I’ll admit, I went through the recent Murray Chass article looking for something “Chass-like” to have some fun with, but the chuckle came via a Tim McCarver quote. Though, the Chass post-quote attribution was almost as funny (assuming Chass wasn’t being cheeky when he wrote it):

“The major reason is lack of hitting and great pitching” said Tim McCarver, the former catcher and currently the articulate analyst for Fox telecasts of major league games.

Gee, ya think, Timmy?

Of course, Timmy and Murray tag team the PED cause-and-effect, neglecting to remember that this is 2010 and that PEDs and “greenies” have been banned for a few years now:

“It’s the post-steroids era,” McCarver said, “but wouldn’t you have to include pitchers in that? Maybe hitters are affected more than pitchers by not taking steroids.”

If the drug-related theory has any validity, it may be that the absence of amphetamines has had a greater effect than the disappearance of steroids. Players used “greenies” for pep and energy, to sustain them over a long season. and pitchers may feel their loss less because they don’t play every day.

Maybe the drug policy is finally working, maybe the elimination of amphetimines is really hampering players over the long haul, or maybe we’re just in the midst of a relatively small sample size of really good pitching.