Posted by: Jeff Hitman (ahsnumber3@aol.com) on Fri Oct 26 22:55:09 2001

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> I feel that there were many factors contributing to manny's playing dropoff. I don't feel that him missing a few games because of the flu had much to do with it.
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> One reason was because his hamstrings constantly hurt him, and being DH put less stress on them. Of course, he has the second highest salary in the history of baseball,(behind A-Rod) so they are not going to pay him that much just to DH, so they played him on the field and his hamstrings aggravated him.
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> Also, as you guys mentioned, pitchers pitched around him a lot, so he felt very frusterated. What ended up happening was him swinging at bad pitches.
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> One of the most important factors I feel is his swinging mechanics. He can be the most dangerous hitters if his mechanics are on key, but it is hard to stay consistent with that high leg lift he uses. It can cause many swinging mechanic flaws. I feel that he never got back into perfect mechanics. I don't think it is a coincidence that someone with a high leg lift never came close to hitting .400. Take Nomar Garciaparra for example, he doesn't even stride! This is why he is so consistent

There are many great hitters that use a leg kick. Todd Helton hit 372, A rod, Juan Gonzales, I just thought that he crowded the plate to much and couldn't get to the inside pitches and it never seemed like he adjusted to his scouting report
The Hitman