Career minor leaguer R.J. Swindle finally broke into the bigs last night on his 25th birthday. The junkballer’s night started off rough; surrendering a home run to the first batter he faced, David Wright, followed by four of the next six batters reaching base. But the Phillies fans in attendance (me!) were enamored by his sick mid-50’s curveball that — from my vantage point above home plate — had the movement of a wind-aided wiffleball pitch.

Swindle (great name, btw) settled down nicely after that inning, retiring six straight to complete 3 innings of work.

But perhaps his nicest pitch was his last. Facing Carlos Delgado with a 2-2 count, the lefty reared back and tossed a 54-mph curve in the general vicinity of the Mets first baseman, to which he embarrassingly flailed at and missed by about three feet. Observe:

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