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Paul Byrd continued his strong second half by beating the Yankees on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

BYRD DOING BETTER JOB HIDING HIS PITCHES

By Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN

I was talking with Red Sox pitcher Paul Byrd the other day and we got to talking about tipping pitches. It's something even great pitchers struggle with sometimes and something that both of us know from experience.

Byrd was a 15-game winner a year ago, but, to me, he was a 17-game winner because he went 2-0 in the playoffs. How does he go from that to all of a sudden not being able to get anybody out this season? (Byrd entered Wednesday's start against the Yankees with an 8-11, 4.61 ERA. He went out and tossed six strong innings and the Red Sox beat the Yankees again, this time 11-3.)

It's one thing if you are injured or not making good pitches. But he was saying how he went back and looked at video and he was making good pitches, hitting good spots. Yet, hitters were right on his pitches. When that happens, you know something is going on. And that is what he found out. He got a message from one of the visiting clubhouses from a team he wasn't going to play again this season, and they told him that he was tipping them off by fanning his glove wider on his breaking ball.

Byrd's breaking ball is probably his best pitch, but when people know it's coming, all of a sudden it's not your best pitch anymore. He doesn't have a 95-mph fastball to bail him out. Well, he found out he was tipping his pitches right around the All-Star break and his numbers since speak for themselves. With Wednesday's win, he is 6-1 with a 2.61 ERA. Before that, he was starting to think his career might be over because he was struggling and is an older guy. Now, he might be able to pitch two or three more seasons.

Paul Byrd's tale of two halves
	Before All-Star break	After All-Star break
W-L	3-10	6-1
ERA	5.47	2.61
BA against	.296	.249

I've had my own experiences with tipping pitches. I won 17 games and the Rookie of the Year Award in 1979. Then, I only won three games in 1980 and couldn't get anybody out. I remember one time walking back to the hotel after a game in Pittsburgh; I wanted to practically jump off a bridge. I was so frustrated about what was going on. It turns out it wasn't a sophomore jinx, it was that everybody knew every breaking ball I was throwing. Finally, at the end of the season, an opposing player told one of my teammates that I was raising my arms up higher on my fastball than on my breaking ball. Needless to say, I thanked the guy for that piece of information.

Some guys are good enough to get away with tipping their pitches. As a rookie, Dwight Gooden would stick his finger up every time he threw his curveball. The entire National League knew it. His stuff was just so good he went 17-9 and won the NL Rookie of the Year Award. It was amazing that batters knew what was coming every pitch and still were usually unable to do anything about it. In his second year, after he put a piece of leather over his glove to keep his finger down, he was totally dominant and went 24-4.

Randy Johnson is a guy like Gooden who can sometimes get away with tipping because his stuff is so good, but even he has changed his delivery several times because he was constantly tipping his breaking ball. His numbers have always been pretty good, so you wonder when exactly he was doing it. But there were times when people knew when he was throwing his breaking ball, yet still weren't able to do too much with it.

In Game 6 of the 2001 World Series, Andy Pettitte was tipping every pitch he threw. He would double-pump on every fastball from the stretch. I was broadcasting the game and I noticed it on video in the first inning. We commented on the air and replayed what he was doing and people were going crazy, but the Yankees didn't figure it out until it was too late. He lasted only two innings and allowed six runs. The Yankees lost the game, and then the Series.

The ironic thing about tipping pitches is that, when you know what to look for, it's so obvious. Now, you'd think a pitching coach would notice it quickly if a guy is tipping his pitches. Sometimes they do, but other times it can take a while. A lot of times they don't see the video from a home-plate camera. They see it from the center-field camera, and the tipping goes on in front of the pitcher's body. More often than not the reason for tipping pitchers is because a pitcher is trying to get a specific grip. A great example is Ryan Dempster. His unique "fluttering glove" wind-up started because he was tipping off his split-finger fastball. He shakes his glove all over the place now so that he doesn't give anything away to the hitter.

Greg Maddux struggled his first year in the league. It turns out he was tipping his changeup. Every time the opposition got a runner on second base they could see him get the grip in his glove and the runner would relay to the batter if a changeup was coming. By extension, they knew most of the time if he wasn't showing changeup it would be a fastball. At times, it even looked like a guy would hit an obvious triple and stop at second base. Well, he figured it out and now he's a lock for the Hall of Fame.

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Home Run Tracker
NAME	HR	OPP	PITCHER	SITUATION
J. Lopez, Sea	12	Min	Perkins	Bot 4: 0-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
N. Hundley, SD	3	Ari	Johnson	Bot 7: 2-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.
R. Ibanez, Sea	21	Min	Perkins	Bot 7: 0-1, 2 Outs. None on.
C. Granderson, Det	16	Cle	Carmona	Bot 1: 2-2, 0 Outs. None on.
J. Loney, LAD	11	Was	Redding	Top 2: 1-2, 0 Outs. None on.
P. Konerko, CWS	13	Bal	Liz	Top 2: 3-1, 1 Outs. None on.
R. Howard, Phi	36	NYM	Santana	Bot 1: 2-2, 2 Outs. 1 on.
C. Blake, LAD	5	Was	Redding	Top 2: 0-2, 2 Outs. None on.
J. Werth, Phi	18	NYM	Santana	Bot 2: 1-2, 0 Outs. None on.
K. Shoppach, Cle	17	Det	Verlander	Top 4: 2-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
C. Pena, TB	27	Tor	Purcey	Bot 4: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
A. Ethier, LAD	17	Was	Redding	Top 5: 3-1, 1 Outs. None on.
C. Delgado, NYM	29	Phi	Kendrick	Top 6: 2-2, 0 Outs. None on.
B. Boggs, Tex	8	KC	Bannister	Top 4: 1-0, 0 Outs. None on.
H. Pence, Hou	19	Cin	Fogg	Bot 4: 0-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
M. Mora, Bal	23	CWS	Broadway	Bot 6: 2-0, 1 Outs. None on.
S. Choo, Cle	7	Det	Glover	Top 7: 0-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
D. Uggla, Fla	28	Atl	Boyer	Top 9: 3-2, 2 Outs. None on.
R. Zimmerman, Was	9	LAD	Park	Bot 7: 3-2, 1 Outs. None on.
J. Dye, CWS	32	Bal	Cormier	Top 8: 3-2, 0 Outs. None on.
C. Delgado, NYM	30	Phi	Seanez	Top 8: 1-0, 2 Outs. None on.
A. Huff, Bal	29	CWS	Broadway	Bot 8: 0-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.
K. Millar, Bal	19	CWS	Broadway	Bot 8: 2-2, 2 Outs. None on.
D. Pedroia, Bos	15	NYY	Robertson	Top 8: 2-0, 1 Outs. Gr. Slam.
R. Ludwick, StL	32	Mil	Parra	Bot 6: 0-1, 2 Outs. None on.
T. Wigginton, Hou	17	Cin	Majewski	Bot 7: 1-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
J. Giambi, NYY	26	Bos	Timlin	Bot 9: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
M. Ordonez, Det	16	Cle	Lewis	Bot 9: 1-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
E. Brown, Oak	13	LAA	Saunders	Top 2: 1-2, 1 Outs. 1 on.
B. Molina, SF	11	Col	Hernandez	Bot 7: 0-1, 1 Outs. None on.
P. Sandoval, SF	1	Col	Hernandez	Bot 7: 0-0, 1 Outs. None on.