Were the Detroit Tigers really that impatient at the plate in the opening game of the World Series? They lost 7-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals after a week off and there were grumblings about their lack of patience at the plate, something that was considered a fault earlier in the season but something that had improved in the postseason.

But before you reach that conclusion, consider this: Of the 29 batters who faced Cardinals’ starter Anthony Reyes, 20 took the first pitch, 12 for strikes and eight for balls. There were three swings and misses for strike one, two fouls for strike one, three outs on the first pitch and one first-pitch homer.

Depending on the box score, he made 90 pitches with 66 strikes or 93 pitches with 68 strikes. That’s still a lot of strikes and he had a first-pitch strike including outs and homers on 21 of 29 batters. Strike one is supposed to be the best pitch in baseball.

When the count is at 0-1 that begins to makes it a little more difficult for the hitters to be looking over pitches.

The first four Tiger hitters of the game took the first pitch, the first three for strikes.

The Tigers hitters might not have been on their game but was it impatience that did them on? Or was it that Reyes was on his, too, for this night?

Too often it is easy to get caught up in the radar gun. It’s great to be able to put up gun readings of 99 and 100 miles an hour, but it still the movement of the pitches, their location and the control of them that make a pitcher effective.

It does not require verification but it was there in the opening game of the World Series if anyone needs reminding. The hard-throwing Justin Verlander did not have good command of his fastball and gave up seven runs, six earned, and

did not retire a batter in the sixth. There were some errors involved, too, some of them his own as he threw the ball away on a pickoff throw.

Reyes overcame a shaky first inning and became aggressive with his fastball. He does not throw anywhere near as hard as Verlander but he was putting the ball in the right places. That’s what counts. It helps when hitters have that dandy changeup on their minds as well.