M's-specific Joys of Baseball? Those being:
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1. Russell Branyan's Bat Drop.
If you play weekend golf, you know the feeling when you occasionally hit one so well that you cannot feel the club hit the ball.
It's a combination of two things -- (1) the ball meets the clubface at the sweet spot, and (2) your acceleration is perfect.
When Russell torches one 425 feet, he's balanced at the end like a PGA Tour player, and he just ... feather-soft drops the bat in its own shadow.
Incredibly gorgeous, ain't it? My fave part of a Branyan mortar shot is the delicate little bat-drop at the end. Man, oh man.
Ken Griffey Jr. had a variation on this finish, also very balanced, the same kind of STP-smooth deceleration.
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2. Adrian Beltre handling a hot-shot one-hopper.
That swinging-bunt charge is great too, but it's the 97-mph one-hopper that can bring tears to your eyes.
Notice how low Adrian's weight stays on this play, and how compact his elbows are. His hair doesn't frazz out like Dr. Detecto's, you know what I mean? He stays compact, calm, and snags the ball out of the air as though it were all happening much more slowly. Not a trace of fear or exertion.
He then very leisurely -- no footwork -- tosses the batter out like throwing the switch on a guy sitting in an electric chair.
Adrian is truly a great third baseman. I loved Bill James' archetyping him to Brooks Robinson. Looking forward to his getting into Wrigley or someplace.
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3. Ichiro's line drive over the shortstop.
PGA pros hit chip shots with their knees. Ichiro looks the same on this base hit, only he's got about 50-100 times less reaction time to get that lower body engaged.
When Ichiro hits a ball with his knees, the poetry of the movement is superb.
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4. Ichiro's deliberate home run.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Ichiro actually HITS for 4 bases, more than half the time he even takes this swing?
I mean, I know that can't be true. But you know what I mean? :- )
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5. Jack Wilson's knee-slide into the hole. The man is joyously creative on the baseball field.
When he goes down to knee-and-hip, it not only speaks to his confidence that he can hop up again pronto -- on any surface -- but it's also awesome technique. In the sense that, the closer your CG is to the baseball, the less likely you are to drop it.
Somehow he combines great technique with powerful improvisation. Like Little O, I guess, who asked about it, said Jack had pretty good improve for a white boy. LOL.
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6. Jack Wilson's aerials turning the DP.
Always a brand-new soccer-player angle on this throw, always with murderous intentions towards the runner... Wilson's body control is amazing. Let's play 11-a-side after the game, mate.
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7. Rob Johnson running the bases.
This guy missed his calling, that being NCAA linebacker. I do believe that RJ is lighter on his feet than any other football-sized ballplayer I've seen... well, Bo Jackson, I'll give you that one.
Fans wonder about RJ's defensive skill. Scouts have liked him since he was in double play. The great feet are all you need to know.
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8. Matt Tuiasosopo waiting calmly on the ball and then delivering the thunder.
You've heard my shtick on this one a few times, I think. Am realllllly looking forward to watching the bandwagon fill up next year.
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Ichiro settling under a fly ball when he knows that he's got to laser a throw in after the catch. The way he sets himself up so that he can stride forward into the catch and then put his entire body into the throw as soon as he can make the glove exchange. Fascinates me every time - it's like his own little ballet, the footwork that he has to complete in order to get himself in position. It's just so darn precise.
Plucky relievers with mediocre stuff and scary looking DIPS lines that somehow continuously manage to squeak out of jams.
The bullpen pre-game ritual
Jose Lopez' foul-fests (he had at least 8 different super-DUPER long at bats in crucial situations where he fouled off 8+ pitches looking for one he could hit hard somewhere)
Gutierrez jogging right to the spot while Melky Cabrera would have run a horrid route and had to really make a great play to catch the same gapper. :)
Aardsma throwing 25 consecutive fastballs on or near the outside corner for a save. :)
Griffey's famous signs (most recent example was the "Where are My Rally Fries?" sign. :)
I read some scout saying "he's a flippin' clinic out there"...
It would be hard to imagine any single facet of Ichiro's play that is not technically refined. I wonder if, in the course of his career, he has put in the drill-time on all of these little things, or if he just goes out and does his thang.
HAD to be on there. :daps:
Anybody heard whether Wetteland is back? Can we assume that since only the 3B coach got smoked?
That goes in the weak list, sending a runner around 3b when it's obviously wrong. That hurt the M's quite a bit this year. I wonder if the M's sabr team had hard data on it?
Was all-time.
And yes...the third base coach was TERRIBLE at his job rather obviously and I'm guessing the Mariners kept track better than I did.
He seemed to enjoy cracking Sims and Blowers up while he was sitting around bored between at bats. :)
The only thing that would have made the Rally Fries sign better is if Blowers had sent an intern into the dugout and handed him a stack. The whole team would have EXPLODED with laughter I bet.
Drill-time like you'd never believe. :-)
Although I'm not sure exactly why. :- )
