=== Ian Snell ===

Video on Snell's seven-strikeout beauty available here.  After the first pitch on the vid, watch each pitch very carefully and you will see that on every one of them, Snell's front knee is now unlocked on followthrough.  ... it straightens at times, but does not lock and hyperextend.  Except on the first pitch, it locks a bit, just late.   It gets better and better as the reel goes on.

The angled landing foot, that's less extreme than it was -- about 50% as cross-toed as it was earlier.  But the important thing is the unlocked knee, which allows the entire deceleration process to be fluid.

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The slider was back.  Huh.   For SURE it was back because it was down -- that's absolutely for sure.  It *looked* tighter-spin.   Am guessing that the slider was down, and biting, because the upper body could release over the knee and extend towards the plate.

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Especially on the first and last strikeouts .... if you pause the strikeout pitch halfway to the plate, you can see how the hitter is reacting as though it were a fastball.

When Ian throws the slider low in the zone, with tight spin, it comes in like a fastball and then the bottom falls out -- like a change on roids.  

Watch the body language of the Jays; they look like they're facing Pedro Martinez as they walk back to the dugout.  Watch Snells' cocky body language, fanning a guy and spitting contemptuously on the mound as he demands the ball back, tagging a guy contemptuously, eager for the ball, etc.

Related to the aggressive body language, here's an article in which Ian candidly relays that he emotionally is starting to feel much better.

Okayyyyyy.  You add that tight-spin, low slider to Ian's game and now all of a sudden that 91-95 fastball is awfully tough.   And he got a couple guys with straight changes .... back to Gil Meche at the peak of his game.  

Great to see Ian show what we were looking for.   I guess this is what Sandy was talking about when he compared Snell's stuff to Morrow's.  :daps:

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He had 34 walks and 27 strikeouts coming into the game, but the Mariners are evidently confident that there's a different pitcher in there somewhere.  This is another situation where it is not a question of sabermetrics.  It's a question of believing in that slider, or not, and getting him back to where the scimitar is sharp again.

Stats are backwards-looking.  ML pitchers morph and evolve going forward, and then morph and evolve back again.  Blend City Baby.

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=== Just Thought I'd Ask ===

Can you think of anything in sports, where you want your front knee locked at a critical moment?  ANYthing?

Does a power forward want his front knee locked when he comes down off the boards with the ball?

Does Max Unger want his front knee locked when he's handling a bull rush?  A speed rush?

Does a soccer player want his front knee locked when he's crossing the ball?

Does an aikidoka want his front knee locked at any point when dealing with an attack?

Any sport, you lock a knee or an elbow and you're asking to get it broken off.  :- )   There's no upside to any kind of sports movement that bears any resemblance to a Frankenstein rampage, a Robot dance or any kind of one-legged waterfall.  Sports are about accelerating and decelerating fluidly.

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No reason for this to be a controversial point.  The locked front knee is ugly, dangerous, static, and illegal in 32 states.  Ian Snell just demo'ed the principle for us.  Let's bank this one and move on.

In any case, Snell throws just (the) ONE more game like this, fluid decel, low slider tight-spin, and am going manic-depressive on his 2010 power ranking.

Buy buy baby buy buy,

Dr D