1.   But Nomar Garciaparra, playing before his family and friends from his hometown of Whittier, went down swinging on three blazing fastballs from Troy Percival.

2.   Gone is the blazing fastball.

3.   He has done it without the blazing fastball of a Randy Johnson or the all-world abilities of a Bob Gibson.

4.   He had his familiar blazing fastball and cutting slider, producing countless feeble swings, check swings and caught-lookings.

5.   He pitched like it, coming after the Twins with a steady diet of blazing fastballs, challenging anyone to hit his best pitch.

6.   His emotions were about as difficult for him to control as his blazing fastball used to be.

7.   I think of his blazing fastball and competitiveness, and his minimal tolerance for fools, whether they be his catchers or the press.

8.   Johnson did so, he said, by complementing his blazing fastball with a slider and a changeup.

9.   Maeda is a pitcher with dyed orange hair and a blazing fastball who never performed well in Japan.

10.   By now, the whole baseball world is familiar with the soft-spoken left-hander and his blazing fastball.