A good model

Paul Maholm talks to Paul Meyer today about the pitcher he tries to emulate, Tom Glavine. I suppose it makes sense, him being a lefty that grew up in Mississippi and all. He really did do a fairly good impersonation on Tuesday night, with good control and lots of groundballs. The hardest hit ball he gave up all night was Brady Clark's leadoff double in the first. Freddy Sanchez was impressed:

It was fun. He goes out there poised and mature and he just threw strikes. He had command of all his pitches. It was fun to watch him pitch. You know, usually in your first big-league start you have jitters. He didn't show any signs of that. He just went out there and looked like a veteran. He went out there and dealt. It was unbelievable. It was great. It was fun.

Jack Wilson was also impressed:

It's kind of different because you've never seen him pitch before, never played behind him. As a middle infielder, you kind of go off what your pitcher can throw and what [hitters] usually do off him, so you're almost more into the game because you haven't played behind him. It was awesome to watch a guy come up here in his major-league debut and do what he did.

Of course those two were probably just happy for the chance to flash the leather that he gave them.

Also in today's notebook is more good news for Zach Duke. He's been named the International League MVP despite not making a start for them since the end of June. That 12-3 record with a 2.92 ERA in 16 starts must've stood out.

And finally, Freddy Sanchez has been performing well in the leadoff slot this year, hitting .326 in 20 games in that slot.