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Stephanie Brooks, Politeness Strategy #5

* On pitchers and catchers: the most important relationship in baseball. excerpt:

The call was for a fastball away. Bob Tewksbury shook it off. He looked in at the new catcher, who had recently signed with the Cardinals, and waited for the new sign. The call came for a fastball in. Tewksbury shook. For a curveball. He shook. For a slider. He shook. For a changeup. He shook. For a fastball in, again. He shook.

“So,’’ as Tewksbury said, “he put down his middle finger.’’

The starter stepped off the mound, laughing. The spring training crowd hadn’t seen the gesture, and didn’t care. All they saw was the result — the fastball away that Tewksbury wanted Rich Gedman to call again.
...
If they had the option, which they rarely do, most pitchers would select a particular catcher. Tewksbury can list the ones he’s worked with, whether he liked them, whether they clicked.

Todd Zeile, with whom he had a 2.86 ERA in 26 games, clicked. Ivan Rodriguez, with whom he had a 4.99 ERA in 18 games, didn’t.

“Pudge would throw everybody out and he certainly was a good hitter, but I didn’t like throwing to him because we were never on the same page and he had no interest in going over scouting reports,’’ Tewksbury said. “I really felt like it was kind of lip service for him at a pregame meeting to go over things, and I put a lot of stock into that.’’

Tewksbury was so frustrated with Rodriguez that he began wiping his glove on his thigh or chest to change pitches so he could stay on rhythm. He made the adjustment, compensated for the parts of their relationship that didn’t work.

Still, there wasn’t comfort, or trust. And that is the ultimate goal.

* Porn as non-narrative performance art. "Dirty Diaries: 12 Shorts of Swedish Feminist Porn"

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* "I never fall apart, because I never fall together." -- Andy Warhol