Fastball

CINCINNATI - Ernesto Frieri spent seven weeks working on a second pitch to go with his lively 95-mph fastball, and he gained enough confidence in a changeup and cut fastball that, by the end of spring training, he said he was ready to take both into the season. So what happened when the right-hander was summoned for his first save opportunity, in the 13th inning of Monday's opener against the Cincinnati Reds? He fell back on the familiar, using his fastball on 16 of 18 pitches - the other two were sliders - while preserving a 3-1 victory.

CINCINNATI - Ernesto Frieri spent seven weeks working on a second pitch to go with his lively 95-mph fastball, and he gained enough confidence in a changeup and cut fastball that, by the end of spring training, he said he was ready to take both into the season. So what happened when the right-hander was summoned for his first save opportunity, in the 13th inning of Monday's opener against the Cincinnati Reds? He fell back on the familiar, using his fastball on 16 of 18 pitches - the other two were sliders - while preserving a 3-1 victory.

After a weekend of strong starts by Jerome Williams , Jered Weaver and Dan Haren , good-spirited Angels pitcher Ervin Santana wants to join in. Now if he can only locate his fastball. Santana (0-3 with a 6.75 earned-run average through three starts) has given up three runs in the first innings of each of his starts and been struck for six home runs in less than 19 innings of work. "The location of the fastball — that's why we have bullpen sessions — I need to keep it down and control it," Santana said.

— Of all the numbers dotted on a scorecard and drizzled around its margins as opening day extended into opening night, the most compelling number for the Angels might be this one: Number of times Jered Weaver hit 90 mph: zero. There might be no pitcher in the major leagues more crucial to the fortunes of his team. There might be no radar gun readings more unsettling that the ones at Great American Ball Park on Monday, the ones that tracked Weaver's fastball most often in the range of 84-87 mph. What matters most is getting outs, and Weaver got them.

PHOENIX - Gunslingers don't smile, they scowl. Yet, there was Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett standing in front of his spring training locker, his face creased with a grin. Baseball's version of Billy the Kid had become a warm and fuzzy pacifist. "I think we all go through that transition at some point," said Beckett, once a cocky, hard-throwing intimidator but now a wizened, wily veteran. "When your stuff changes you have to react to it. There's nothing you can do. You have to make adjustments.

PEORIA, Ariz. — Ernesto Frieri came to spring training hoping to add an effective second pitch to go with the lively 95-mph fastball that thrust the 27-year-old right-hander into a closing role last season. He may leave Arizona with two new pitches. Frieri has been very happy with the development of his cut fastball, which is coming out of his hand like his fastball and breaking late. He has been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of his changeup, a pitch he started toying with in early February but has used in two of three exhibitions.

— Of all the numbers dotted on a scorecard and drizzled around its margins as opening day extended into opening night, the most compelling number for the Angels might be this one: Number of times Jered Weaver hit 90 mph: zero. There might be no pitcher in the major leagues more crucial to the fortunes of his team. There might be no radar gun readings more unsettling that the ones at Great American Ball Park on Monday, the ones that tracked Weaver's fastball most often in the range of 84-87 mph. What matters most is getting outs, and Weaver got them.

"If you told every hitter each pitch would be a fastball down the middle, you wouldn't get a score like that." Derek Jeter, New York shortstop, on the Yankees' 22-0 loss to Cleveland

TEMPE, Ariz. - Hiroyuki Kobayashi has shown a decent split-fingered fastball, which he used to strike out two batters in Sunday's split-squad game against the Chicago Cubs. But he apparently didn't show enough of a fastball to stick with the Angels, who released the Japanese right-hander Monday morning. Manager Mike Scioscia said after Sunday's game that Kobayashi, who gave up a solo home run to Brad Nelson, would have to boost his fastball from the 86-mph range he's been throwing at this spring to 90 or 91 mph. The team obviously was not confident that the 34-year-old right-hander could do that.

San Antonio's Luke Prokopec pitched six scoreless innings Monday during a 6-0 victory over Midland, extending his scoreless-inning streak to 19 1/3. Prokopec out-dueled Midland's Jesus Colome, rated Oakland's third-best prospect by Baseball America. The 19-year-old Colome had a fastball clocked at 100 mph while pitching for Class-A Visalia last season. But it was Prokopec, a 22-year-old right-hander, who dominated. He gave up five hits and struck out 10.

