did francisco rodriguez doctor the ball?

zer0 · #1 04-04-2007, 01:51 PM

from the cheaters guide to baseball

i don't have mlb.tv, so i can't watch the video, but did anyone notice this? maybe its just a habit of his on certain pitches, but it seems like he made the same moves often [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Colt McCoy · #2 04-04-2007, 01:55 PM

One of the pitchers (I don't remember who it was) in the Red Sox/K.C. game did this every pitch. I noticed it then assumed it was just to make sure his thumb was dry to grip the ball.

kolotoure · #3 04-04-2007, 02:18 PM

He has always done this

EvanJC · #4 04-04-2007, 02:27 PM

cheating is the most important part of baseball

g-bebe · #5 04-04-2007, 02:55 PM

He couldn't have done this. I drafted him on one of my fantasy teams, and I don't draft cheaters. Therefore, K-Rod is completely innocent.

hoyasnaxa · #6 04-04-2007, 03:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
One of the pitchers (I don't remember who it was) in the Red Sox/K.C. game did this every pitch. I noticed it then assumed it was just to make sure his thumb was dry to grip the ball.

[/ QUOTE ]

Julian Taverez does this every single pitch. You can see the hat he wears is totally a different color in the place that he always touches.

kyleb · #7 04-04-2007, 03:52 PM

OP,

This is very common in baseball. Most pitchers have vaseline in their glove or on the hat for this purpose to help make their offspeed pitches have insane movement.

Completely standard and/or unsurprising.

EDIT: By "most" I mean "many."

GuyIncognito · #8 04-04-2007, 04:04 PM

Is this sort of thing like a nuclear standoff between teams? That is, teams don't ask umpires to check their opponents' pitchers in order to protect their own?

bottomset · #9 04-04-2007, 04:13 PM

[ QUOTE ]
cheating is the most important part of baseball

[/ QUOTE ]

kyleb · #10 04-04-2007, 04:29 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Is this sort of thing like a nuclear standoff between teams? That is, teams don't ask umpires to check their opponents' pitchers in order to protect their own?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that's basically it. The same goes for cheating when it comes to hitting (pine tar nonsense). However, there is a code of ethics when it comes to the batter stealing signs by looking back (A-Rod is well-known for this). If you do this more than once, you're definitely getting a pitch in the ear.