[4] Meanwhile, baseball writer and analyst Bill James argues the opposite because of injury patterns among ground ball pitchers.
When a ground ball pitcher does allow a pitch to be hit into the air, it is likely to result in a line drive.
Accordingly, as Gassko argues, the susceptibility of ground balls to errors results in more unearned runs.
[9] Several ground ball pitchers such as Tim Hudson, Greg Maddux, Derek Lowe, Chien-Ming Wang, Brandon Webb, and Jake Westbrook rely heavily on their sinker pitches and may often be considered sinkerballers.
[12] According to a scouting report by Lewis Shaw, Brandon Webb’s sinker possesses heavy downward movement and high velocity, and one of his notable tendencies is to induce ground balls from right-handed hitters.
Yankees catcher Joe Girardi said of Maddux's performance, "[H]e has a great sinker and he gets a lot of ground balls."
Baseball writer Murray Chass noted the similarities between this World Series game and a World Series game Maddux pitched against the Cleveland Indians a year prior, which resulted in a loss by the Indians, who scored two unearned runs.
[11] In game three of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox in 2007, Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook used his sinker ball to induce fifteen ground ball outs and also forced two 6-4-3 double plays.