“Didn’t think I could still pitch at a high level” – Justin Verlander on comeback in Mariners win
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Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander, without any doubt, was going to come back from Tommy John’s surgery and go on to grind, sweat and push through the doubts and pain to return to the mound and be a shell of his former self. There was no chance the Virginia native was going to be average once he was back on the field.
Verlander, even at 39 years old and possessing a Hall of Fame resume, still has something to prove. He has shunned all cynics, if any, who believed he wasn’t going to be able to return to his peak form. And one just check with the Seattle Mariners if there’s even an iota of doubt.
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“I wouldn’t have put in all the hard work if I didn’t think I could still pitch at a high level,” Verlander said, as quoted by MLB.com. “But that being said, it is definitely gratifying to have that feeling again of going out there after a tough loss [Friday] and being able to pick us up and go deep in the game and do what I expect to do most times out.”
“If you’re able to go out there and throw 200-plus innings, that benefit is tremendous”
Friday’s triumph over the Mariners, marked the 227th of Verlander’s career, during which he also crossed the 3,000-inning career threshold when he finished the seventh inning.
“I still believe wholeheartedly that innings matter in the long scheme of things,” he said. “They matter in a 162-game season. If you’re able to go out there and throw 200-plus innings, even if it’s not the most stellar of innings, that benefit to the bullpen is tremendous. Baseball’s lost that a little bit. It’s one of those things it’s hard to put a value on in an analytic world. If you can’t put a value on it, you just poo-poo it. Those of us who have been around the game for a while know that’s something important.”
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Sachin Arora
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