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.
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Maybe he used the same toilet seat as Mike Mussina and Dontrelle.
This is a lame excuse…
“No longer on the juice” gets my vote.
[...] Stuff I read today: College Football is almost here (With Leather) Eat Lunch with the Monday Night Football Booth (Awful Announcing) Charlie killed OJ’s wife (Sons of Sam Malone) Is Gagne tipping pitchings? (Larry Brown Sports) Schilling to Tampa Bay? (38 Pitches) [...]
Unknown big kid comes out with a season for the ages and just overpowers hitters right at the apex of the Seling/Bonds era.
Then come all the traditional nagging injuries as joints are always the weakest link in a ‘powerful physique’.
The fastball also totally disapperars, 3-4 years after being superman, we are talking about location and such.
… and we are wondering what happened.
I dont know why that is since the Eric Gagne story reads as a blueprint for the steroid era.
[...] Stuff I read today: College Football is almost here (With Leather) Eat Lunch with the Monday Night Football Booth (Awful Announcing) Charlie killed OJ’s wife (Sons of Sam Malone) Is Gagne tipping pitchings? (Larry Brown Sports) Schilling to Tampa Bay? (38 Pitches) [...]