Let No One Ignorant of Geometry Enter.

(AP Photo)

Good on ya, Wake. It wasn't the prettiest outing but it was more than sufficient.

You have to wonder if the strike zone being shaped more like a dodecahedron than a rectangle is more of a benefit for Wake than other pitchers. As a hitter you're not going to be certain that the pitch coming out of Wake's hand is going to be a rulebook strike and then you have to wonder if the pitch will find the particular pockets of strike-iness or ball-iness of the umpire's strike zone. So you swing at pitches that you shouldn't because you don't have a choice and make generally bad contact.

Of course, the same could be said for a conventional pitcher. But it seems as if even the most mercurial of strike zones, can sort of be established concretely for most pitchers. With Wake, however, I think that the element of nobody-knows-where-the-hell-that-pitch-is-going-to-end-up adds a peculiar hitch to the deciding whether to swing or not process.

Fun game, though, even if they only plated six runs. (Slackers.) I've come to really enjoy Carl Crawford but I think that his home may have really been in the AL Central.