After his back tightened during a pre-game run, Rodriguez went into full-blown spasms that left him unable to walk or even stand up, let alone pitch the ninth inning.
Lilly does not throw particularly hard -- his fastball clocked at 88 to 90 miles an hour -- but he was absolutely unpredictable; the Mets had no way to know where he was going to throw the ball, let alone what pitch he was going to throw.
How do you begin to register that transformative loss, let alone summon the pitch of regret and apology that it demands?
There is already an official rule that calls for a pitcher to deliver the ball within twelve seconds of getting it back, but it is never enforced, likely because it sets an impossible standard: in the majors, only twenty-four pitchers with ten or more innings managed to average less than twenty seconds, let alone twelve, per pitch last season.
The Yankees have yet to clinch the American League East -- though their lead grew to nine and a half games because Boston lost to Toronto, 5-4 -- and Torre said before last night's game that he had not thought at all about who would be in his postseason pitching rotation, let alone how many pitchers will be in it.
Manager Joe Torre has not officially announced that Clemens is going to pitch Friday, let alone who will be his starter in the first game of the season.
Umpire Jeff Dupree said he had never heard of a woman pitching in a men's fast-pitch league, let alone seen one, until Miss Fox's debut.
Even getting to the pitch, let alone competing there, proved something of a challenge early on for Beckham.
Ferdinand was impressed by the performance of Pirlo, but added: "If Pirlo was English would he have made the squad let alone been on the pitch?
They were so jaded by fame and money that you wondered how they ever managed to drum up any passion on the football pitch, let alone in life.
