Left-handed relievers know what it's like to be black

Very few of us really know what it's like to be stereotyped. To be marginalized. To be told what you are and what are not capable of doing. To be expected to do certain things well and other things poorly because of a superficial trait that you had no control over. Few of us know what it's like to be black.

But lefty relievers do.

Tim McCarver thinks it's "surprising" that Hideki Okajima can retire right-handed hitters as well, if not better than, he can retire left-handed hitters.

But tell me--who would ever say, "Surprisingly, he can also get out lefties," about a righty?

Who would ever expect a right-handed reliever to speak for all righties on how to retire a right-handed hitter?

Who would ever pigeonhole a right-handed reliever as a "righty specialist"?

What right-handed reliever would ever be brought on board as an orginazation's token righty?

What right-handed reliever would be expected to perform a particular way or have a certain demeanor on the mound becuase of the structure of his brain?

They wouldn't. Because they are right-handed.

But left-handed relievers... They know what it's like to be black.

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Tim McCarver assumes that we're all idiots

In the midst of Clevland's huge fifth inning.

McCarver: "You would think that leading an inning off with a walk would lead to more multiple-run innings than leading an inning off with a home run..."

Well, I suppose if I were a moron I would think that...

"...but we did some research, and lead-off home runs have actually led to more multiple-run innings than lead-off walks."

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Gyrations

A few moments ago during the Indians-Red Sox game, Timmy Mac referred to one of Dice-K's pitches as a "gyroball."

First of all, has anyone used this term since spring training? I thought we were all over this would-be sensation.

Second, the pitch was, what I'd call, either a tailing changeup (81 mph on the gun, dropping away from a lefty, released with a "turning-it-over" motion) or perhaps a borderline screwball. Back in spring training, I remember watching some Youtube videos tagged "Gyroball" where he throws this same type of pitch. This is not proprietary technology. Many good pitchers--Maddux, for one--have been throwing this for years.

Now to those of us gullible dreamers believing there was a magical new pitch out there, a Gyroball was supposed to be a pitch with changeup speed and a vicious, late, right-to-left lateral break. It sounded impossible, and evidently, it is. Or at least Dice-K doesn't throw one.

One more random observation for those of you watching this game: Is the NFL Films-style effect employed in the head-on pitcher close-up intentional, or is some FOX engineer just screwing with the technology? I missed the first inning, so maybe this was explained as FOX's newest gay gimmick. Help me out, folks.

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