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This is a video of the most embarrassing moment in Dodgers history, please look away:
Just for some comparison to the Koufax videos posted earlier, here’s a video of Don Drysdale. As I said before, Drysdale was a much bigger man that Koufax, and therefore didn’t need to use as much of his body to throw the ball hard. Where, Koufax was smooth and elegant, Drysdale was rough and deceptive. Notice how he does a good job in bringing his arm back, but then instead of bringing it forward in a circular motion like Koufax he just sort of lifts it up and pushes with his elbow. This can be a very tricky motion for batters, as it makes it hard to find the ball. It’s similar to Mark Prior, except without the violent elbow and shoulder motion that has ruined Prior’s career. Being a small guy, Prior’s body also probably had trouble protecting itself from the violent forces exerted by this pitching style. Note that at 32 seconds in Drysdale has that same “inverted W” form that many believe has caused elbow problems in guys like Prior (and probably will cause problems for new Arizona Diamondback Ian Kennedy). Drysdale’s body was big enough to withstand the injuries this type of motion often causes.
For some reason I feel like posting a bunch of Sandy Koufax videos today. Here’s a great one of him in color. There’s a lot you young kids can learn from Koufax’s motion and his mechanics. For one, notice the hip rotation. He uncoils his hip before his front foot lands so his hip is square with the before his arm even starts to come forward. Some instructors call that separation, where his hip is square to the plate and his shoulders are square to 1st base. Also note the bend in his lower back as he comes forward. It’s almost as if his chest is leading the rest of his upper body and arms through in a whip like manner. By using his whole body, Koufax was able to generate significant speed despite not having a huge frame. Contrast that with his teammate Don Drysdale, who used his football player body to generate speed. Koufax was the Tim Lincecum of his time, but obviously much better.
I just can’t get over how awesome these slow motion video captures of Sandy Koufax pitching are. Wait for the shots of the curveball dropping off the table. Holy hell his stuff was nasty.
While it seems much of the baseball world is centered in the New York-Boston corridor, there’s a decent possibility we could actually see an All-Los Angeles World Series this year. The Angels and Dodgers will both finish this season with over 90 wins, and I think both are contenders to make it through those brutal first two rounds of the playoffs. While many in New York and Boston will grumble, I think a Los Angeles based World Series would be a good thing for baseball, even if it might mean lower ratings.
Baseball has been losing its grip on southern California for a long time. With so many other sports available to play year round, baseball has way too much competition. The big sports celebrities are basketball players or college football players around here, while few could name anyone on the Dodgers or Angels roster other than Manny and Vladdy. I think a World Series that never has to leave Los Angeles would attract more attention to the sport and help it gain in popularity in the long run by forcing SoCal’ers to choose one team to root for. Just making that choice brings them closer to the sport of baseball. They certainly don’t have to make that choice when the Yankees play the Red Sox.
We’ve seen too many east coast matchups in recent years, and most of them have stunk. Last year’s World Series between the Phillies and Rays should have been exciting, but for some reason it just wasn’t. The Rays don’t have that many fans and play in the worst stadium in baseball, and Phillies fans are rude and savage human beings who I wouldn’t want to be around. You can’t empathize with either one. The Red Sox have broken their curse and won 2 championships in the past 5 years, but neither have been exciting Series’. The Red Sox swept each time. Can you really stay on the edge of your seat when the Sox are up 6 runs in Game 4 having already won the first 3 games? Only if you’re a Red Sox fan, I suppose.
West Coast Series’ have produced some memorable moments. Who can forget the rally monkey, Gibson’s blast off Eckersley, or the fear of experiencing an actual earthquake SoCal-style? You just can’t replicate that in a 35-degree Yankee Stadium at 12:30am in late-October/early-November. You never have to worry about the time with a west coast game, because they always start early enough in local time so that it’s not early morning on the west coast by the time the game gets done. An 8:00pm starting time EST means the game is actually starting at 5:00pm out here. That means half the game gets played with daylight and we all get to see a beautiful sunset over the Pacific.
Let’s get out there and cheer on our Dodgers and hope for a Dodgers-Angels World Series in 2009!
I recently came across this current live auction for Pee Wee Reese’s original game-worn Brooklyn Dodgers cap. I know many people out there have inquired about Brooklyn Dodger’s caps and where they can buy ones that look just like the originals (most places that sell Brooklyn Dodgers caps are selling look-alikes with many flaws), but this is one that actually is an original. I have a few readers who have plans to make a Dodgers cap of their own, and just the picture from this auction might help them get the authentic color and also the correct style of “B” that was used and so many other places get wrong.
Former Twin/Yankee/Phillie Eric Milton made his way back to the majors on Tuesday night, giving up just 1 run on his way to earning his first win in the bigs since 2006. LA’s 7-1 victory included a 3 for 4 performance from Juan Pierre that included a triple. Pierre has really flourished in Manny Ramirez’s absence and is showing the star quality that was once expected of him and predicted by every baseball video game of the early 2000’s (go ahead and try a season simulation on MLB 2001, 75% of the time Pierre breaks the record for hits in a season).
Manny Ramirez may be suspended until early July, but he’s still running 4th in All Star voting with well over a million votes. Manny will be back just in time for the game should he receive enough votes to be selected, and for the National League’s sake fans should be hoping he is. I don’t think there’s any sane people out there who could convince me that Manny isn’t better than 3 other outfielders in the NL.
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