As El Lefty noted a few days ago, Brett Tomko has largely succeeded in keeping the meatballs away from National League hitters this year. After leading the league by giving up 35 homers last year, he's cut that number to 16 with three starts to go.
The San Jose Mercury News' David Kiefer writes that Tomko's mental approach is different -- Far Eastern breathing techniques, "a moment of self-discovery" -- and that he's pitched more aggressively, favoring four-seamers and sliders over cutters and sinkers, and thus building his endurance after coming off the DL.
Whatever the change is, it's been wonderful. Tomko hasn't thrown a gopher ball in five starts (36 innings!), after giving up at least one in five consecutive appearances before that. Keeping the ball in the park correlates with winning too: he's posted only two W's in games when he gave up a longball. In both of those games, the homer was the only run -- Luis Gonzalez and Bobby Abreu marred otherwise excellent starts. (In those previous five appearances when he threw meatballs, the Giants lost four out of five.)
I'd like to see him challenge Berkman and Bagwell and Kent and Beltran and Biggio tonight, and win. (I'll be looking out for lefty-hitting third baseman Mike Lamb's power stroke too. Who knew he was slugging .533?)
