Fans at San Diego's Petco Park witnessed something special Friday night: They saw Cincinnati Reds lefty Aroldis Chapman hurl a pitch clocked at 105.1 m.p.h. - the fastest pitch ever reliably recorded on the Pitch/FX system. Chapman did it in the eighth inning, striking out Tony Gwynn of the Padres.
On Saturday, the Padres were still talking about Chapman throwing 25 pitches at or above 100 m.p.h., including three at 104 m.p.h. "That's as live an arm as I've ever seen," said Padres manager Bud Black, a former big-league pitcher. You think?
The previous high was 104.8 m.p.h. from the Detroit Tigers' Joel Zumaya on Oct. 10, 2006, against Frank Thomas of the Oakland A's.
Yankees call for help. Before Saturday's game against Boston, the Yankees held a closed-door meeting to hear from former NFL football coach Tony Dungy's motivational playbook.
Dungy said that he spoke to the team for about five minutes in an informal give-and-take that the players seemed excited to take part in.
"We talked about some of our experiences, and focusing and hanging together down the stretch for important games," Dungy said.
The talk was needed inasmuch as on Friday the Yankees lost to Boston - their third loss in a row to fall a half game behind the Rays in the AL East. The talk did not help, however, as the Yankees again lost, this time 7-3.
Juiced balls? The umpires kept a close eye on game balls at Coors Field Saturday night after the Giants expressed concern to the commissioner's office that the Rockies might be using "juiced" balls when they're batting. Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney confirmed that the umpires were instructed to monitor the balls.