There was much hubbub this afternoon about Rockies’ closer Manny Corpas potentially doctoring baseballs in yesterday’s game. Apparently, Corpas intentionally dumped Gatorade onto the front of his uniform shirt before going to the mound to pitch.
The idea is that Corpas did this to make his shirt sticky and then when he touched the garment with his hand, he would be able to get a better grip on the ball.
You can’t do that. It’s cheating.
Besides, there are much easier and better ways to make oneself sticky. For instance, Corpas could have rolled around on top of a mix of Sugar Daddies or Sweet Tarts. Try throwing a ball as hard and as smooth as an egg with that crap on your hands – it turns a baseball into a wiffle ball.
Anyway, I watched the tape of Corpas’ outing and it seems like much ado about nothing. He did go to his jersey once, but immediately wiped his hand clean on his pants… then again, maybe he had stickum on his trousers.
The smooth right-hander Kyle Lohse relieved Kyle Kendrick with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth. Not only did summoning Lohse mean that he would not start Game 3, but it also meant that the Phillies had lost the lead. Four pitches in, Lohse gave up a grand slam to Kaz Matsui to make it 6-3.
I think the manager is being second-guessed here in the press box.
That will happen…