WPCNR PRESS BOX. VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By Bob and Jenny Petrucci. November 4, 2004: How does a team that was just bombed 19-8, by the Yankees, for its third straight loss, so near to extinction, come back and win four straight games against the Yankees, making baseball history?
That is the question of the day, if not of the entire era of modern baseball.
A main answer is simple, yet technical, and also relates to the golf swing. We noticed it a few years ago and notified the Yankees (fax)and Yankees' contacts (email), receiving no response.
VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. Photo by WPCNR Sports
Apparently, after their 19-8 mauling in the third game, the Red Sox finally noticed that certain "something" too (likely confirmed it on video tape where it could be clearly seen) and, out of desperation, correctly made adjustments. When their turn to adjust, the Yankees could not.
So first, credit the Red Sox staff for outsmarting the long-time "Curse of the Bambino". It is no accident that a team suddenly stops the opposition, that was eating them alive, reverses that meal into a very low-calorie diet and maintains that for four straight games. Second, credit their pitchers who were able to do more of something than most Yankee pitchers...that most Yankee batters could not handle well...outside spot pitching with speed.
What is said here basically applies from the fourth game on.
So, let's start with the Red Sox pitchers. The Yankees handle well their straight pitches over, or pitches moving toward, the inside part of the plate. In fact, it is their easiest pitch to hit. However, should the pitch start toward the inside part of the plate and then curve inside more and down (or be a fastball that suddenly rises), not only does that success lessen, it also "widens the plate and sets up" outside pitches. And, in the fourth game, the Red Sox clearly threw more and more fastballs near the outside part of the plate
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They did this, apparently, because they noticed that Yankee batters (with a couple of exceptions) can not hit, time or compress, with any consistency, if at all even reach, fastballs toward the outside part of the plate...especially those that move away, and, worst case, down. It is a swing flaw for major league batters; although one that can be readily improved.
What is it?
Watch a videotape of virtually any Yankee batter. In approaching the ball, and bringing the bat to it, the Yankees (and many other teams) do more and more of something that "opens" the front shoulder (and the entire body), hinders bat redirection (should the pitch move to either side and/or down), lessens bat reach, slows the bat down, weakens impact-compression-leverage, pushes the bat back, hinders extension and thereby makes it even more difficult to hit (with any power, if at all) pitches near the outside part of the plate. (It can also be seen on a youth baseball instructional video advertised on television).
We call it "swinging In reverse". On some swings, Yankee batters were actually turned toward third base or first base as their bats went through the hitting area and over the ball.
On the other hand, with reason, the Yankees doggedly adhered to their "Bust 'em inside" pitching tactic, even with its greater possibility for error. This ultimately did them in. However, they did so because their right-handed pitchers could not pitch consistently well outside, especially against left-landed batters. And the typical "lefty pitcher versus lefty batter" solution was not an option for the Yankees, having just one left-handed pitcher (who had not done well all year). To the Yankees credit, they made it to the play-offs in spite of it.
Not only did the Red Sox have left-handed pitchers that could hit that spot, and this is the pitching key, their right-handers could throw fastballs over the outside part of the plate...and also make them move away and/or down. So it was vital that Yankee right-handed pitchers do the same. They could not, at least not nearly as well as the Red Sox.
More importantly, the batting key is: The Yankees could not hit such spot speed pitching as well as the Red Sox could. Said another way, in bringing the bat "to the ball", most of the Yankees do something that results in the automatic, circular opening of the body which basically "locks" the bat on its initial "to the ball" path, with no correcting "Smart-Bomb Guidance System".
However, there is a fairly-simple swing adjustment for this "swinging in reverse" and all that it causes. What is it? Just ask.
