Eric Gagne: Tipping Pitches, or Lame Excuse?

As I posted at FanHouse, the Red Sox think they have gotten to the bottom of Eric Gagne’s recent struggles. They say he was tipping his pitches, and that the problem has been corrected.

We’ve reviewed film very extensively and we felt like there were some things he might be doing which would indicate the pitch he was throwing,” said Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell. “To alleviate that we made some subtle adjustments.”

What the Red Sox reliever was doing was holding his glove down by his waist before his delivery and then grabbing for the ball in a different manner, depending on the pitch. For a fastball he was coming in more from the side, for a breaking ball from the top.

Here’s my issue: when pitchers struggle, why do one of two things always follow? Either one, they go on the DL with a mysterious “injury” (most often a bruised ego), or two, everyone says they’re tipping pitches. How about this one for a change: the pitcher just sucks! Is that a possibility? Why can’t we ever check C on the multiple choice test? Maybe Gagne ran out of steam. Maybe he was nervous. Maybe he lost some zip on the fastball. Why is it always that the pitcher is hurt, or tipping pitches? I’m not so sure if I buy it. I’m calling bullcrap.