Does Ivan Rodriguez throw harder than Garrett Mock?
As Garrett Mock finished speaking with reporters after his outing — two runs on five hits in three innings — he pointed a few lockers over, at this catcher. “By the way,” Mock said. “Pudge Rodriguez throws harder than I do.” It was hard to tell if Mock, capable of throwing in the mid-90s, was kidding or not. He was referring to the play when Rodriguez noticed Felipe Lopez was drifting a little too far off second base in the first inning. Rodriguez caught a pitch and rifled it to second, where Willie Harris slapped a tag on Lopez. Mock said the ball took less time traveling from home to second than his pitch from the mound to home. “I couldn’t do anything but laugh,” Mock said. “It felt like a helicopter flying right over my ear.” Rodriguez also threw out Lopez when he tried to steal second in the third, proving two things we already knew: Lopez is a bad base runner, and Rodriguez, even in his 18th season, has a cannon for an arm. “I’m always ready all the time to throw the ball to th
