Finally, I got to watch the Twins!

[Aerodeliria]

Of course, I had to wait until the Twins played the Angels to see a game on TV here in Japan. (Perhaps when Tanaka-san pitched for the Yankees against the Twins, the game might have been televised, but I was working.) I got to watch the game in which Lynn pitched against Skaggs.

 

I know this is a minuscule sample, but here is what I saw. The Twins hitters generally had good at bats against the Angels. The Angels are a good team--better than last year. Having Ohtani-san in the line-up really does make their line-up tough to get through; Ohtani-san adjusts very well to pitcher tendencies IMHO (this is the only point not based on a small sample--we see Ohtani-san every night on the news and we've seen him play when he was a Nippon Ham Fighter).

 

I know this is a one-game analysis, but am I only one who thinks that Lynn has some type of problem with his mechanics? On pitches from the outside edge to the inside edge (to right handers), his delivery looks fine. However, whenever the pitches were down and away (a TON of pitches ended up there), they looked awkward from the stride to the moment of release. My own assessment is that the Angels' hitters never went fishing for those pitches because Lynn's motion telegraphed low and away even prior to the release.

 

Is that how he pitched last year? (I'd be stunned if he had this habit last year and still managed to keep his ERA in the low 3.00's.)

 

What say you?