2013 World Series Game One Observations

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1. Pitching

Adam Wainwright/Cardinals

A couple things came to mind watching Wainwright throw. First, his velocity was down. I think he is normally a 93-95 mph guy and he was consistently in the 90-92 mph
range. For his last innings he had some success, but it was too late. It looked like he became a two-pitch pitcher, fastball and curveball.

One thing to realize in colder weather (game time temp was 50), the cold air affects your grip. Pitchers cannot grip the ball as well, that’s why umpires allow them to blow into their hands to create some moisture on cold days. I did not think Wainwright’s curveball was biting as well as it normally does. For the players who had the chance to throw“Pro Balls”, you now understand why. Professional baseballs have lower seams and thus harder to grip and spin. Youth baseballs up through college have raised seams which are easier to grip and spin. That does not fully explain the drop in velocity, but pitchers make adjustments when their grip isn’t just right in the cold.

In the 1st inning, Wainwright walked Ellsbury to leadoff the inning. I don’t know the pitch sequence because I did not see it, but did he make adjustments with his grip or was it maybe World Series jitters? Fast forward to Napoli’s at bat. Wainwright fell behind 2-0 in the count. Napoli doubles on the next pitch, 3 runs score (was that a Bartman moment because it was right after call reversal at 2B?).

What you don’t see in the box score is what the count is during each hit. Hitters ahead in the count can be more aggressive. Hitters behind in the count need to be more defensive. Pitchers need to understand that to be successful, they need to pitch ahead in the count. Wainwright is one of the best pitchers in baseball. I’m sure he made all the proper adjustments. I was just curious as to the drop in velocity and lack of bite on the curveball.

Jon Lester -Red Sox

Pitched a great game. What really struck me about his performance was the way he used both sides of the plate and changed speeds on the hitters. Something we practice, but all need to practice more. It never seemed that the Cardinals had a great swing on a pitch the whole game (I think we know why now). He was also consistently throwing 90 mph as the game wore on.

Here’s my observation:  In the 8th inning he threw two pitches at 92 mph and his mechanics/balance were off on both. He obviously overthrew the pitches. They were against two different hitters. After being consistent at 90, he threw two pitches at 92 mph with poor mechanics/balance. Hmmm. Next hitter, manager Farrell takes him out. Good managing, good observation.

2. Picking at First Base

Matt Adams - Cardinals

3B David Freese makes a poor throw in the dirt late in the game on a routine grounder. Matt Adams attempts to pick the ball, but because of the in-between hop, couldn’t quite come up with it and it tipped off his glove. My thoughts though were Adams had great action with his glove. Something we practice. Down, out and up. You can’t catch them all and that was a tough one, but you have to give yourself a chance on every one. Keep practicing it.

3. Hitting - Lead Arm Extension

David Ortiz - Red Sox

During the middle of the game, David Ortiz singled to center. On his back swing, he hit Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina right on top of his helmet with his bat on his follow through, with full extension of his lead arm.

For those of us who like to take our top hands off the bat after contact, this was perfect. Something we practice. Even if you do not take your top hand after contact, it is the extension we are looking for with both arms after contact.

4. Hitting - Barrel, Arm Extension

David Ortiz - Red Sox

After David Ortiz hit his home run in the 7th inning, Fox had a great slow motion replay of him after contact. Full extension with his arms and barrel following the ball. Something we practice.

5. Off Balance Throws

Adam Wainwright/Cardinals

I think in the 5th inning, a Red Sox hitter squibbed a hit to the 1st base side of Wainwright. Wainwright got off the mound and fielded the bouncing ball on the run and threw a perfect strike to 2nd base for the force out, almost a double play. Great athletic play for a 6’6” pitcher. Something we practice.

6. Last But Not Least

Pete Kozma’s Game Changing Error

The last week two weeks of practice this season, my team went over 1B to P, SS to 2B, 2B to SS underhand feeds. A play that could change the momentum and landscape of the World Series came in the 1st inning of game one on a 2B to SS feed. 

It is easy to blame Kozma for missing the ball, but actually look at the play. Carpenter was a good 25 feet from 2B when he made his sidearm flip with nothing on it. With the runner bearing down him (Pedroia), his eyes were obviously torn between the ball (which took a long time to get there) and a guy who wants to lay him out and break up the double play. By the time the ball got to Kozma, Pedroia was just a few feet from him, basically right on him. I am not a Kozma apologist, he should have made the play, but place some blame on Carpenter.

As we went over our underhand flips the past few weeks, I stressed the importance of a firm flip and less time in the air, now you know why. You cannot give the receiver too much time to think about the ball, it needs to get there as quickly as possible. The receiver has to think about not only catching the ball and tagging the base, but the runner as well. Make a firm flip.

Takeaways

There were a few other plays that caught my eye (See tomorrow's blog posts). But what I did when I watched the game was keep a pen and paper with me and I wrote down every play I thought was cool. As coaches/parents/players, I welcome anything you see that I might have missed and please bring it to my attention. My team will be practicing these  while they are fresh in our minds. Mention them to your coaches and practice it! Watch, pay attention and listen.

These observations were from 2013 World Series Game One
Wed, October 23, 2013

Final Score
Cardinals 1  
Red Sox 8