After several unsuccessful tries, 46-year-old Jamie Moyer finally won the 250th game of his very long career last night, pitching six solid innings against the hapless Nationals. Moyer became only the 44th pitcher--and only the 11th lefty--in the history of the game to reach that historic benchmark. He has won a remarkable 216 games since reaching the age of 30, getting major league hitters out with a fastball that has rarely exceeded 82 mph.
After struggling all spring, Moyer finally seems to have found command of his pitches, and is getting people out, just as he did last year, and with Myers done for the season with hip surgery, it couldn't have come at a better time.
Moyer has the second highest win total of all active major league pitchers, trailing only Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson, who goes for the 300th win of his epic career tomorrow night, also against the Nats. Just think, the Nats could lose to two pitchers who are 91 years of age between them and who have 549 major league wins between them in less than a week. Talk about a dubious accomplishment...
Moyer was typically modest about his accomplishment. "I really hadn't thought about it," Moyer said of reaching his 250th win. "For me, it takes so much effort to play, to prepare to play. I really believe that my focus has been on that, not milestones or numbers or personal things. I've been taught to play the game as a team, not an individual, and I really feel that's how I approach things. When you play 20-plus years, some of these things are going to happen. I'm proud to get my 250th win, but there is still a lot of baseball to play."
Congratulations to Jamie Moyer. I've criticized his performance this year, and have suggested that perhaps it might be time for him to retire, but if he pitches as he did yesterday, I wish him many more wins.
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