Bleacher Report - Articles by Nate Beard

The New and Improved Tarvaris Jackson

Nate Beard — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:39:01 -0500

The Minnesota Vikings took time on Sunday to do their best New York Mets impression, as they choked away an opportunity to clinch the NFC North and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Although they quite literally "fumbled" away a victory against a clearly inferior Atlanta team, I found myself in a better mood than what one may have expected after such a game.

The reason for this came from the superior play of Tarvaris Jackson.

He marched the offense almost effortlessly down the field against Atlanta, and used his legs to extend plays and pick up key first downs. He was smart in throwing passes away that were too risky, and was very accurate while the Vikings offense was still able to remain balanced in the first half.

In fact, he carried a nearly perfect QB rating into halftime.

You would think with this kind of production that Viking fans would be excited about T-Jack, but I continue to hear constant criticism from people I talk to. With this in mind, let me make a quick statement that sums up how I feel at this point in time:

I'm sick of listening to T-Jack haters.

I understand that he played poorly in his first two starts this year, but when are people going to give credit to the kid for what he's accomplishing now? Just look at the numbers he's put up over the past 10 quarters:

Stats over Past Three Games:

QB Rating: ----- 125.9

Touchdowns: --- 7

Interceptions: -- 0

Now before people start saying things like, "What about the three fumbles last game," I want to point out that only one was directly the fault of Jackson, and the majority of ball control issues laid with Peterson, who lost the ball twice.

On top of this, does anybody actually think we should be starting Gus Frerotte at this point? Frerotte has thrown 15 interceptions (tied for third most in the league), and this is despite the fact that he's started only 11 games!

With a quarterback rating of 73.7 that is ranked 28th in the NFL, I think that it's safe to assume we have a better chance of winning with Jackson leading the team.

The bottom line is that the Vikings finally have a quarterback playing great football and they need to display their relevance this coming week against the Giants.

Tom Coughlin has proved that he will play at least the majority of starters in the final week of the season, and Green Bay's loss to Chicago on Monday night means that Minnesota will have to play their way into this years playoff picture.

I personally expect another great game from Jackson in Week 17. As long as he continues to display the ability to make good decisions in the pocket and provide support for our No. 3 ranked running attack, then I believe the Vikings have a legitimate shot at playing January football.

A Poem: The Day That Childress Left The Town

Nate Beard — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:27:18 -0500

In the not too distant future after miscues and despairs

With the fans and owners reeling after folding to the Bears

A cry went up in anger to redeem this latest blow

Vikings fans decided that coach Childress had to go

Now many fans had blamed the losses square on Gus Frerrote

Who had the quickness of a tree sloth and would never leave the slot

But despite his flaws and blunders, and in spite of growing age

He proved Tarvaris Jackson was quite easy to upstage

And speaking of ol' T-Jack, who was benched for playing poor

What happened to endorsements from Coach Childress years before?

It's hard to earn a starting spot and sway the Vikings brass

When all your coach will let you do is throw a five yard pass

Now some would blame the special teams for folding on a kick

Afraid to take a solid hit and make a tackle stick

Punting twice to Reggie Bush it also hurt our cause

Exposing lack of coverage along with other Viking flaws

But how about decisions that our fearless coach has made

Benching our star player and the deep balls he forbade

At least our defense does their job and stuffs most every run

While Antoine Winfield tackles in the backfield just for fun

With this in mind along with constant moaning from the fans

The Wilfs conviened in secret to decide Brad's future plans

And after much discussion when the sun was setting low

The word came ringing out the coach Brad Childress had to go

So off into the sunset our old coach was forced to ride

Relieved of all his duties and depleted of his pride

Soon our coach was gone and not a Viking fan could frown

For all were happy on the day that Childress left the town.

Justin Morneau Robbed of MVP Award: By Himself!

Nate Beard — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:15:26 -0500

On November 18th Minnesota Twins fans everywhere were in an uproar. Their beloved first baseman, Justin Morneau, had finished second to Dustin Pedroia in the American League's Most Valuable Player award voting.

Being a Minnesota fan myself, I could sympathize with those who were disappointed for the Canadian kid. He was a bright spot in the order for the majority of the year putting up 129 RBI's, hitting 23 home runs, and posting a very respectable .300 average to go along with everything else.

