Jerry Manuel's 'Bag' of Tricks

It is young Ike Davis's second appearance in the hallowed cyber-pages of Batter Chatter this week, though this one is not based on merit whatsover. Ike has been a miserable 1 for 13 with 6 Ks in Phoenix, and skipper Jerry Manuel suspects it's because Davis, a native of Scottsdale, is trying to impress his friends and family in the crowd at the D-backs' Chase Field.

SNY guy Gary Cohen related last night how Manuel said the young slugger was out of sorts this week. "Ike is trying a little too hard to impress," said Manuel, according to Cohen. "He's swinging at the rosin bag."

'Swinging at the rosin bag' sounded like a classic Jerry Manuel ad lib; if you haven't watched Manuel's post-game interviews, they're delightful. He's a fun mix of hepcat jazzbo and funky English professor, with a knack for quirky language.

The phrase suggests that Davis perhaps ingested some of that peyote our American deserts are famous for, which threw his hitting intuition slightly out of whack.

In fact, swinging at the rosin bag is an established expression, piped up Cohen's boothmate, Ron Darling. "It's an old baseball term," said Darling. "It doesn't matter what the pitcher is throwing up there--he's swinging."

Indeed, this past spring, Cubs farm director Oneri Fleita said this about prospect Starlin Castro:

"He was never really a guy who went up there swinging at the rosin bag,'' Fleita said. "He had plate discipline."

Back in 2005, when the Angels were back in Anaheim, then-DH Jeff DaVanon told the L.A. Times he was no longer making like a boxer and hitting the bag.

"I started walking more last year because I stopped swinging at the rosin bag," DaVanon said.

The Mets lost in 14 last night. Davis struck out thrice, but took heart in sending a rosin bag to the edge of the warning track in right-center, where it was caught by Justin Upton.

[image: equipmentbag.com]

I Like Ike's 'Takeback'

The pitcher is poised.

The hitter takes his last half-swing in the box and awaits the offering.

The pitcher winds up.

The hitter's hands go back, then spring forward in a swing.

That's his hitch, right?

As children we were constantly instructed not to have a hitch, much the same way we were told to avoid inserting our size 8 Nike "spikes" into the "bucket."

Yet every swing naturally has some sort of hitch, and a "violent" hitch from Gary Sheffield--was Sheff's swing ever described as anything but violent?--didn't stop Sheff from amassing 509 home runs.

Of course, Hitch is also a 2005 comedy with Will Smith teaching King of Queens star Kevin James how to be a stud. You don't want that kind of hitch either.

So maybe there should be a less negative moniker for that backswing. Speaking of kings of queens, yesterday, Mets announcer Keith Hernandez repeatedly referred to Mets rookie slugger Ike Davis's "takeback"--that he'd start with his hands low, raise them high just before the pitch, then bring them back down to Earth again as his swing commenced.

His takeback. I'd never heard that before. You might say I was taken aback by it.

Hernandez, a very good hitter in his day, said the reason for Ike's recent slump was that he was bringing his hands too high in the takeback, leaving what Keith said was "a lot of margin for error" in his swing.

Davis, son of former relief pitcher Ron Davis, slammed a pair of dingers out in San Fran Saturday night, and added two doubles yesterday--including the game-winner in the 10th, high off right center's brick wall at AT&T Park.

Maybe Hernandez should "take back" what he said about Ike.

[image: newyorkmets.com]

Even Better Than a Saturday Night Special

Friday night lights is all about football, right?

I mean, there was Friday Night Lights, the book, and Friday Night Lights, the movie, and Friday Night Lights, the TV series--each one looking at our violent other pastime in the dusty Texas plains under the lights, with the whole town watching as a strapping kid named Cody throws three TDs and runs for four more.

Surely kids down in the ol' Don't Mess With state carry Friday Night Lights lunchboxes to school, emblazoned with their favorite gridiron stars.

But don't count baseball out of the Friday night, under the lights action.

Reds pitching wunderkind Mike Leake was described by Mets slugger Ike Davis in the NY Times as "our Friday night guy" while both played at Arizona State. (Freaky stat of the day: Leake is not only 5-0, but is hitting .417 this season.)

An explanation from reporter Tyler Kepner:

The Friday night pitcher is the ace of a college team, the one who pitches under the lights to open a weekend series.

Kepner adds that Nationals superman Stephen Strasburg too was, surprise surprise, a Friday Night Guy at San Diego State.

[image: baseballbeginnings.com]