Oswalt going through 'dead arm' period
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Oswalt going through 'dead arm' period
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- When Roy Oswalt was taken out of the game in the seventh inning by Charlie Manuel, he took his seat in the dugout and slammed his hat on the wooden bench.
He wasn't happy. But he understood the situation.
"I battled through some innings early," Oswalt said. "I really didn't find my mechanics until later on in the game. I was throwing the ball a lot smoother. I'm going through a little bit of dead arm right now."
Dead arm?
"It's just something I go through," he added later. "Usually I go through it around 100 innings. I think I'm around 130 right now. It comes and goes. Hopefully I can get a little more life on my fastball."
Oswalt downplayed the dead arm. In his first two Phillies starts, he hasn't used his sinker as much as he normally does.
Since his one-hit shutout of the Pirates on July 8, Oswalt has a 5.91 ERA in four starts (with both the Astros and Phillies). In that span, he has used his sinker 16.7 percent of the time. In his first 18 starts this season, he used his sinker in 26.6 percent of his pitches.
The velocity on his four-seam fastball and sinker doesn't differ much at all in his last four starts compared to the first 18. But he is using his breaking balls, the curveball and slider, more -- apparently to compensate for the dead arm.
Oswalt is confident his arm will come around -- "dead arm" is a phrase often tossed around by pitchers during this time of year. Roy Halladay even mentioned it a few weeks ago.
And if this was Oswalt with a dead arm, well, the Phillies have to be pleased. He allowed just three hits in 6 1/3 innings. He did walk four.
Oswalt is also still getting used to being on a new team.
"I'm getting to know the guys," Oswalt said. "I've been around five days. It's better than the first day. I didn't know what to expect."
We have to get a lefty who can get the job done in the bullpen.— ronrapllc- Oswalt is a solid ace. He is conpetitive to the core and I love that.— Bob65S
- Tom Mccarthy is so clueless about baseball. But the thing that irritates me about him is when we are losing or something is going wrong with the team he reverts to his salesman pitch. Its picture perfect. Its like he doesn't care about the phillies he just wants to sell a tshirt. The way the Marlin announcers reacted to that foulball call is the way our announcers should be. I miss Harry and Richie alot.— Bob65S
- Bob65S, couldn't agree with you more and the questions he asks Sarge are like a second grader trying to impress his teacher. I can't believe that the Phillies watch this clown and think he is a suitable replacement for Harry.— bigtbone
- Bob, good points about the "broadcasters"... I felt embarrassed for both Tom and Wheels listening them go back and forth in convincing themselves that the double down the line was a foul ball... BE HONEST WITH YOUR VIEWERS... IT WAS A FAIR BALL and the ump BLEW IT (not to say we won't take it).— Platinum
- Bob, tbone and platinum: in total agreement. the front office is in love with this guy. The only drawback with getting rid of him would be to lose Franzke on radio. they need to sync the audio with the video like the Eagles do. That would do it for me.— jfl229
YAY! Someone else who cannot let go of the past mentioned Cliff Lee.- cliff lee... just had to say it... for no really relvant reason— wxdavid
- The only thing worse than listening to the redundant sing song prattle and propaganda of Tom McCarthy is that he is pared with that other self important pitch man Chris Wheeler.— johnny eagle
- You are so right about McCarthy. Putting him and that idiot Wheeler together is a freaking disaster.— Bob1
Some teams have a bullpen, we have a pigpen with JC Romero. This guy makes other pitcher's ERA soar. The GNC story makes more sense now and the league was right. Oswalt will be okay... He's a class-act, not like Lidgerhea and GNC Romero that blame the team for their shortfalls.— NRGjunk- can't we get scott eyre to come back???— Bob65S
- DEAD ARM??? How long does it last?...Innings? Weeks, Months? Great time to find out. I think Amaro is over his head but,IMO, he did make a nice pick-up with Sweeny. I think he still has something left.— Edae
- You know you're spending too much time with kids when you think this refers to Oswald, the big blue octopus from Nick Jr.— paigespal
- Dead arm, schmed arm, WHAT an excuse!— Bobbarita
