His timing, as far as getting the ball out of his glove, and his delivery to the plate were all sharper out of the stretch. “To me, it was night and day the way he was executing pitches. “I talked to him between innings and he said he just felt lost,” Apodaca said. That meant less of a leg kick and, on Saturday, more control of his body. But Saturday, he was more effective from the stretch. Throughout his career, Jimenez has been far more effective from the windup than from the stretch, the side-to-the-plate stance pitchers use with men on base. It was after the fifth-inning leadoff walk that Apodaca mentioned the idea that saved the game and set up Jimenez for history.Īt the start of innings, Jimenez, like every starting pitcher, was throwing with a full windup. He linked to an article by Thomas Harding about Jimenez’s switch of pitching deliveries mid-game: Earlier today, Rob Neyer wrote about Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter at his Sweet Spot blog at ESPN.
