Fullabull
05-28-2002, 08:18 PM
Fantasy leaguers have asked me, "Whats wrong with Tim Hudson"? I tell them, "He's fine and that he didn't catch fire until this time last year".
Then I found this article by Glenn Dickey:
MENTAL PRESSURE is the biggest problem for A's pitcher Tim Hudson, believes pitching coach Rick Peterson.
"If you go into the clubhouse, you'll see Britney Spears on a Pepsi-Cola poster, because they think she can sell a lot of Pepsi for them," said Peterson. "Right beside it is a poster of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito.
"That's a lot of pressure for a pitcher to handle. Timmy is just a young guy from a small town in Alabama. He isn't looking for attention. I saw him come in for a spring-training game and he told the guy at the gate, 'I'm with the Oakland A's.' The guy recognized him right away, but Timmy just wanted to be part of the team.
"Even veteran pitchers have trouble with that kind of attention. Greg Maddux has never pitched up to his standard in postseason games. Roger Clemens got knocked out of a game in Boston last week. You know he was overthrowing, trying too hard to impress Red Sox fans. Timmy has been overthrowing, too, and when he does that, the ball comes in flat and easy to hit."
So, how does Peterson combat that? One way was to show Hudson videos of his win over the Yankees in the playoffs last year and of his blowup against Tampa Bay last Friday. "I said to him, 'How can the same pitcher be so calm throwing against Derek Jeter and then overthrow against Tampa Bay?' "
Then, he went back even further, to the last game of the 2000 season. "We were against Texas and had to beat the Rangers or we'd have had to go to Tampa Bay the next day to play a makeup game," Peterson said. "Timmy came to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'It's going to be all right.' I reminded him of that, put my hand on his shoulder and said, 'It's going to be all right now. ' "
Then I found this article by Glenn Dickey:
MENTAL PRESSURE is the biggest problem for A's pitcher Tim Hudson, believes pitching coach Rick Peterson.
"If you go into the clubhouse, you'll see Britney Spears on a Pepsi-Cola poster, because they think she can sell a lot of Pepsi for them," said Peterson. "Right beside it is a poster of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito.
"That's a lot of pressure for a pitcher to handle. Timmy is just a young guy from a small town in Alabama. He isn't looking for attention. I saw him come in for a spring-training game and he told the guy at the gate, 'I'm with the Oakland A's.' The guy recognized him right away, but Timmy just wanted to be part of the team.
"Even veteran pitchers have trouble with that kind of attention. Greg Maddux has never pitched up to his standard in postseason games. Roger Clemens got knocked out of a game in Boston last week. You know he was overthrowing, trying too hard to impress Red Sox fans. Timmy has been overthrowing, too, and when he does that, the ball comes in flat and easy to hit."
So, how does Peterson combat that? One way was to show Hudson videos of his win over the Yankees in the playoffs last year and of his blowup against Tampa Bay last Friday. "I said to him, 'How can the same pitcher be so calm throwing against Derek Jeter and then overthrow against Tampa Bay?' "
Then, he went back even further, to the last game of the 2000 season. "We were against Texas and had to beat the Rangers or we'd have had to go to Tampa Bay the next day to play a makeup game," Peterson said. "Timmy came to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'It's going to be all right.' I reminded him of that, put my hand on his shoulder and said, 'It's going to be all right now. ' "