May 17, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Kevin Slowey (45) heads back to the dugout during the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

drubbing (n)

1. a beating, as with a stick, cudgel, etc.

2. a comprehensive or heavy defeat

That pretty much sums up Kevin Slowey’s outing tonight against Arizona. Giving up three homers in three consecutive innings probably has Slowey sitting on the post-game training table with icepacks around his neck because of the whiplash generated by watching the exit trajectory of his pitches. Wade LeBlanc finally came in to relieve Slowey in the fourth, and put up four innings of 1-run ball before yielding to Rauch and Webb for the last two.

The Marlins offense wasn’t much better, filling the bases before grounding into inning-ending double plays. Rob Brantly finally hit a chip shot RBI that plated the first run for the Marlins in the seventh inning. Placido Polanco tapped the other run across as a ninth-inning afterthought.  Juan Pierre was able to swipe another bag, but the team stranded six and went 3-8 RISP.

Defensively, two double plays were turned, and no one booted a ball, so there’s that. Maybe what we need to do is to fire Rich and Tommy up in the telecast booth and to drag Bob Uecker out of retirement and put a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in front of him to try and capture some of that Major League magic. Lord knows the roster is almost a perfect match, as is the owner. Why not the broadcast booth?  Maybe we can find a couple of irascible Japanese groundskeepers to really round out the cast.

In other less-than-happy news, Giancarlo Stanton still can’t even jog on his sprung hammy.  The 15-day DL trip might stretch to 60. Kudos to Marcell Ozuna for stepping up so well.

Sep 8, 2011; Green Bay, WI, USA; NBC tv camera during the game between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. The Packers defeated the Saints 42-34. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Momentous times, sports fans! Yesterday, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013.  In short, the bill proposes to undo two serious complaints for many of the country’s cable TV subscribers: bundling and sports blackouts.

The bill predicates certain regulatory benefits on providers offering a la carte programming.  In other words, it tells providers that if they don’t offer a la carte programming, they can say goodbye to regulatory benefits such as retransmission consent, syndication exclusivity, and blackouts. Basically, the bill holds some regulatory axes over the necks of providers that will “encourage” a la carte programming.  You can almost hear the FCC now: “Nice Cable TV business you have there.  It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.”

In short, baseball fans, if this bill gets support and becomes law, you will no longer need to pay for 37 soccer and curling channels for $49 bucks a month just to get the $5 per month MLB Network. Contact links for your Congressman and Senators can be found here and here.

Regular readers will recall my rant of a letter to the MLB earlier this season regarding their blackout policy. Also in the bill is a near-afterthought section that forces the removal of blackout restrictions on sporting events in markets where the event takes place at a stadium funded with public money.  For Marlins fans with MLB.TV subscriptions, that is welcome news indeed.

Apr 29, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez (16) throws against the New York Mets in the first inning at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Last Saturday, Jose Fernandez threw seven innings of one-hit baseball.  At 20 years old, Fernandez is showing signs of being the Marlins’ rotation ace. It seems like it might be a good time to review his pitching mechanics.

Part One:  The Approach

Devoid of the theatrics and twitches endemic to pitchers like Heath Bell, Fernandez’ approach is relaxed and confident. Standing square to the plate and holding the ball in his glove at roughly sternum high, he wastes little time receiving the sign from the catcher and starting his windup. From the stretch, he keeps the ball behind his back leg until he receives the sign and assumes the set position.

The main benefit he receives from his approach is that he asserts control over the timing of the play.  By getting set as quickly as he does, he forces the hitters to adapt to his schedule.  It is a subtle shift in the balance of power between the belligerents.

Part Two: The Delivery

A pitcher’s delivery can be broken into four broad steps; the rock-back, the pivot and leg lift, the drop and drive, and the release.  Jose Fernandez is one of those pitchers whose delivery doesn’t include any oddities during these four steps. Examples of oddities include Felix Hernandez’ odd double-tap at the start of his rock-back step, Juan Marichal’s extremely high leg kick, Tim Lincecum’s ultra-deep drop and long stride, and Heath Bell’s nearly upright posture at the release point.

An example of another pitcher with the same quiet, textbook delivery as Fernandez is the Dodgers’ Josh Beckett.

There are some elements of Fernandez’ delivery that bear highlighting.  During his pivot and leg lift, Fernandez raises his knee high enough that his thigh passes the horizontal plane, and he closes his hips slightly. At the same time, he keeps his hands low, near his belly button.  The high knee, closed hips and low hands help keep the ball hidden from the batter for the longest possible time during his windup. Also note that he does not separate his hands until he begins dropping onto his back leg.

When Fernandez has completed his drop, and is starting to drive to the plate, he has a tendency to sweep his front foot around to the plate rather than extend it directly to the catcher.  Sandy Koufax did the same.  Obviously, it worked well for Mr. Koufax. However, a sweep can make it more difficult for a pitcher to be consistent with his alignment to the plate, and it is alignment that controls whether a pitch hits the inside or outside corner. In the starts where Jose has difficulty commanding the corners, look for inconsistency in his alignment. A sweeping front foot carries his inertia from right to left, at a time when it is preferable to have every scrap of energy traveling to the strike zone.

Pitchers with long Hall of Fame careers like Greg Maddux, Tom Seaver, Sandy Koufax, and Nolan Ryan all have a leg-to-leg stride angle of between 110 and 160 degrees. This long stride is driven by the explosive extension of the back leg and is what generates the inertia that allows a relatively slightly built pitcher to achieve fastball speeds of 95 MPH and up. Jose Fernandez’ stride angle looks to be in the 120-degree range, which is consistent with his 95-97 MPH fastball.

