The Fog has Lifted....

February, 2003:

I, of course, have since let go of the intern who wrote that. Moving on:

February, 2006:

That's hardly the most damning quote, but it's the best one I could find that related to my ambivalence toward Kevin Correia. If the Giants had traded him to another team for a raw A-ball prospect before the season started, I wouldn't have minded. The upside was limited, and the present wasn't too attractive either.

I'm hardly a genius about this stuff, though. Look at the Nathan quote again. It was written by some intern who hadn't watched Nathan pitch in two years, and I foolishly agreed to publish the opinion. I hope I was just as wrong about Correia, because last night was a stunning relief performance in a losing cause. I watched the game TiVo-style -- fast forward until a rally starts up -- after Matt Morris furred the place up. It's easy to know exactly what's going on by following the baseball diamond graphic in the upper-left corner, but you don't have to watch every single pitch in a game where the Giants are down fairly big.

Flying through the game, it took a while to notice exactly what Correia was doing, but it was obvious that he was pounding the strike zone to begin each at-bat. 0-1. 0-1. 0-2. The fastball has always had a bit of a hop to it, and the slider could fool hitters, but the location was always a problem. That's not a new story. Every organization has about 15 pitchers who would be instant All-Stars if they were magically blessed with above-average control. One game isn't enough to proclaim the dawning of a new Correiaera, obviously, but it was a glimpse of the upper reaches of Correia's potential.

He could be a good starting pitcher with the development of an additional pitch, or an excellent reliever with his current repertoire. So could a lot of pitchers, but a lot of pitchers didn't blow away the competition last night. What say thou?