SB Nation User Blog: Quinlan's Goofy Swing

Mariano Rivera caught doctoring the ball ALCS game 3, 10th inning

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:02:44 -0000

After his last warmup pitch, Mariano Rivera walks towards the back of the mound, looks at 2nd base area, then 3rd base area, and then down at the ball and spits directly onto the ball as Fox quickly cuts to a shot of Mike Scioscia. About 15 seconds later he delivers his first pitch to Aybar, for a called strike on the corner.

checks 2nd base

checks 3rd base

coast is clear, i want to spit on you

hall of fame spit, makes the cutter filthier than originally thought

spit landing on the ball, some hand, and the innocent ground (you can see a little halo on top of the ball as the spit connects

spit landing, as fox realizes what it is broadcasting and quickly cuts to scioscia (can still see the spit halo on top of the ball)

mike scioscia ... and the spit halo on top of the ball

look at that spit aided cut action, the unhittable mariano rivera.

and the video on youtube (not mine)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KihPKUZni8Y

You can see larger sized screen grabs on my flickr ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/donikowski/4028009753/in/set-72157622623946248/

Post-All-Star Break OPS and ERA

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:58:47 -0000

Hitting : OPS

Morales - 1.091

Vlad - .994

Kendrick - .943

Hunter -.938

Napoli - .845

Aybar - .839

Abreu - .802

Izturis - .800

Figgins - .800

Goofy Swing - .769

Matthews - .750

Rivera - .740

Mathis - .726

Pitching : ERA

Bulger - 1.59

Jepsen - 2.11

Oliver - 2.50

Palmer - 2.93

Lackey - 3.18

Kazmir - 4.41

R rodriguez - 4.50

Santana - 4.61

Arredondo - 5.54

Fuentes - 5.68

Weaver - 6.13

Loux - 6.75

Saunders - 7.67

SOS - 9.90

Bell - 10.80

50 - 0 when leading after 8 ... cough it up CJ

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:56:25 -0000

Rangers just blew a 2-0 nothing lead in the 9th to lose to the A's.

A's held to 2 hits through 8, and then score 3 in the 9th.

3-2 final score ... and Nelson Cruz hurt himself on the walkoff hit to right by Rajai Davis ... officially a triple, but really a glorified double.

With Kinsler on the DL, White Lines Hamilton slumping, and now a possible injury to Nelson Cruz, it appears Angels luck has struck again.

Was Willits Safe?

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:51:17 -0000

Does anyone know the rule here? Did we get screwed ? Watching it, I was so upset at the squeeze deicison, the attempt, the fail, and then the drop ... the drop was the last thing on my mind. I wonder if we will get any explanatio from the league, not that it matters now.

http://insider.espn.go.com/proxy/proxy.dll/insider/espnradio/player?id=3630371&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fproxy%2fproxy.dll%2finsider%2fespnradio%2fplayer%3fid%3d3630371

Audio clip from espn talking about it.

If you are a player, do you want to lose that way?

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:05:35 -0000

For me, I have to question whether the guys in that locker room were happy with a squeeze call. Lefty at the plate, he does not bunt conventionally(he slashes his bunts hard), 2-0 count, tie game top of the 9th, season on the line, the guy lined out to deep center last at bat, and got the game winning hit the night before. That tells me my manager has to come up with a gimmick for us to win. The odds are much better to let him swing away, than go for the squeeze.

I also question Willits in right, and why Oliver didn;t come in to face the lefties ... but those are typical Scioscia moves ... and not as frustrating as the squeeze.

Overall, an all around failure by the whole team & staff. Although the starters did do an amazing job considering the defense and offense failures every inning.

Hunter to Vlad : TRY AND BE SMART!

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:55:45 -0000

Hunter said he was surprised Guerrero tried to go from first to third on the play.

“Vladdy was aggressive. That’s what we’ve been known for, but sometimes you have to be kind of smart,” Hunter said. “Sometimes it’s good to be aggressive, and sometimes it’s bad to be aggressive. But Vladdy is Vladdy. He thought he could make it, but it just didn’t work out.”

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/26984593/

No wonder Vlad was tearing up in the dugout, nobody wants to be thrown under the bus. :(

The only thing more deadly than his rifle, is his swing!

Quinlan's Goofy Swing — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:22:25 -0000

The only thing more deadly than his rifle, is his swing!