ANGELS NOTEBOOK: EVEN AT 35, APPIER ADDING NEW PITCHES.Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer TEMPE, Ariz. - Kevin Appier Afterward, he was quite proud of himself, albeit not for the pitching line. ``For an old fossil like me to come up with a new pitch is pretty good,'' the 35-year-old right-hander from the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley said. In fact, Appier is developing two new pitches this spring, which might or might not explain a Cactus League performance that has resembled a split personality. He gave up no runs in his first two starts. Then, he yielded five in one inning, walking three and hitting two more batters. Then came a breezy 4 1/3-inning, no-walk performance. Wednesday, Appier was all over the map again in what could be his penultimate spring start before a possible opening-night engagement. In a 78-pitch, four-inning workday, he managed to retire Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24 1964 in Riverside, California) is a left fielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds, the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and a distant cousin of Hall of Famer Reggie three times (despite a 500-foot foul ball) but gave up several other hard-hit balls, including a smash by Tony Torcato Anthony Dale Torcato, better known as Tony Torcato (born October 25, 1979, in Woodland, California, USA), was a professional baseball player. He had spent his entire career until 2006 playing in the San Francisco Giants system, reaching the major leagues in 2002, and that was ruled an error on shortstop David Eckstein David Mark Eckstein, (born January 20, 1975 in Sanford, Florida), is a Major League Baseball shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is noted for his size, as he is a small (for professional sports) 5' 7", but weighs 175 pounds. . But Appier is fiddling with a more conventional changeup this spring, one that less resembles a split-fingered fastball split-fin·gered fastball n. Baseball A fastball thrown with the ball held between the index and middle finger, causing the ball to drop sharply near home plate. . He's also trying to develop a cut fastball. Combine that with the fact his spring-training outings are rarely a barometer for how he starts the regular season, and Appier is not concerned. ``I've had great springs and (lousy) springs and there's no pattern to how I start the season, especially now, since I'm working on different pitches'' said Appier, who now has yielded 16 hits, eight walks and five hit batsmen in 14 1/3 spring innings. ``Mechanically, I'm just trying to find myself a bit.'' While manager Mike Scioscia is pleased to see Appier diversifying, he'd also like to see some more consistency from the right-hander. ``Before we move on to those, he needs to get locked in on command of his fastball,'' Scioscia said. ``He struggled with that a bit (Wednesday). But he's fine.'' --Not ready: Designated hitter Brad Fullmer was scheduled to make his first start in five games but was scratched after doctors determined he needed more time to rid himself of an infection in his right elbow. Fullmer has been taking antibiotics. --Minor changes: The field for the No. 5 outfield spot was narrowed when the Angels optioned Robb Quinlan to Triple-A Salt Lake and reassigned Gary Johnson to minor-league camp. Jeff DaVanon, Julio Ramirez and Chone Figgins all are bidding for the final roster spot. Pitchers Dusty Bergman, Kevin Gregg, Matt Hensley and Jason Secoda also were sent to minor-league camp. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: KEVIN APPIER Former AVC (1) (Advanced Video Coding) The video compression techniques used in the H.264 standard, jointly developed by ISO and the ITU-T. See H.264. (2) (Audio Visual C and Antelope Valley High school Antelope Valley High School is located in Lancaster, California and is part of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. It was founded in 1912[1]. It is located in the Mojave Desert. player is trying to develop a new change-up as well as a cut fastball |
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