Save Mr Dempster, all of them earned their paychecks and then some.Mr Uehara, a Japanese reliever specialising in the split-fingered fastball, had never been made a closer the high-pressure role given to a team's top bullpen arm because his prior clubs were underwhelmed by his pitches' pedestrian velocity.
His fastball, just like Mr Matsuzaka's, usually comes in at 91-94 miles (146-151km) per hour and tops out at 97.
His fastball is now three miles (five km) per hour slower than it was at his peak.
Worse still for the theory, having thrown a fastball, a pitcher was less likely to throw another next time.
He abandoned his straight four-seam fastball in favour of a "power sinker" with remarkable downward action.
The left-hander soon discovered he had a lively rising fastball that he could command with remarkable accuracy.
It was all he ever wanted to do, apart perhaps from hitting a fastball into the upper deck at Tiger stadium.Now there was no pad in the drawer.
And on April 17th, he generated the first headlines related to his on-field performance in years, by crushing a high, outside fastball for the longest home run (see video) anyone has hit so far in 2015.
Whereas other pitchers rely on pure power, Mr Sasaki' s signature pitch is a "split-fingered fastball" that appears to be heading straight for the middle of the plate like a normal fastball before diving into the ground.
He also performed well in his first start this year, and is throwing his fastball 1.3 miles (2.1 km) per hour harder than he did last year, suggesting he may well be a new and improved pitcher.
Thanks to their defence, soft-tossers like Chris Tillman and Jason Vargas (whose 87 miles- per-hour "fastball" was among the AL's five slowest) managed to be exceedingly effective in spite of their lack of punchouts.The other common thread between Baltimore, Oakland and Kansas City is their outstanding relief pitching.
