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Grizzly and SABRMatt sez,
MtGrizzly I didn't get to watch - radio only. How did Walker's new delivery look?
SABR Matt looks tonight like Stottlemyre may have earned his pay for the next ten years
SABR Matt (2) They did some nice side by side comparisons tonight. He is getting his knee up higher on the backstroke and then getting down lower through the pitch and it's putting his arm above the ball better...it's causing the change split to drop more and, he discovered today, his curveball to have late snap on it and be a legitimate out pitch. On top of that, the new drop and drive delivery upped his velocity to consistently 95-96 mph and appeared to improve his fastball command.
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Just so!
Not wanting to make a value judgment or anything, Japanese coaching is way better than American coaching. Tonight, the American approach wandered round the bend and came out at the same meadow. This happens. Soviet and American scientists came up with similar approaches to guidance systems for ICBM's. :- )
And the takeaway point is that (for one game) Taijuan Walker DID become the Taijuan Walker of the next ten years. So all credit to Stottlemyre. Walker takes his windup like this, he finishes like this, he executes these pitches, he's an ace.
Let's get to the video-tape, based the ROOT Sport side-by-side that Matt immediately called as a vital bit of info. Bad Taijuan on the left, Tuesday Taijuan on the right:
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1) The emphasis on TV was the higher left knee, which is fine. That "gathers" the weight of the front hip back into a better explosion (which element James Paxton was born with in the crib).
2) Far more important is that his glove is four inches lower. Subconsciously. At left, compare the position of the glove to the MARINERS lettering. Four inches can be a lot, or it can be nothing. ZERO inches can be everything; it is the intent here that counts. In aikido you have the concept of "moving without motion." You simply tense different muscles under the skin, adjust the position of your weight imperceptibly. Point is, Taijuan's lower hands and coiled shoulder were one of the INDICATORS that he got his potato-bug coil going.
3) Drop-and-drive, as Pedro emphasized for Taijuan, is fine, but ... notice the angle of the back leg. Taijuan is actually TALLER on the right (and so his spine and the back of his skull is more reliably on the centerline).
On the left, Taijuan is "insincerely" keeping his weight low, as an aikido shihan would put it. He's trying to stay low, that's what is on his mind, but he isn't low at the right moment. He's not applying "Keep Weight Underside" at the moment of necessary power.
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By the way: Blowers pointed out that Taijuan's left shoulder turned a bit more. The above pic doesn't do it justice; the above pic understates that factor on Monday night.
How much of Taijuan's face can you see, left and right? This is "intentionality" (ki) on a subconscious level. At the moment of his backstroke, his thoughts are more back onto his right hip, and the body language (the face tilt) betrays this.
Ideally, this intentionality (NOT mechanical checkpoint) becomes conscious, and then under Taijuan's control, and then repeatable.
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DIVERGENCE
In aikido, they talk a lot about "opening a jar of pickles." Right? Somebody hands you a hotel jar of mustard, you INSTINCTIVELY bring it to your belly button and lever your chest and shoulder AROUND your belly button. This "bring it to the CG" potato-bug movement organizes your entire body perfectly - WITHOUT YOU HAVING TO THINK ABOUT IT! Very important.
That's what Zen is all about. It is five words instead of five hundred. It is a single FEELING that trumps fifteen mechanical checkpoints.
The worldwide head of aikido (the Doshu) -- an old man -- disarms a (staged) knife attacker by bringing the opponent's energy to the CG, the "hara," the knot on his Gi belt. Notice the light and easy organization of every muscle in his body, the perfect balance with just a gentle dash of enthusiasm on the forward lean:
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If you go over the DVR tape, you will see the difference in Taijuan's motion. He brought his energy back to his right hip. He gathered it to his hip, he leisurely savored the gather, and then he smoothly fired his body energy down a tube into the target.
That cleaned up every. thing. else. And the Angels were very lucky that they were not the victims of a perfect game, 9 0 0 0 0 12.
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The above slide shows how much earlier the Bad Taijuan was to rush through the experience and get it over with, like a 12-handicapper in a sand trap. Greed for success, right Moe? Perhaps Keith will speak to the way some PGA stars seem to "savor" their swing experience on the backswing.
Also, Taijuan's right shoulder is dipped a little bit back toward the CF. His right hand is pleasingly low. It all goes to the issue of that mustard jar on the right side of the pants belt.
Stottlemyre spoke in terms of "staying back longer on the mound" and this fixed Taijuan. Personally I'd much rather Taijuan lock in a more compelling idea, such as the one given above.
;- )
But as fans, what we are left with is hoping that Taijuan does it the same way next time. Maybe he'll watch video tapes and kinda get it. What a shihan might do, though, is actually grab three or four hotel mustard jars, have Taijuan wind up, open them at his back hip, take a count, and then fire down the centerline. What, four reps, and he's got it for life?
It sounds funny. But senseis in Japan can and do fix people easily, and for a lifetime, with just this kind of Zen-like feeling. (No disrespect to American coaches, who of course SEARCH FOR the same kind of super-simple, compelling fixes. It's just that they don't prioritize the center of gravity quite as much.)
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Above, notice that Bad Taijuan is still crouched after the delivery. He's TRYING to stay low; what he is not doing is ORGANIZING ALL MOVING PARTS around a low focal point.
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On the right, Taijuan slides easily and smoothly to a more forward point down the center. It looks drop and drive, but Taijuan wasn't exploding off his back foot with an "AAaarrgggh!" He was just gathering, and then accelerating naturally. If you've got 400 lbs. of gathering backward, it is your natural response to accelerate heavily 400 lbs. forward.
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DR'S PROGNOSIS
At certain times, Taijuan's glove came back up during the game. At other times, he rushed a bit in his "greed" to crack off a breaking ball that would embarrass the hitter. Generally, his consistency rated a good 8, 9 out of 10. It usually takes time to re-learn mechanics.
Once again, Dr. D firmly insists that it would be POSSIBLE to lock in this concept in ten bullpen pitches. Since you and I are just fans, we're left with cheering on the pitching coaches as they triangulate Taijuan's fix in terms of several mechanical checkpoints. I'm optimistic. :- )]
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HYPHEN
Ryan-Rowland Smith gushed that Taijuan was consistently 95-96 MPH (and the location was tear-jerking) precisely because --- > he wasn't uncertain about his mechanics. That's Zen.
The overhand curve was Beckett-like, and the 89 MPH changeup was thrown at the knees with élan and deception. You know what? The curve was up to 78-79, brisk release, precisely where Lloyd McClendon (as a fine ML hitter) thought it should be. The right gather of energy fixed absolutely everything.
This was the guy you were hoping for, three years from now. If Game Seven were tomorrow, and you knew Taijuan was going to pitch like this, you'd have a hard time deciding between Taijuan and Zeus. If it's Strat-O-Matic, Felix would be third on that list for my paper-board team.
Next Taijuan game will be interesting, will it not?
Be Afraid,
Dr D