Clearly these were MVP-like numbers, and the sports writers around the country reflected this fact by awarding him seven first place votes and a total of 257 points, which was good for second place.

With all of this in mind, I found it hard to believe that over the last few days I've heard nothing but complaining and grumbling from many Minnesota fans. I heard a slew of outrageous statements that resembled the following:

"Morneau was robbed!", "East coast bias cost him the award!", or, worst of all, "Dustin Pedroia didn't deserve the award!"

Being a nominally intelligent human being who possesses more than a rudimentary understanding of baseball, I found this last statement in particular not only unfounded, but just plain stupid.

For all of the complaining I hear from Minnesota fans everywhere I go, you would think that not a single one of them watched a game during the entire closing month of the season. After all, if they had turned on their TV sets they would have been aware that Justin Morneau had displayed the offensive capability of an armless Nick Punto, pulling off a series of chokes that would make even the New York Mets jealous.

In fact, if Morneau were to be classified as a hero by Twins fans, his only real powers in September appeared to be the superhuman ability to put a "K" in the scorebook, and the much coveted ability to warm a large slab of wood in the dugout.

His lack of offense when his team needed him the most can be documented by looking at a game log of the final month of the season. During this month, Morneau's batting average dropped 11 points, and he hit a whopping two home runs in 26 games!

Not exactly the kind of push you expect from an MVP with the postseason on the line.

Many people are also mad because they think voting was conducted based on whose team made the playoffs. Fans say that voting should not have anything to do with how far an individuals team progresses, but no matter what they happen to think this fact does play a large role in determining a league MVP (think A-Rod between 1996 and 2002 with the Rangers) and this is unlikely to change anytime in the near future.

To conclude, I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with Minnesota fans in saying that Justin Morneau was robbed of the award. It's just too bad you can't press charges when you happen to rob yourself.

Minnesota Twins: Is Jesse Crain a Double Agent?

Nate Beard — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:32:29 -0400

In my many years of following baseball, there have been few pitchers that have possessed the amazing ability to scare me silly when they have been put in the game.

Wakefield's appearance during the 2004 ALCS with Veritek behind the plate scared me.

Any appearance by Eric Gagne while he was with the Boston Red Sox during the 2007 season scared me.

Rick Ankiel's appearances during the 2000 playoffs scared both me and the batters.

Any start by a man with the first name of Boof makes me skeptical these days.

Most recently, however, I find myself with an uncontrollable urge to vomit every time Jesse Crain steps on the mound for the Minnesota Twins. Talk about magicians—this guy has the uncanny ability to find new and interesting ways to lose ballgames in front of my very eyes.

Now, I know that Ron Gardenhire may not be blessed with the gift of "all-knowing prophecy", but you would figure that sooner or later he would wise up and just sign me up to pitch for him instead.

Think about it. Jesse Crain makes just over a MILLION dollars per year to lose close ballgames, and I would gladly do the same for a clean uniform and an old ham sandwich every couple of days. I assure you all that I would be more then capable of giving up 17 hits, nine runs, and seven walks over the course of a measly 13 innings of work from the setup position—and best of all, I wouldn't get anybody's hopes up for success.

Jesse Crain is simply nothing more then a double agent in disguise this year. My assumption is that Twins critics (after glimpsing the team's recent success) finally banded together and used their collective allowance money to bribe Crain into serving up his trademark "meatballs" whenever the Twins are on the brink of victory.

In conclusion, I will gladly accept any forthcoming offers from the Twins organization to join the ranks and help out the bullpen. My fastball clocks out in the low 70s, and my 55 mph knuckleball may be enough to keep some hitters off balance enough to perform up to the prestigious rank of Twins setup man.

I'll even agree to throw an occasional eephus pitch if I get No. 49 on my uniform...

The Future of the Knuckleball

Nate Beard — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:08:11 -0400

One.

