All-Star bonus: Giants' Vogelsong goes beyond words
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Also on the cycle-room floor were some great anecdotes from Vogelsong’s childhood friend, Steve Fitch. A former pitcher in the Cleveland Indians group, Fitch currently lives about two miles from Vogelsong.
For years, Fitch has been Vogelsong’s off-season catcher and his seen his evolution from thrower to pitcher. “He’s always been blessed with the fabric,’’ Fitch told me by phone. “But he’s so competitive that sometimes his concentration gets shaken when things go bad. Can he put that behind him and gain the next pitch? Before, he couldn’t let it go. And you could see it when you watched him on the mound.
“Batters could see it, too. Everyone in the stadium could see it.”
Vogelsong doesn’t differ. He started turning the corner on that issue when he was in Japan, where his perception was that American-born pitchers got a tighter hit zone from the umpires. Realizing he couldn’t control that, Vogelsong got a lot better about letting his frustration vanish into thin air.

“Thrilling forward, this 


