You got Zitoed!

Seeing photos of Barry Zito pitching in his new orange and black Giants uniform this week has helped me come to grips with the fact that he doesn't pitch for Oakland anymore. Barry was always my favorite of the A's so-called "big three", and even though I was prepared to see him playing for another team this year, it's still kind if jarring to see photographic evidence. At least he just moved across the bay, so I can still watch him pitch.

In Mychael Urban's book Aces: The Last Season On The Mound With The Oakland A’s Big Three: Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito (a long title with two colons), Zito comes across as the most interesting of the big three by far. He surfs, acts, dates actresses, dabbles in "music" (or some Dave Matthewsy variant thereof), and in short leads a very interesting life. Both Hudson and Mulder fizzled out after signing their big contracts and moving to the NL, but Zito should do fine with the Giants.

In that book, Urban explains Zito's views on pitching, which come down to some zenlike "throw my pitches, hit my spots, and don't worry about results". No worries about about getting inside his own head, because Barry's always inside his own head. Sometimes he'll say "I think I pitched pretty well" after giving up six runs and getting chased in the fourth inning, and sometimes he'll say "I had nothing out there" after a four hit shutout. Zito focuses the things he can control (the speed, location, and delivery of his pitches) and doesn't worry about the other things. He's like an anti-headcase!

Anyway, in the first few days of Giants camp, since there's nothing much to talk about, there's was this mini brouhaha about Barry Zito altering his pitching delivery to increase his leg drive. On Friday, pitching coach Dave Righetti expressed concerns that he might injure himself with that directory, and the S.F. Chronicle reported that it was like "Michelangelo arriving for his new job at the Sistine Chapel and announcing he is going to paint still lifes".

Zito must have seen that Michelangelo quote, because yesterday he said the new delivery was just an experimental work in progress and told the same writer (in one of the best sports quotes ever). "You don't look at a Michelangelo sculpture halfway done and start commenting on how terrible it is.. you wait until the final product." Today, the Chronicle reported that Zito's new delivery was a non-story that was somehow blown out of proportion. Blown out of proportion by the media (including the Chronicle), I hasten to add.

It's fortunate that the Giants have learned to say "that's just Barry being Barry" over the past few years, because I get the feeling they'll be saying it twice as often in 2007.