You know what really grinds my gears? When people rely on "stealing signs" or "tipping pitches" as excuses for poor performance.
Jim Leyland is the latest to resort to that excuse:
"Almost impossible," manager Jim Leyland told Detroit media. "It's
pretty suspicious when a guy looks at [four] straight fastballs and
then doesn't flinch on a changeup and stays back and hits it out of the
ballpark. I love Jim Thome, and he's a hell of a hitter, but that's one
of the damnedest things I've ever seen."
I don't see what's so impossible about it.
Ronnie Belliard did it against Brandon McCarthy earlier this year. It's called "speeding up the bat."
Of course, Tony La Russa (or a "source close to" Tony La Russa) complained that the
White Sox were stealing signs from beyond center field off Jason Marquis, helping the Sox to score 13 runs in five innings. Then Marquis went and allowed 12 runs to Atlanta the next month.
Then again, Mark Buehrle did it earlier this year when he suggested that he was tipping pitches
on Mother's Day, as the Twins scored seven runs on him in the first inning, seeing only 29 pitches. Then the
Cubs went and scored seven runs off him in the first inning two months later on only 24.
I understand the need to defend players and not openly acknowledge that they sucked that game, but there are a ton of cliches that already do the trick.