Jack's Flash - Opening Day in Japan

[Jackstraw]

Don't know how many people got to watch the game, but it was good. Whether anyone agrees with starting the season in Japan is a good idea for baseball or not, I think in a much broader scope it is good for the world. And crack on Selig as much as you want, but he has a clear idea of what he wants baseball to be and he is going after it. I think a lot of the fans in some of these dead baseball towns should have seen the way the Japanese treated that game. It made me pretty damn proud to be from the country that invented the game! Our public image in the rest of the world may not be very good right now, but I think it is safe to say that the Japanese loved us for a night.



Anyway to real news, the REAL news: Huston Street will be out for awhile. Not sure when it will happen, but that ulnar nerve is going to break him down soon. Figure Oakland to be the first one in the "closer shuffle."



After watching Street pitch to his first hitter, you could see he was pushing the ball to the plate. The elbow helps to aim the pitch and increase the momentum. Street was trying to get all of his power out of his elbow. He won't last long. I think that this "pushing" motion could be a big contributor to the ulnar nerve injuries that we are seeing in a lot of pitchers. Take Gagne for example. Couldn't make it as a SP because he got too wild. Put him in a closer role and he was lights out. That is until he racked up a ton of saves, then his ulnar nerve broke him down. The ulnar nerve can stand the motion for short durations but it can't stand up to it for long outings. Without seeing Gagne yet this season I would venture to guess he won't last either. When the ulnar nerve goes, I expect the aiming mechanism for a pitcher is shot.



It happened with Street today. It is obvious he isn't 100%, and it is obvious that it is that nerve. He was pushing to the first batter, then he pushed the ball into Brandon Moss' bat for his first blown save. He fell apart after that in the 9th. Another concern here is the lack of plate patience Jacoby Ellsbury showed against Street. Street blooped one up to the plate and Ellsbury just took a swing with no thought behind it. When Street made it to the 10th, I was really surprised. Sign of a bad pitching coach to me, or just a bad managerial decision. Street didn't have anything after the first two hitters in the ninth and he never had anything in the tenth. He was wild. The elbow was flying everywhere. He nearly threw it to the backstop twice on the IBB to Big Papi. And then you knew Manny was gonna crush one. Hell, I was a thousand miles away (or however far Chattanooga is from Tokyo) and I could see it was gonna happen. Well, it didn't go out, but it should have.



That leads to the next note of the game: Boston is getting old. You can see it in Big Papi, and you could see it in Manny's MONUMENTAL double in the tenth. That double could have been a triple for Manny just on the hang time alone, if he woulda ran rather than admire his loss in power. A few years ago that would have been upper deck centerfield. Lowell's getting old too. At least they have some good young players to offset the age in the 3-4-5 spots.



Oakland is just plain bad. Just because they had Dice-K on the ropes in the first two innings, I think that was more Dice-K being a little nervous playing in his homeland. You have to think that was probably the greatest moment in his life. I didn't see anything promising out of Oakland in that first game, except for maybe that Daric Barton has a very good eye and is well-disciplined at the plate. Oakland is going to have a really bad season... So, let's talk about Papelbon. He gets out over 80% of the first hitters he faces, and then dominates after that. We saw today that when the lead-off hitter gets on against him, he isn't comfortable with it. Don't know if it makes him mad or what, but it shook him. I think that if other teams take note of that, you will see a lot more teams try to force a walk on him in the lead-off spot.



In short, start looking for closers in waiting in Oakland so you can have a partner for the "closer shuffle." Street's career may be over if he doesn't get somewhere with a better pitching coach.