=== Jeff Clement, Fizzlin' C ===

Is no closer to solving his problems on the inside offspeed pitch, than he was last year.  He's over the top of every single one of them, and the pitchers (even the NL pitchers!) are just abusing him with it.

It's a funny thing, because lefty hitters are supposed to be deadly on low-in pitches.

What is going on is that Clement's bat is far too horizontal on these inside pitches.  Most lefty hitters, who have more fluid swings than Clement's bludgeoning motion, naturally slide the bat vertical (like a golf club) on inside pitches.  Clement doesn't naturally loop the ball in golf-club arc on those thigh-high pitches.

A Carlos Delgado will get an inside pitch at the knees or thighs, and he will angle the bat down, pointing at the ground as he approaches the ball, and will contact the ball about 1 foot in front of his front leg (just after the apex of his downswing, so that he doesn't beat the ball into the ground).

When a lefty hitter -- Delgado, Junior, Ichiro, whoever -- uses this vertical-bat swing and catches the ball just as the bat begins to arc up, then you can guess where the ball is going.  It takes off on a beautiful tee-shot arc.  That's why you don't go down-in to lefties.

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Jim Thome has a similar body and swing.  What does he do on inside pitches?

The fact is that Thome does two things:  he stands farther from the plate than Clement does, and he pulls his hips back to get to the inside pitch.

You might object that this gives away something on the outside half .... but which is worse?  Maybe not hitting every outside pitch for an HR, or getting abused the way Clement is right now?

Thome's never been great on the jam pitch, either, but as he's gained respect he's gotten most of the calls, so he takes a lot of them, and when he's ready for the inside pitch he shifts his weight to 1B and can just get to that ball PROVIDED it is actually OVER the plate (and not six inches inside).

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They did throw Trey one pitch out-and-over tonight -- and he crushed it to left for an extra-base hit.

Jeffy will get it figured out.  But not until he finds a way to deal with the jam pitches that are unnatural for him to handle.   It says here, back up a little, swing inside out, lean back, and you'll get there...

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BTW, in the overhead shot of Russell Branyan, below, you can see precisely what we're talking about with an inside-out swing on a jam pitch.  Hips slide back, hands in front, contact the ball just after the bathead starts back up.

Much as we hate to say it, right now it looks like Jeff Clement needs 300 AB's in the PCL to groove in that reaction.

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=== Junior, DH/LF ===

My son, after Griff's second AB tonight:  "I can't believe how nice it is to have Griffey back."

Me:  "I can't believe how much Junior is cheating on every pitch."

For those who just joined, "cheating" is starting the bat before you've actually recognized the pitch.  It leaves you vulnerable to changeups, and to fastballs that look like what you want, but which run outside the zone (as with one pitch in the dirt that Junior swung at).

Don't panic, now.  Most major leaguers cheat, and cheat a lot.  It's why Jamie Moyer wins.  Ken Griffey Jr. in his 20's, of course, didn't cheat.  But you can definitely see why Griff's OPS is -200 vs LH'ers the last three years.  The M's DEFINITELY need to keep him away from LHP's.   No lefties, period, end of story.

Righties?  With his pitch recognition, natural talent, and epic swing, Griff can still mash righties.  In Safeco, he'll be a legit #3-4 hitter when he has the platoon.

A 1:1 eye ratio -- as many BB's as K's -- together with a .500 SLG based on homers, that's a whale of a fine hitter, folks.  Junior's going to help.

BABVA,

Dr D