Friday, July 31, 2009

THE RETURN OF THE EEPHUS PITCH

Over the years in major league baseball, the occasional "floater", or eephus pitch, is a tantalizingly slow pitch. Sometimes it's a curve, sometimes it's just a pitch thrown so ridiculously slow it takes forever to get there and catches the hitter off guard. Observe:



That was Steve Hamilton's "Folly Floater". Dave LaRoche threw something referred to as the "La Lob". Now journeyman reliever RJ Swindle has been recalled by the beloved hometown Milwaukee Brewers. He throws an 85 MPH fastball, a slider, and a curveball so slow, and so tedious to get to the plate, it at times fails to register on the radar. God love 'im.

Swindle, by the way, is a perfect name for this cat, being that most hitters probably feel swindled when they take that falling meteor for a called strike, and swing and miss by 3 feet, as Carlos Delgado did earlier this season.

Look at the dude. Doesn't he look like he's up to something?

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