So I was in line for a win against Elmira but I didn’t get it. I did get the next one though. Against NY. 3 hits, 0 ER and 11 K. I’m coming back. And I owe it to Dirtball.

Have you ever seen the movie Bull Durham? One of the plot points is Annie giving Nuke a garter belt to wear while he’s pitching. Well, Dirtball’s seen this movie, too. And he had an idea.

Now let me talk about catchers for a minute. The pitcher’s job is to throw the ball so the hitter doesn’t hit it. And the catcher’s job is to help the pitcher. The pitcher has to be brains and memory and a little bluff to get those hitters out. The catcher needs to be brains and memory, too. The pitcher needs to be aware of and keep track of a lot of things. And it’s the catcher’s job to watch everything and make sure the pitcher is alerted to things he can’t observe directly and reminded of things he can. Like runners and what they’re doing. Like which way the flags are blowing in center field. So the catcher is also the eyes and ears of the pitcher.

And this time, Dirtball saw something I didn’t. He said I was thinking too much about my pitching and I needed to think less and pitch more. He talked about Annie and Nuke in the movie and how the garter belt was effective in helping Nuke pitch better (once he actually wore it). And he didn’t have a garter belt but he did have a jock strap I could wear under my uniform to help with that.

Now, coming from anyone else, I would laugh that away. But I could tell he’d really thought about it and believed in it. And he was right, I’d tried just about everything else. So twice now I’ve worn it on the mound. And twice now I’ve turned in good performances. The question is, how long do I need to wear it for the magic to be permanent? Because I feel a bit silly. But you can’t argue with the results