awyer Puts Silvestri in Charge of Phils' Bullpen I By ALLEN LEWIS "' Inquirer Reporter CLEARWATER, FU., Feb. 28. THE wajr bsseball it played today, th relief men are Just at important us the starting pltchen." The author of the above will have vested interest in those worda this season for Ken Silvestri has been given complete command of the Phillies bullpen brigade. The job won't be completely new for the 42-year-old Chicagoan, a former major league catcher, because he ran the Phlla' bullpen when the club last won a National League pennant in 1950. he is ready to pitch. Now, thitjflvt or alz minutes, and then Manager Eddie Sawyer obvl- may sound pretty elementary, ously thinks highly of Ken's ability. "I have one of the best men I know to handle my bullpen," Sawyer said. "That's Ken Silvestri, who was with me before. I think he'll fix up the bull pen and I'll let him run it. That s why I brought him back." During a lull in the club's spring training activities here, Silvestri was asked to explain some of the facets of his job. "The most obvious responsibility I have," Silvestri said, "is to make sure that any time Eddie calls a relief pitcher into a game Ken Awaited Recall CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 29,-Slnce he left the Phillies after the 1953 season, Ken Silvestri tri said. "I enjoyed working with kids, for they all wanted to learn. The hardest part of but actually there are a lot of times when relief pitchers go In and they aren't ready. "Each pitcher is somewhat of a separate case. Some need only a few pitches to warm up, while others take a good deal longer, Jim Konstanty, who had such a great year in 1950, was a guy who could heat up in almost no time, but he wus an exception. "I'd say the biggest problem in getting a relief pitcher ready is to make sure that he foes through his rotation of pitches. Too many throw fast balls for start throwing their curves. Maybe they have to go Into the game before they've thrown more than couple of curves, and now they're in trouble. "Generally, when a pitcher la called in he has to face a situation where there are men on base. A lot of times a double play will get his club out of trouble, and we all know that a curve ball ia usually the pitch you throw when you want a batter to hit the ball on the ground. If that pitcher hasn't had a chance to work on his curve while warming up, chances are he either won't get It over or it.That could mean yon have to "In the old days, It used to be will be a bad one. In either case start a pitcher warming upj standard practice that the first the situation Just gets worse, sooner than you wonld like, but, or second day after pitcner "I like to have a relief man I've always operated on the worked be was used In batting start off by throwing fast balls, theory that I'd much rather have practice, but that's not always but then I want him to throw a pitcher overdone than under- true today. Some pitchers flon t . . I- 1 1 M I. 4-4 at 44 m j nJ urn lis curves, and if be has time, go back again to the fast balls. You use different muscles when you throw a curve and if you don't give them a chance to get loose you're not going to be able to throw the good curve that may be needed. ' j "The same applies to a pitcher who has three or four pitches. I want him to go through them all before he goea into that game. done. "As I said before thafi the most obvioui tt my responsibilities, but there' a lot more to the job than that. "You have to learn how much rest each bullpen man needs and work him accordingly. If you make him pitch too much, he may have nothing left when he goes in, but if you let him sit too long he's likely to lose his touch Baseball Beat A's Boss Cool ' . i , , ' r f a ' ;l , - z Campy leaves For Fla., Won' like batting practice and, while we don't always go along with what the pitcher wants, we do a lot more throwinf on the side than we used to. "There's a good reason for this. In batting practice, the hitter usually want the fast ball laid down the middle so that ha can get his timing, but that doesn't help the pitcher very mucn. Usually, I want the younger pitchers to work on throwing the hitters tight up around the letters and in but if he does that in batting practice the bitten are unhappy. "We also like to work with the younger pitchers on changing their rhythm and their speed. If a pitcher winds and throws with the same motion and rhythm on every pitch the hitters generally get on to that and it makes him easier to hit. You have to vary that a little to throw the hitters off stride. The same thing applies to the speed of the ball. It takes younger pitchers longer to learn this than anything else, and it's hard for them to practice these things, plus control, during batting practice. A lot of times we can get more accomplished along this line by having them throw on the side. "I've been doing a lot of talk ing here," Silvestri said, "but you might do better by going to Eddie Sawyer. He knows as much about handling pitchers as any man in the game," Ken concluded.