I remember reading an interview with Edgar - dating myself here - about 1998 or so. He talked about setting pitchers up in one at bat for a payoff in a future at bat during the game. The guy would intentionally put a bad swing on a pitch early so that the pitcher/catcher would go back to that same pitch later, hopefully in a higher leverage situation, when Edgar would be waiting.
Obviously, if there was two on in the first and Edgar was up to bat, he was giving it his best shot. But if there were two outs and nobody on, he would literally give up a strike in order to implant the idea that he couldn't get to the pitch in the minds of the pitcher and catcher. Later in the game, when the pitcher needed a strike in a similar count, they would go back to that pitch - a pitch that Edgar was now sitting on.
Talk about mental judo. I wouldn't say that the pitchers and catchers of his day were the MLB version of the drunken bar fighter...but Edgar Martinez, at his peak, was just operating at an entirely different level, mentally, than most of his competition.
Dr. Naka, in response to the discussion about Iwakuma-san's care with each pitch, remarks:
The Japanese fans like the ”間” "space" the same as in Kendo, Jujitsu and other Budou "martial arts".
They like the mental or spirit fight between pitcher and batter.
And Taro adds,
More on "ma". One of the things I enjoy most about an MMA fight is the gauging of space, the feints, mental tactics, etc. You get booed out of the house for that over here.
Which goes again, I believe to the American tendency toward instant gratification. (If McDonald's pulls you through the window and you wait 4 minutes for lunch, are you annoyed?)
Ma-ai in wrestling, for example, refers (for example) to that very specific distance at which your opponent can explode towards a single-leg* takedown. Good wrestlers practically see a little red aura light up when their opponent is positioned perfectly to lunge into a takedown if he wishes.
From a mental standpoint, it refers to a momentary loss of concentration that the superior "samurai" is waiting for. In basketball, a defender watches an opponent for a momentary speck of inattention ... in a dribble, the ball comes off the hand down towards the floor, where it has a long time to bounce, and the offensive player is watching for a back-door cut ... BAM! the moment to swat the ball arrives. Mental ma-ai.
In aikido ma-ai begins with Morihei Ueshiba's insight, "Turn when pushed, enter when pulled." When a drunken lug charges Seagal sensei, "pushing" into his space, Seagal redefines the ma-ai by stepping off the centerline. The angle of interaction changes, and therefore so does the ma-ai, since the attacker's energy now has an additional distance to travel (the distance around the corner into the new target).
Seagal sensei is very practiced at redefining this ma-ai. An unskilled or furious fighter -- we're not talking about Bas Rutten; we're talking about a drunk in a bar -- is not paying attention to ma-ai, whereas an aikidoka is. The furious man throwing a huge right hand actually will be taken down by Seagal exactly as if he were in one of Seagal's movies.
A trained boxer or wrestler, who is himself also good with ma-ai? ... then aikido is over-elaborate, the ma-ai out of synch because practiced in the dojo only against drunken attacks, and becomes all but useless. You don't see it in the MMA tourneys. However, one sensei against three street thugs who are oblivious to ma-ai? Sure. Aikido is the best style for one person battling three untrained people.
...............
"Turn when pushed, enter when pulled" has one of its baseball manifestations in The Eckersley Rule. If a batter is over-amped, over-aggressive, thinking too much about the 5-run homer, then the pitcher can "turn" against the "push" with an offspeed pitch. However, if the batter is confused, tentative, timid, then the pitcher can "enter" with a good fastball above the belt. The batter has not controlled the ma-ai.
There are pitchers who have a sense for this ma-ai. The scouts say they have good "pitchability." Brandon League positively, absolutely believed that his two excellent pitches left him above the consideration of ma-ai. He left himself wide open to hitters who chose to dominate that phase of the battle that relates to "closing the distance" with advantageous timing.
Edgar Martinez was superb with ma-ai; Junior was often too greedy. Junior would go up to the plate sometimes determined to jerk a pitch for a home run, meaning he'd decided his "spacing" before even looking at his opponent. That's one reason that Junior underperformed his amazing talent. Edgar, by contrast, would read the pitcher's approach into his space, and after gauging the approach, then would snap the wrists ... he would flick the bat when pushed with a fastball, or shift his weight when pulled with a curveball, CG moving but hands back, and then punish the entry. You could also consider the sharp doubles down the RF line a form of "turn when pushed."
Edgar overperformed his talent. Paying attention to the pitcher -- sometimes apparently reading the pitcher's mind -- was a big reason why.
...............
Dr. Naka and Taro assert that NPB fans -- not a few of them, but the entire community in general -- enjoy the pre-release "conversation" between hitter and pitcher, the "negotiation" as it were, as to how ambitious the batter intends to be on this coming pitch. In order to enjoy it, of course, they have to be able to perceive it. I think we'd agree that it's a sophisticated and subtle, a more refined, way to observe the battle.
Not to make a value judgment or anything, the Japanese way is better. It's better in the way that a bird is better than a bug; it's more evolved. And in any case, Iwakuma-san should be encouraged to pitch as intelligently as he likes. I wish it had been him pitching Friday.
Tolerantly,
Dr D
Comments
Hard to even believe that a pro athlete would bait his opponents that way, but with Edgar it doesn't surprise you...
You could imagine an NBA player or an NFL quarterback doing similar, if they had the humility and presence of mind...
Since the Eck was first, I suppose you can name it after him, but the guy that came to my mind was Jamie Moyer. He preached going soft when the hitter was likely to be aggressive, like a younger guy with men on. He'd throw a changup, then a slower changeup, then break out the Bugs Bunny pitch for strike three. He got them thinking about the changeup so much they couldn't think of anything but the changeup. How else can you explain him being able to throw a 79 MPH "fastball" by a major league hitter? They were looking for that changeup, then their brains locked up and couldn't adjust to a pitch that they'd normally mash into the next zip code. If Moyer ever decides to go into coaching, teams ought to camp out on his doorstep to get the chance for him work with their young pitchers.
Not sure why Seagal Sensei is your example -- this is basic to all Aikido, for which there are many masters...
But non-aikidoka have not typically seen Shioda sensei. :- ) When you reference Seagal sensei, the visual is a bit easier for a mixed audience, perhaps...
*I* think of it as the Eckersley rule only because that's the place I first heard it. Don't think anybody else in the world shares my terminology on that one.
Right, another great Moyer quote, 'The only reason I have a career is because major league hitters are embarrassed to have an 87 MPH fastball thrown by them." :- )