few feeble singles and an eighth inning home run en route to a Mets 3-2 triumph. Colon has now spun victory against the Orioles for seven different teams, a record for any pitcher against any team. Too bad the Expos didn't play Baltimore during Colon's stint there in 2002.
As any baseball fan knows, Bartolo Colon's career has followed a serpentine roller coaster path. In his early career he anchored the Indians' pennant-winning teams of the late 90s, going 135-75 with an ERA 19% below average, a Cy Young and as many as 10 strikeouts per nine innings.
Then from 2006-2010, injury, ineffectiveness and a year out of the league seemed to doom his career. In just 257 innings over those five seasons he was 14-21, 5.18.
Two years ago, he rejuvenated his career with Oakland, going 18-6, 2.65 and garnering Cy Young votes again. At age 40 he might have authored his best season.
And now this year, at age 42 and with the body of a mall cop, he's 5-1, 2.90. But he's doing it differently. Colon no longer brings heat; instead, he commands his pitches and ping-pongs the batter's eyeballs with his location. He hasn't fanned 10 in a game in eight years. After averaging three-and-a-half walks per nine in his early career, he's down to one-and-a-half now.
Last night Colon whiffed nine without walking anyone, bamboozling O's catcher Caleb Joseph with his high 80s tepidness. You couldn't have predicted it early on, but Bartolo Colon is a pitching savant.
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