Dontrelle Willis is back pitching in the major leagues again, but the Minnesota Twins rocked him on Wednesday night en route to a 14-10 win. Although Willis gave up 4 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, there were some positive signs. He only walked two batters in that span, which might indicate that he has some control back. Willis has been on the DL for the start of the season as he tried to figure out what went wrong with his pitching motion.

Willis’ official injury was listed as an “anxiety disorder”, which many in baseball might say was just a severe case of the “yips”. Yips are a mental blockage that can cause severe anxiety during crucial moments of physical activity. Golfers are the most common victims of yips, but it has also happened in baseball many times before, including Chuck Knoblauch when he played for the Yankees (for about a month he had trouble making a clean throw from his position at second base to the first baseman) and Rick Ankiel when he was still a pitcher and had trouble hitting the backstop, let alone the catcher’s mitt.

Tags: chuck knoblauch, detroit tigers, dontrelle willis, minnesota twins, rick ankiel, yips