Q.  Right on cue, says Roto Champ.  :- )

A.  Ya.  For those just joining us, on Thursday Taro asked about Smoak's swing.

Above reproach, we insisted.  But, when any man is battling inner hysteria, his sports movements are going to look terrible. 

Psychobabble?  Ask any (a-n-y) golfer.  Put him on the first tee with his boss for the first time, and what happens?  You guessed it.  Not only do four checkpoints unravel, but the timing implodes, the smoothness ... isn't, the dynamics become static, and he grounds the club and misses the ball.

You don't judge the guy's swing under those conditions.  Let him get his game rolling and then ax, Mr. Daly.

............

Amusingly, on Friday Smoak ripped a ferocious line-drive single to RF and then Branyan'ed a Jered Weaver pitch about 150 feet high into the deep right-center bleachers.

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Q.  Any tour-guide action on the HR swing?

A.  We think that this link takes you directly to Smoak's HR from several angles.  If not, the July 16 game on MLB.com, and you can find Smoak's moon shot.

Here's the kind of weirdness that keeps you from tearing your eyes away from car wrecks, Seattle Sports Insider and Lindsay Lohan's fingernail paint ... in my own personal life, the last time I wept was in 1981.  As far as personal problems, tragedy, mayhem and posts that argue Tim Lincecum as a late first-rounder, I'm not capable.

I do, however, go to movies and sniffle sometimes.  Go figure.

In the under-stands angle, the super-slo-mo, when Smoak's bat hit him in the backside, I cried.  Not because of being a Smoak fan, but because of the heart-rending poetry of that sports motion.  It was like watching Ichiro throw out Terrence Long:  utterly poisonous intent combined with the still mind of a 60-year-old surgeon.

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Q.  Like what?

A.  SSI uses 25-30 basic checkpoints for the ML swing:  upper body in vertical alignment over back knee at contact ... timing of hands vs hips ... front shoulder closed as long as possible ... weight shift to center and turn around spine rather than swaying ... trapezoid hitter's box become golfer-putter's triangle ... etc. 

But aiki analysis is concerned with root causes, concerned with torque-on-short-notice and with inner attitude.  ML hitters get the checkpoints right.  It's the dynamic underneath that matters at their super-advanced level.

Dr. Smoak lectures elegantly on how beautiful sports can really become in the hands of a virtuoso:

...

(1) Notice, in the super-slo-mo, how casually Smoak's hands move directly rearward just a hand's width.  Notice the casual, non-greedy, non-rushed attitude reflected by the hands in load.

Review the tape until you sense the casual confidence of Smoak's preparation.

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Part 2