Luis Garcia Was So Damn Good For The Astros That People Automatically Think He Was Cheating
The story of the night in the Astros pennant clinching win over Boston was how damn good Luis Garcia was. His stuff was FILTHY, absolutely filthy. The rookie was untouchable for most of his start and basically un-hittable. He was chucking BBs up there all night long. 5 2/3 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, and 7 Ks. The Red Sox looked like they were swinging at wiffleballs up there and were helpless at the plate vs the rookie. Garcia was SO good that the internet folks had to find something to pick on so they used his MPH against him. Passan tweeted the above tweet and it got the internet people buzzing.
"HE'S THROWING HARDER THAN HE EVER HAS!!! HE HAS TO BE CHEATING!" I get why we automatically jump to that concussion because we assume every pitcher is using something on the mound, but do we really think Garcia would go out there in a game like that and openly cheat? Come on people. They look at the uptick in velocity and automatically think Garcia is cheating. Gotta factor in the emotions here. He's fired up, the crowd is fired up, a World Series berth was on the line. That dude is jacked up to pitch in the biggest game he's ever been in, don't you think that is worth some extra MPH? Has to be. And he was hitting 97....97! It's not like he was out there touching 103. 97!
Chris Tillman did the same thing for the Orioles in game 1 of the 2014 ALDS. He was NEVER a flame thrower and he came out chucking it against the Tigers. It's adrenaline, it's the moment, it's the crowd, it's the noise, it's the box of WS t shirts sitting in the hallway. He's been dreaming of pitching in a game like this his whole life so of course he is going to be excited for the start and giving it everything he's got. Of course he's going to come out throwing harder than he ever has. Gotta grasp at something while your team's season goes down the drain, I get it. Garcia absolutely shoved in this clinching game, gotta give him his credit.