Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Sun Dec 16 21:35:57 2007

> > > Hi George
> > >
> > > Hope you don’t mind my poking a little fun at you, but the clip below illustrates the image I get of you writing a post.
> > >
> > > <a href="http://www.irwincorey.org/SecondEnding.mov">George</a –
> > >
> > >
> > > Jack Mankin
> >
> > hi jack!
> >
> > really funny, but not for the reason you think..THAT IS PRECISELY THE PRIMARY ILLUSTRATION I USE TO MAKE HITTERS UNDERSTAND IT IS REQUIRED THAT THEY MUST BE ON TIME OR FAIL !!!!...
> >
> > to illustrate to a hitter the importance of timing, & show him he has only a sharply defined amount of time to get the bat to the ball, i say:
> >
> > EXAMPLE 1.suppose you are a violin player in an 85 piece orchestra...when the conductor raises the baton, & gives you the downbeat... YOU GOTTA GOTTA GOTTA BE THERE!!! THIS IS NOT NEGOTIABLE !!!.. NO EXCUSES!!! EITHER YOU ARE ON TIME OR YOU ARE NOT!! if you are one tenth of a second late, the conductor stops the whole orchestra & gives you that "pull-your-head-out-of-your-ass" look. DO IT AGAIN & YOU'LL BE SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE REAL SOON..
> >
> > POINT: you only have a finite amount of time to get the bat to the ball when it is in its optimum point to be struck..IT IS NOT NEGOTIABLE.. EITHER YOUR ON TIME OR YOU ARE NOT...IF YOU ARE NOT THERE WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE, YOU WILL BE LATE & POP UP, FOUL OFF OR MISS COMPLETELY DEPENDING ON YOUR DEGREE OF TARDINESS..
> >
> > EXAMPLE 2.the train is leaving the station at high noon... if you get there at 12:01, you will miss the train...
> >
> > POINT: the ball will not wait on you if you are late.. you must do everything in your power to eliminate any actions which will make you late to the ball.
> >
> > 3rd example:
> > you are the commanding officer at a missile base.. your job is to shoot down any missiles that are shot at you... you're in the control room.. the radar officer sez, "sir a missle has been fired, & it is coming directly at our position." you turn to the weapons officer, & say "plot a track on the incoming missile & fire when you have a lock".. the weapons officer sez. "uh, sir the missiles are neither fueled nor armed at this time".. you say, "well then, fuel & arm the missiles".. the weapons officer sez, "uh sir, by the time we get the missiles fueled & armed, the incoming missile will have already struck our position... so basically we are already dead." you say "HUH?!?!"... then pull out your sidearm & shoot the weapons officer in the head..
> >
> > POINT: at a missile base, the weapons are ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS fueled, armed & locked in the "ready-to-fire" position at a moment's notice... a hitter has far less notice when it come to hitting a 90MPH FB.. therefore you TOO must be in the "ready-to-fire" launch position... YOU MUST ELIMINATE PRACTICE OF LOADING OR ARMING THE WEAPON ONCE THE MISSILE IS ON ITS WAY... TO DO SO WILL MAKE YOU LATE.. & ALREADY DEAD BEFORE YOU EVEN FIRE.... on FAR too many occasions..
> >
> > now that i have illustrated how your example is a very good tool for making hitters understand they must concern themselves first & foremost with their ability to be on time... don't you feel a little silly?
> >
> > i endorse fun-poking... humor is the fuel of a happy life.. i encourage & welcome it.. unlike some of the "everything-is-all-right-with-MLB-hitters-&-they-cannot-possibly-do-any-wrong-or-improve-in-any-way-&-how-dare-you-even-THINK-of-criticizing-these-gods-on-earth-YOU-MUST-BE-NUTS-&-I'M PRETTY-DAMNED ANGRY-AT-YOUR-INSOLENCE" choir on this site all singing the same tune in the same key.. perfectly timed... well, at least they got the WHINING part perfectly timed.. now all they have to do is apply that mindset to adjusting their too wide, too open stances, & eliminate the "buggywhipping" actions that invariably guarantee they will be late far more often than anything else...true the HR count will go down, but the BA & performance success rate longevity will go up..
> > good luck to all with that!!
>
> George,
>
> You are always using no sense analogies, so let me use one. Lets say we both have a top running speed of 30 mph and we are going to race if we both start from the same spot and both start from a dead stop we would cross the finish line at the same time, right? Now if you start at the starting line from a dead stop and I start 15 yards behind you and I start running and when I get even with you you take off from a dead stop who will get to the finish line first? Answer I will, because I got up to speed before you did. I got a RUNNING START. You've got to get in motion to prepare yourself to do what you're trying to do, hit a baseball that is getting to you in a hurry.
>
> You talk about catching a train at noon, sorry you missed the train.
>
> Graylon

my dear gray...
you are talking about apples.. i am talking about oranges :
incidentally, i have been preaching a running start on tagups for over 10 years... you're a lot smarter than i am...why have you not figured out how to utilize a running start like i have?
that is one of the things i coach baserunners to do on a tagup... i endorse practicing on a regular basis having the coach count down "3..2..1.. go!" as the ball comes to the outfielder.. the runner starts out about 10 feet behind the base, & times his running start to touch the base just AFTER the catch...once you have the timing down, it is fairly easy to master so you are going much faster much sooner... how come i never see MLB coaches figure that out & implement that tactic... they make way more $$$ than i do, right?
so how come it doesn't get utilized?!? the only time i have ever seen that done is in a game i have coached.. but i'm too damn stupid to have any revolutionary innovative new ideas about baseball....

your analogy does not apply to the specific situation, which is:
no matter what you say or what you do, YOU ARE EITHER ON TIME OR YOU ARE NOT...IT IS AN ABSOLUTE, & THERE ARE NO EXCUSES..

YOU ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO WINDUP ON YOUR SWING ONCE THE PITCH IS RELEASED... BUT YOU DO NOT!!!THE STATISTICS SAY THAT YOU WILL POP UP, FOUL OFF, OR MISS COMPLETELY FAR MORE OFTEN THAN YOU WILL GET THERE ON TIME... THE NUMBERS DO NOT LIE!! hello?!?!?
that's why you are banging your head against the wall so often... at least be honest & call it what it is.. you are buggywhiipping in an effort to hit more HR to the detriment of your BA... which is ok, if that's the way you want to play it.. i, on the other hand do not endorsee that mindset.

have you ever played the handslapping game? you start with your hands behind your back, & try to hit the other guy's hands which are palms together extended in front of him... YOU WANT TO DRAW BACK YOUR HAND & WIND UP TO GET YOUR HAND TO GO FASTER & HIT HARDER... unfortunately, you take too much time getting there, & the other guy's hands are long gone..

you are drag racing.. my car wins going the 1/4 in 9.5 seconds, topspeed 120 MPH.. your car goes the 1/4 in 10.0 seconds... is your topspeed faster or slower than the winner's?
ANSWER: FASTER!.. why? because you had an extra 1/2 second to accelerate.. you were going faster at the finish, but it took you more time to get there because YOUR RATE OF ACCELERATION WAS NOT AS FAST AS YOUR OPPONENT'S... this is a non-negotiable fact... & if you want to refute the above statement, which i suspect you will, then you will once again exhibit your ignorance of LOGIC & PHYSICS..
i am grateful for this site.. without it, i would not be t anywhere near as aware of the frighteningly dismal knowledge being disseminated to hitters...the more ideas i exchange with you guys on this site, the more i realize how lost most of the coaches & hitters are... sad.