No kidding Doc, about 5 months ago I added a yoga set to the end of my workout The workout is a 5-6 day a week thing for me. I get after it, too.
The yoga thing came about because I've been dealing with some tennis/golf elbow/tendonitis for about a year and I needed something to make up for the lifts I was no longer doing.
And 57 is about to whack me on the head in 2.5 months and I still want to be wading steelhead rivers for another dozen years or so. I have a bunch more golf courses to walk, as well. I've long thought about adding a yoga bit, but figured I was in good enough nick to not need it.
But even this aging dog (I am not old, dang it) has learned a new trick. I certainly feel better in the morning and feel more "oily" in general since I've been doing a bit of yoga. I don't "creak" across the bedroom in the morning and my lower back seems to think it is 18 again.
I've always been the least flexible person on the planet. Not any more.
I'm a believer. Really. This stuff works.
I thought McClendon was a bit catious with Paxton's count today...but I think the two hard hit balls helped him make up his mind. He will get his 95-105 pitches next time out.
He's pretty dang impressive. So is our bullpen.
That upward-facing dog is simply looking at our rising chances, now that K-Pax is back.
Be afraid!
moe
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Intro: Nice to be -2 games back of one team, rather than five. You only need Toronto to have a bad week. Which they absolutely will.
...
1. In followup interviews, Jack Zduriencik stated ... um, clearly implied, at the least ... that Taijuan, K-Pax and D.J. Peterson "are our future."
This show-stopping little cliche' was not invented by Zduriencik. But is Dr. D the only one who chokes on this cliche'?
What are the 25 guys on the active roster, for example? And are there no drafts coming up? There is no international scouting, no free agent market? There are no other minor leaguers, than those three? etc.
And wouldn't you have said that Addison Russell and Yoenis Cespedes "were the A's future"?
Besides that: don't two out of three minor leaguers get hurt or fail? How can three bushers "be your future"?
But. Okay. The Mariners love K-Pax. I'm wit' dem.
...
2. Paxton's release point was just about 7' off the ground Saturday. If you just joined us, "throwing downhill" takes the ball off the plane of the hitter's bat.
It also produces garbage swings when your knuckle curve starts at the same point...
....
2a. And his fastball swerved 10" up into the sky as the batters swung.
8-12 inches of rise for a lefty, I'm pretty sure that's a first for me. It's the Stephen Pryor / Charlie Sheen effect, but Paxton has a whale of a lot of things going for him that those two didn't.
As a completely separate issue, Paxton's cut fastball also had a vicious shape to it.
...
2b. It's not often you see a manager pull a starter after 80 pitches, when his velocity is trending up as you yank him.
Tell me when's the last time you saw this data on this type of chart.
...
3. Here are all the left hand pitchers in the AL who have plus velocity .... Velocity that is more than 0.5 MPH above the league average (for both RH and LH):
| SP | Fastball MPH |
| Kay Paxton |
94.7 |
| Chris Sale | 93.6 |
| David Price | 93.1 |
The 94.7 MPH was Paxton's career average before Saturday, when it was 96.2 according to Brooks.* He topped out at 99 MPH.
Here's an expanded table, with all AL left hand starters who are AT ALL above the 91.6 MPH American League average fastball ... remember, LH pitchers are effectively +2 MPH versus RH pitchers, so 89.6 would be more like average for lefties.
But ho-kay:
| SP | Fastball MPH |
| Kay Paxton |
94.7 |
| Chris Sale | 93.6 |
| David Price | 93.1 |
| Tyler Skaggs | 92.1 |
| Jon Lester | 92.0 |
| Drew Hutchison | 91.9 |
| ROENIS ELIAS | 91.8 |
| Wei-Yin Chen | 91.7 |
| Scott Kazmir | 91.2 |
| C.J. Wilson | 90.8 |
Is it even possible* for a lefty to throw hard, and not be effective? Given any type of polish whatsoever?
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4. Paxton has "easy" velocity. He "sits" 95 MPH, but can reach back for 98 MPH. Nooooo problem.
I flat enjoy watching him throw the ball. Aesthetically, he's the anti-Joe Saunders... Joe has a lot more money and looks than Dr. D does. :- ) It doesn't make him super fun to watch.
K-Pax is already one of my ten fave M's ever.
...
5. Spec pointed out, in his excellent series, that Austin Jackson costs less than Jacoby Ellsbury. This point is worth savoring, however gratuitous in this specific post.
Jackson's "speed index" is NOT down from his earlier days, though his UZR is. Ellsbury's UZR dropped -15 runs this year, when he changed parks. Bet me? that Jackson's defensive metrics in Safeco's CF will be plus again?
....
6. The first thing Ken Griffey Jr. brought up, when he visited the TV crew a coupla months ago: "Man, we got some young pitching coming back soon for the stretch run." Or very similar.
James Paxton is ours and you can't have him.
Mwahaha,
Dr D
Comments
There's a reminder of that concept again. (Readers, I inadvertently split out the two articles here after Moe posted.)
That is a KEWL story, bro'. And if your back feels like 18, after all those golf swings, SOMETHIN's goin' right. I dunno if there is any area of the body more benefitted by yoga than the back (which, they tell us, is where the lat is anchored).
But for 2 decades my back has always been very touchy in regards too much golfy work. I was once a 3-mile a day/5 days a week runner but eventually my lower back complained much too vigorously/too frequently/too loud for that routine to continue.
Driving range sessions at the golf course have long resulted in more than some back complaint, too. But that has not been the case this year. No golfy back issues at all. The only thing that has changed is the short yoga bit I do after workouts. I've largely abandoned Aleve's, too. But I hadn't really thought about it until right now....or made the connection.
My tweaky elbow/shoulder remains very tweaky but that is another story.
My back does seem to think I've rolled back the clock a few decades, however. Don't know whay I hadn't put 2 and 2 together, though.
Whattayagot for elbows? You are the Doc after all!
Will I be able to play the piano when this is all over?
moe
on if you could play the piano before.