Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 15, 2008
Tips on Tipping

Brad Lidge was tipping his pitches, and he found out through an unusual source:

It was 2007 and he had just given up some runs late in a game, a habit that ultimately led to an offseason trade from the Astros to the Phillies. The hitter pulled the frustrated righthander aside and let him in on the dirty little secret that had been circulating around the National League.

Lidge was tipping his pitches.

When he held his glove high at the start of his delivery, he was throwing a fastball. When he kept the glove low at the waist, he was preparing to unleash his trademark slider.

While the exact motives of that opposing hitter will, like his identity, remain unknown, the moment served as one final epiphany in Lidge's major league enlightenment.

So much for the story line that Pujols's home run ruined Lidge mentally.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:16 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Wait, wait, wait. Isn't Brad Ausmus supposed to be a great catcher for pitchers to work with? Why didn't he notice this? If hitters all around the league picked up on it, why didn't Lidge's own catcher?

Posted by: Joseph P. at July 15, 2008 09:10 AM

I agree with Joseph P.

I smell b*llsh*t!

Posted by: Mark at July 15, 2008 10:02 AM

I heard a long interview recently with Jim Palmer. Must have been a rain delay since he covered lots of topics, from tipping pitches to Amphetamines.

Palmer said that the "tipping pitches" theory is 99% mental. The HOFer said that pitchers are told that sometimes to give them a flaw to focus on rather than some other piece of mechanics. Pitchers slow down and channel energy into the pitch.

Posted by: joe in Philly at July 15, 2008 10:39 AM

this would be a pretty easy theory to confirm . . . just look at the tapes and see if he was, in fact, holding his glove at different spots for different pitches.

Posted by: chris at July 15, 2008 11:23 AM

I'm calling b.s. on this as well. There is absolutely no chance that no one from the Astros wouldn't notice something as obvious as that. I've always felt that the "tipping pitches" explanation way of deflecting blame and keeping yourself mentally stronger, i.e. "It wasn't a bad pitch, just that the batter knew it was coming" sort of thing.

Posted by: Tom at July 15, 2008 11:45 AM

I saw Lidge at one point during last night's Home Run Derby and all I could think was that maybe Pujols should have him pitch to him at next year's Derby...

Posted by: rocksfan at July 15, 2008 12:56 PM

The tip was when they were coming right down the pipe.

Posted by: Bandit at July 15, 2008 01:22 PM

That still doesn't explain why Lidge won't look at Pujols throughout All-Star Weekend :-)

Posted by: Hank at July 15, 2008 03:46 PM
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