More Moyer

When the Mariners began to air this commercial in 2006 I'm sure they assumed Jamie Moyer was entering his final season. At 43, and coming off of back-to-back average seasons it wasn't too much of an assumption. On August 19th, after nearly a decade in Seattle, the Mariners traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for Andrew Barb and Andy Baldwin. Little did they know two seasons later the 45 year old Moyer would be pitching better than Carlos Silva and Jarrod Washburn while doing so for a pretty penny less.

Not only is Moyer the oldest player in the National League - with Randy Johnson running a year behind in second -but he's nearly 25 years older than the youngest player in baseball, Dodgers' hurler Clayton Kershaw. Moyer has been the amongst the oldest players in his league since 2001 and has taken the crown of oldest in the 2005 and 2006 American Leagues.

Recently he hinted that pitching until he turned 50 could be a real possibility. The amazing thing is that may not be far from reality. For the last few years Moyer's fastball velocity has sit right around 81 and his usage around 41% yet that hasn't stopped him from piling 2:1 K/BB ratios up for each of the past three seasons, nor has it stopped him from a 45.3% groundballs this season.

Moyer is a junk baller who is somehow striking out nearly six batters per nine, most of whom are likely young enough to be his son. A lot of veterans are referred to as father figures by the youngsters, I think Moyer might be referred to as Father Time.