May 14, 2008
Big Tipper
It appears Eric Gagne was tipping his pitches:
Still, it was another step forward according to Yost. The manager was pleased with a mechanical fix that Gagne made Monday night, even though he needed 28 pitches to get through his second inning of work and surrendered a run.
What exactly that fix was, Yost will not reveal. It appears that Gagne had been tipping his pitches.
"If I tell you what it was, opposing teams could pick up on it," Yost said. "It was a simple adjustment, and he made it. It was really basic."
So Gagne closed last night and succeeded in holding a two run lead against the Dodgers. He did allow a hit and a walk, but threw 16 of 23 pitches for strikes. We'll see if he can keep this up over a few more outings.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:38 AM
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That's exactly what they said when he was pitching for us in Boston. Guess what? He didn't get better.
I'd be very surprised if he didn't keep giving up runs and blowing saves.
Not likely - the tipping pitches excuse is kind of crazy anyway - to see if a guy is tipping pitches you have to watch their motion and unless it's a high school kid cocking his arm to throw a curve ball then it's just not that obvious - most guys are focusing on picking up the ball and even if there is something in the motion you still need to pick the ball up - maybe there was something he was doing but he just doesn't throw that hard anymore to fool people with the change and then he compounds it by not getting the change over.
Only being able to get changeups over for strikes is tipping?
Grooving 90mph fastballs when behind in the count is tipping?
Okay then - simple mechanical fixes are in order.