Part Three: The Release

The biggest single factor that separates Major League pitchers from ordinary humans is the ability to consistently deliver quality pitches. Consistency is the key. Not long ago, Sports Illustrated posted this animated .gif of Yu Darvish delivering his five primary pitches. In addition to his powerful drive and long extension, every pitch from Darvish looks exactly the same to a hitter until the ball exits his hand.  It would be interesting to see the same treatment of Fernandez’ four primary pitches. From casual observation and limited analysis, it looks like Fernandez is well on his way to that level of consistency.  His nine strikeouts on Saturday imply that he’s doing at least a passable job. Fernandez also does an excellent job of getting his chest down at the release point, which is another indicator that he is maximizing the drive from his back leg.  With the amount of momentum he is generating, his front foot acts like a brake, and his upper body is simply rolling over the braking point, much like a crash test dummy rolls over the seat belt when the car hits the test barricade. That rollover creates whipping motion that adds velocity to the pitch.

Part Four: The Follow-through

In the millisecond that the ball loses contact with the pitcher’s fingers, the pitcher becomes another infielder, and that is one area that is of concern with Jose Fernandez’ mechanics.  When he releases the ball, his momentum carries his back leg far enough up in the air behind his back that he has to crow-hop a step to recover his balance, and the strength of his hip rotation is enough that he lands facing the first base on-deck circle. A landing like that can have serious consequences in the event of a comebacker.  He managed to field one on Saturday, but it wasn’t pretty, and he certainly was not in a good fielding position when he gloved the ball. Lots of pitchers today have an uncontrolled landing, and they are the ones who are taking the hard shots.  For long-term avoidance of the DL or worse, the emergency room, Fernandez needs to spend some time learning how to deliver his pitches while landing like an infielder.

Jose Fernandez is the real deal, and his pitching is making a case to name him the ace of the rotation. With Henderson Alvarez and Nate Eovaldi on the mend, the Marlins’ rotation continues to be the brightest spot for the 2013 season.

UPDATE (8 May 2013): Unfortunately, Part Four of this piece became all too relevant last night in Tampa, as J.A. Happ got an ambulance ride after taking a CB in the ear hole. He landed upright and facing third base after delivering his pitch.  Indicators this morning point to him getting out of the hospital today. We here at the Maniac wish him a speedy recovery.

Apr 14, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria (3) throws the ball in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. The Phillies won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

With so many players moving on and off of the DL this year, no one in the front office is using a pen on the official 40-man and 25-man rosters.  Pencils continue to be the writing implement of choice.

Starting shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria rejoins the team in Philly at the start of a 10-day road trip.  While not yet announced officially, it’s all but settled that Nick Green will be designated for assignment, and will likely throw his hat into the free agent arena.  34-year-old Green performed very well in his 8-game cup of coffee, but Hech is the long-term starter at the position.  We here at the Maniac wish Mr. Green well, and hope he lands on his feet with an organization that will give him another shot.

Hechavarria, coming off of a trip to the 15-day DL, is showing extraordinary defensive skills, but his bat hasn’t been the caliber that Green showed.  His bat started showing signs of improvement before his BP injury, so we could see him resume his progression after a game or two to get his batting eye back up to big-league speed.

Left-handed starter Brad Hand was brought up for just about the smallest cup of coffee possible, pitching in relief for 1 2/3 innings, facing seven batters with 3 Ks and two walks. He is expected to be optioned to Triple-A New Orleans and the Marlins will likely pick up the contract of journeyman outfielder Matt Diaz in order to gain a little outfield depth necessary after Stanton’s hammy pull.

Some other key DL moves coming up include catcher Jeff Mathis starting his rehab assignment at Single-A Jupiter, and Logan Morrison staying on track for a 1 June start to his season.

Apr 12, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco (47) throws the ball in the third inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

1)   Norv  Turner

2)   Marty Schottenheimer

3)   Steve Spurrier

4)   Joe Gibbs

5)   Jim Zorn

6)   Jeff Torborg

7)   Jack McKeon

8)   Joe Girardi

9)   Fredi Gonzalez

10)                  Edwin Rodriguez

11)                  Brandon Hyde

12)                   Ozzie Guillen

And now we can add Mike Redmond to that list .

It is a list of those head coaches/managers that have labored under an owner with the unfortunate idea that player decisions fall under the imperial fiat of the owner’s suite. The first five worked for Redskins owner Dan Snyder.  Marlins fans will recognize the occupants of slots 6-13.

Conspicuously absent from that list is current Redskins coach Mike Shanahan.  There must have been a serious come-to-Jesus meeting in Herndon, VA prior to Shanny’s first season, because from game one of his tenure, it has been crystal clear that all player decisions come from the GM and the Head Coach, not the owner’s suite.

Lots of Redskins fans attribute the sea change to three things:  Snyder maturing as an owner and taking cues from other owners; Snyder waking up and realizing the devastating effect his meddling has had on team morale and performance; and Mike Shanahan being the first head coach with enough juice to deliver an effective ultimatum to Snyder.

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has had none of those three things enter his sphere of influence.  Last Wednesday’s rotation change between Ricky Nolasco and Jose Fernandez is now rumored to have originated from the owner’s box.

Utter folly.

By reaching down from the ivory tower, Loria risks alienating Nolasco, his agent, and any other players left over from last year. As a witness to the first years of Snyder’s involvement with the ‘Skins, I can say unequivocally that the damage wrought through the systematic destruction of the chain of command can take years to undo.

By continuing to behave in his childish, myopic pattern, Jeffrey Loria demonstrates that he still hasn’t had the moment of clarity in which he realizes that if he wants to be the owner of a winning ball club, he will need to stop acting like a spoiled six-year-old who wants to hog the ball and tell everyone what to do.

Be patient, Fish fans.  Usually, it doesn’t take long for whiny six-year-olds to get distracted and move on to another game.