Nats Pitching Coach Paul Menhart Figured Out Strasburg's Pitch Tipping Mid-Game And Is The Reason There's a Game 7

Pitch tipping is all the craze this day in baseball. It's obviously been around forever, but I feel like lately it's become an everyday thing. It's perfectly legal if done the right way. If a team can pick up your tell, that's your fault and their benefit to capitalize on. It's up to you to fix it. The Astros are the M.I.T. of this art. Jose Altuve is known as one of the very best at picking this stuff up almost immediately, if you're giving it away that easily. Do the Astros have secret cameras in the outfield walls to help with this? That remains to be seen (probably), but at the very least these guys are experts at picking up the tiniest bit of tells on what you're throwing before your throw it. Seems like something that could benefit an already potent lineup you would think, right? Tyler Glasnow admitted he was tipping in Game 5 of the ALDS. He didn't last three innings before giving up 4 runs in a 6-1 loss. Up until October 29th, 2019 it seemed like no one had been able to realize this and correct the issue mid-game. Not until Nats pitching coach Paul Menhart did something about it. 

Alex Bregman has had Strasburg pitches. You can see it after his homer against him in Game 2 when he ran to the dugout to tell all his pals like a little school girl. It was so obvious. It must be such a helpless feeling as a pitcher when you can't figure out what you're doing wrong. 

Well, here we were again after his first inning bomb against Stras to give Houston the lead. They were on something immediately. Strasburg wasn't missing bats. After the half inning Strasburg and Menhart went into the tunnel to try and find the problem. It had something to do with his glove before the pitch. So what did they do? They started fucking with his glove to throw off Houston. It won them the game. 

"I started shaking my glove so they didn't know what I was throwing," 

It was as simple as that. From that point on the Astros were helpless at the plate. Strasburg didn't allow a run all the way until he exited the game in the 9th as he dominated the Houston Astros. One of the best World Series pitching performances I've seen in a while. Look at some of this shit. 

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Un-hittable. That 86 mph changeup to Chirinos in the first video is so laughably unfair. There's just nothing you can do with that. Out of the hand that looks like it's 95 mph down the pipe. It ends up 86 at your ankle. That's a joke. 

As much as everyone is giving Strasburg the credit for this win, and they absolutely should be doing that, I think Paul Menhart deserves a fucking tip (pun kind of intended) of the goddamn cap. It's not easy to figure this stuff out, especially in the middle of an elimination World Series game that you're trailing in. Former (man that feels good to say) Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild couldn't find Luis Severino's issue in 2018 and it was a problem for the entire second half and into the playoffs. MONTHS. This was an issue for MONTHS and they couldn't figure it out. It must be nice when a pitching coach actually…I don't know…coaches. 

Well done Paul Menhart. There's a Game 7 on Wednesday because of you.