looks like it was just removed.Hoplite said:This might have something to do with the added movement on his pitches.
I had a copy cached and uploaded here:
looks like it was just removed.Hoplite said:This might have something to do with the added movement on his pitches.
Could it possibly be blood? That's what my mind jumped to when I first saw it.jon abbey said:Yeah, his stuff has always moved a ton. If anything, it was moving less against TOR than it did when I saw him in 2011. That pic is really suspicious, though, I look forward to an attempted explanation there.
To me that is the exact colour and consistency of pine tar, including the shininess which would indicate it has been applied very recently.MakMan44 said:Could it possibly be blood? That's what my mind jumped to when I first saw it.
jon abbey said:7 pitches into the game?
Lowrielicious said:To me that is the exact colour and consistency of pine tar, including the shininess which would indicate it has been applied very recently.
derekson said:That's almost certainly pine tar. Wonder if the opposing team in his next start gets the umps to check him for foreign substances after seeing that.
I thought the same, but Pineda is a pretty big guy (6'7" according to mlb page) and most pitches (other than circle change, maybe others?) are gripped up in the fingers away from the palm, so that area shouldn't be in direct contact with the ball. At a guess I would say he has that there to touch his fingers on between pitches to get better grip, rather than to apply the tar to the ball directly. That would explain why it wouldn't be picked up by an umpire on the ball as well. It wouldn't result in a big wad of tar on the ball.cromulence said:It definitely looks like pine tar, but man that is a LOT. Hard to imagine how the ball wouldn't have been covered in it, which would've been really obvious to the ump. Maybe Kenny Rogers can give him some tips on keeping it more subtle.
jon abbey said:
That opposing team would be the Sox on Thursday.
Did you get that doubt from how completely dismissive the team was of those accusations, or from the extended conversation around it detailing why 'doctoring the ball' and 'bullfrog sunscreen' are factually unequal things?Sampo Gida said:
A team whose pitchers have also been accused of doctoring the ball (Lester, Buchholz) so I doubt they want to open up that can of worms.
Except for the pure souls challenging (accusing) the Red Sox pitchers, of course.It seems it might be prevalent enough that teams don't want to challenge since doing so could affect their own pitchers
The Yankees did a bit of bitching about Kenny Rogers doing the same thing as a Tiger in 2006 playoffs. Larry Bowa was Torre's designated bitcher in this instance. The controversy continued into the series against the Cards where La Russa never complained.derekson said:Pretty much all MLB pitchers are using something to help their grip these days. I don't think teams care unless they see a pitcher loading up the ball with stuff intended to change the movement of the pitch. Stuff like the sunscreen/rosin mixture and even a little pine tar is just to give the pitcher a better grip with sweaty hands. The only time I recall pine tar becoming an issue was when Davey Johnson called out ex-National Joel Peralta when they were playing the Rays and got him thrown out for pine tar being found on his cap by the umps after Johnson asked them to search Peralta for foreign substances.
Sampo Gida said:I wonder how NESN knew to check Pinedas hand
LMontro said:
Probably because it was first noticed when he was pitching against TOR in his previous start
Andrew said:I think this is a non-issue as far as performance goes, baseball is overflowing with examples of guys doing something for no discernable reason other than it keeps them in a routine and mentally happy, but I do hate that he's saying there was nothing on his hand but dirt. Tell the truth or say you don't want to talk about it, but don't flat out lie and say nothing was there. We can all see it.
jon abbey said:
He can't do that, it would get him suspended. As it is, even without the umpires doing anything or the Red Sox complaining, Joe Torre still issued this statement:
"“The umpires did not observe an application of a foreign substance during the game and the issue was not raised by the Red Sox. Given those circumstances, there are no plans to issue a suspension, but we intend to talk to the Yankees regarding what occurred.”"
Andrew said:baseball is overflowing with examples of guys doing something for no discernable reason other than it keeps them in a routine and mentally happy
JimBoSox9 said:I'm looking for the thread that killed comedy. Have I come to the right place?
Or when their usernames are...hidden from view?Hoplite said:My bad! Hard to judge sarcasm in text when you don't know the users.
RedOctober3829 said:He'll be suspended 2 starts however many games that is.
Official Rule 8.02 states: "The pitcher shall not apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball." For any violation of the rule, the official rules provide a guideline that "the pitcher shall be ejected immediately from the game and shall be suspended automatically for 10 games," which applies only to National Association (Minor League) games.
Major League Baseball has latitude to decide a different length of a suspension, and will review the incident. In 2012, Rays right-hander Joel Peralta was found to have pine tar on his glove and was ejected from a game against the Nationals. Peralta was suspended for eight games by Major League Baseball.