PHOENIX - Gunslingers don't smile, they scowl. Yet, there was Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett standing in front of his spring training locker, his face creased with a grin. Baseball's version of Billy the Kid had become a warm and fuzzy pacifist. "I think we all go through that transition at some point," said Beckett, once a cocky, hard-throwing intimidator but now a wizened, wily veteran. "When your stuff changes you have to react to it. There's nothing you can do. You have to make adjustments.

PEORIA, Ariz. — Ernesto Frieri came to spring training hoping to add an effective second pitch to go with the lively 95-mph fastball that thrust the 27-year-old right-hander into a closing role last season. He may leave Arizona with two new pitches. Frieri has been very happy with the development of his cut fastball, which is coming out of his hand like his fastball and breaking late. He has been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of his changeup, a pitch he started toying with in early February but has used in two of three exhibitions.

TEMPE, Ariz. - Hiroyuki Kobayashi has shown a decent split-fingered fastball, which he used to strike out two batters in Sunday's split-squad game against the Chicago Cubs. But he apparently didn't show enough of a fastball to stick with the Angels, who released the Japanese right-hander Monday morning. Manager Mike Scioscia said after Sunday's game that Kobayashi, who gave up a solo home run to Brad Nelson, would have to boost his fastball from the 86-mph range he's been throwing at this spring to 90 or 91 mph. The team obviously was not confident that the 34-year-old right-hander could do that.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Kevin Jepsen lost 20 pounds before 2011 and had a miserable season, compiling a 1-2 record and a 7.62 earned-run average in two big league stints and suffering a right knee injury that led to season-ending surgery in July. The right-hander came to camp in 2012 focused on a new pitch, a two-seam fastball he thought would help keep hitters off balance. But he had a 10.29 ERA in his first nine games and was demoted to triple-A Salt Lake on June 4. Jepsen was recalled July 5 and had a 1.67 ERA in 40 games to finish with a 3-2 record and 3.02 ERA. So what's his plan going into this season?

SAN FRANCISCO -- In 2002, the Anaheim Angels unleashed “K-Rod” upon the playoffs. Francisco Rodriguez started the season in the minor leagues, dazzled in a September trial in the major leagues, and wreaked havoc upon postseason opponents as the Angels won the World Series. Ten years later, the St. Louis Cardinals present Trevor Rosenthal. He lacks the cool nickname, but he has a supersonic fastball. The Cardinals might not win the World Series, but to this point Rosenthal's statistics this fall are better than those Rodriguez put up a decade ago. Rosenthal has faced 22 batters this postseason, entering Game 6 of the National League Championship series.

ST. LOUIS - The Budweiser was flowing all over town. The champagne was on ice in the clubhouse. The St. Louis Cardinals were one victory from the World Series, and all that stood between them and a wild civic celebration was a pitcher a decade removed from his glory days. Barry William Zito could not reach back for a 94 mph-fastball. He is not equipped with those any more. But he could reach back into his memory for a double shot of confidence and precision, and that was good enough to breathe new life into the San Francisco Giants.

Here in Fernando Valenzuela's fifth season, the Dodgers' minds have not changed. They still think he's a great human being, which is great because he has had every excuse not to be. For months now--for a year, in fact--the Dodgers have treated Fernando the Great very disrespectfully, failing to score many runs for him. He might have groused about it, asking his teammates to please visit the batting cage more often, but he has not done so.

Talk about your high-powered batteries. The pitcher-catcher combination of Gerardo Sanchez and Javier Rojas was more than enough to energize visiting Central Union High of El Centro, which whipped Saugus, 5-1, Friday afternoon in a Southern Section 3-A Division quarterfinal. Offensively, Saugus (15-10) failed to turn its engine over, managing just three hits against Sanchez (10-0).

KANSAS CITY, Mo.   - Switch-hitter Kendrys Morales had a .290 average against right-handers and a .209 mark against lefties, so it was no surprise Friday night when Kansas City Manager Ned Yost summoned left-hander Tim Collins to face the pinch-hitter in the eighth inning with the Royals leading by two runs. "It was the right move," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. Must have been the wrong time. Morales, swinging from the right side, drove a first-pitch fastball over the left-field wall for a tying home run, and Torii Hunter's bases-loaded walk plated the go-ahead run, as the Angels came back for a 9-7 victory that moved them to within 2 1/2 games of the second American League wild-card spot.