"I'm from Alabama, and they have a different alphabet."
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Eric DuBose after he was pulled over and asked to recite the alphabet.
Keith Foulke isn't from Alabama, but he traveled there on Monday to have his pitching mechanics analyzed at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Alabama.
Is there really a problem with his mechanics, or is this just a classic case of "getting hit." As Jerry Remy pointed out last night during the ballgame, it seems like it Foulke's mechanics that may be causing the problem.
First Remy pointed out that Foulke wasn't holding his glove as high towards his head as he did last season. In the side-by-side video shown, Foulke was tightly closed in 2004, while this year he is much looser and farther away from the body.
Remy also mentioned that while he delivered to the plate he was more towards the third base side of the bag last season, while this year he is straighter to the plate.
Lastly, as the video showed, Foulke doesn't seem to be extending his arm as much as he did last year. Remy said he may "short-arming" his pitches this season. That could result in a loss of velocity and a loss of accuracy, in my opinion.
Whatever it is, I hope it's been sorted out, or will be sorted out soon. We can't afford to have our All-Star closer losing balls in the atmosphere on a regular basis. We've gotten away with it so far, but we can't be doing it throughout the whole season or it will come back and byte us in the butt in the future.