Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 24, 2005
Working Slowly

Ervin Santana went the distance in his second major league start, shutting out the White Sox 4-0 on Monday night. It's a total reversal of his first start, and Santana credits his slowing down to the victory:

"I had concentration every pitch, every inning, every hitter. The key for me was to keep the ball down and mix up my pitches," Santana said. "My first start I was too fast and this start I slowed down. When I go too fast, all my pitches are up, and when I slow down, everything is down."

I watched some of the game last night, and he wasn't slow in taking time between pitches (game time was 2:18). He took his time with his delivery. He calmed himself and concentrated between each pitch. His ball had good movement, often starting low and breaking lower. I saw batters swing and miss at pitches that looked like strikes at the knees, but broke down and out of the strike zone. A nice job by the rookie.

(Given his first and last name, "Black Magic Woman" seems the appropriate song to use for this player. Maybe his nickname should just be "Black Magic.")


Posted by David Pinto at 08:40 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

In sport psychology terms, Santana might have been in what is known as "flow" state. It's sort of a term for a state of mind during peak performances, in which an athlete is physically functioning at his best.

One of the recurring characteristics, in speaking to athletes of their greatest performances, is that they all tend to say that they felt time slow down.

Posted by: Mike at May 24, 2005 12:45 PM
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