The number is a rarity in the world of sports, but there is an exception that I find increasingly disturbing. You see, this tiny number refers to the amount of pitchers in Major League Baseball who feature the pitch known as the knuckleball. The only active practitioner, Boston's Tim Wakefield, is in his 14th season with the club, and is closing in on breaking the record for most wins by a Redsox pitcher in history (held by Cy Young and Roger Clemens). The magic number to beat is 192, and this is most certainly within reach if the knuckleballer can stay in the game for another four to five seasons and keep up with his reputation for providing quality starts and giving his team an opportunity to win games. With a career like Wakefields and a pitch that prolongs careers (Phil Niekro played until he was 48), it would seem that clubs would be interested in the possibility of working on developing some good knuckleball pitchers.

This, however, is not the case. It now seems that my favorite pitch in all of baseball slowly seems to be going the way of the Tyrannosaurus Rex... extinct.

While many teams continue to ignore younger pitchers who cant light up 90+ on a radar gun, it is not surprising to find the only organization in baseball that seems to be interested in young knuckleball pitchers is the Boston Redsox. This may stem from the fact that Boston has more of an ability to instruct and develop these pitchers with Wakefield in the mix of things. Nevertheless, with the exception of the Chicago White Sox (who have Charlie Haeger) the Redsox have held a sort of monopoly on knuckleball pitchers in the minor leagues over the past few years with names such as John Barnes and Charlie Zink. While Barnes is now a minor league free agent, Zink is pitching exceptionally well for AAA Pawtucket, and has already been dubbed the next Tim Wakefield by those within the organization. Hopefully his great numbers on the year will result in a short call-up opportunity now that Buchholz has been placed on the DL. While other names of recent knuckleballers come to mind such as Jared Fernandez (who had breif stints with the Reds, Astros, and Brewers), R.A. Dickey (who is currently pitching for the Seattle Mariners AAA team), and Steve Sparks (who is now retired), it is not surprising to note that most of these pitchers have had problems staying in one place for an extended period of time.

In any case, the thing I find disturbing is that many people who follow baseball simply don't give the knuckleball a chance in the first place. Casual fans claim that they could "lob the ball up to the plate in the same way", and coaches are too quick to pull the plug on a bad situation, or simply banish the pitch after one bad outing. I remember my high school coach approaching me after I had just given up a home run during one of my games, and being very angry that I had given up the longball on a "circus pitch". I explained that the home run came on a high curve-ball, and suddenly he was much more sympathetic, and simply told me to keep it down next time. It is this lack of patience and understanding that most greatly hinders the advancement of this type of finesse pitcher. I think Terry Francona is the perfect manager in this regard. In a recent interview he described what a manager needed to do to have a successful knuckleball pitcher. He emphasized having to "sit on your hands" for a good deal of the game. "He'll give up walks, allow the baserunners, and sometimes get hit, but if I'm patient, I'll look up and he'll still be in the game in the 7th inning, giving the team a chance to win." In an era of power pitchers and increased emphasis placed on velocity instead of intelligence and changing speeds, most knuckleball hurlers simply arent fortunate enought to have a manager this sensative to their needs.

The question still arises, however, as to why more young people don't feature the pitch in their arsenal of weapons on the mound. After all, imagine how effective a good knuckleball would be if the pitcher were also armed with a 90 mph fastball. He would be nearly unhittable due to the vastly different speeds and approaches.

The answer comes from an understanding of how the pitch works. First of all, the mechanics of throwing the pitch are unique. In order to deliver an effective knuckleball that kills most spin the wrist must be locked and stiff when throwing, the pitcher must develop a shorter stride towards home plate, and they must focus on throwing more with the upper body. Also unlike conventional pitches such as the fastball and slider, the knuckleball takes an enormous amount of time to become confident with on the mound. To throw a fastball you rear back and throw hard, and this is attractive to younger pitchers who are looking for instant results. Rarely do young pitchers spend the amount of time and effort that are required to throw a baseball at high speeds towards the plate while controlling the spin completely. Any more then 1.5-2 complete rotations on the way to the plate can cause a knuckleball to quickly become a souvenir in a fans glove sitting in the left field seats 450 feet away. Therefore, in order to be successful at a high level of competition, a knuckleball pitcher must train his body and muscle memory to be able to execute a 65mph pitch with under one single rotation 9 out of every 10 times (at least)! What makes the pitch even more frustrating is the fact that it is the hardest single pitch in baseball to control. The ball can be released going in the exact same direction 10 different times, and it will never once end up in the same place. It is this unpredictability that adds another increase in difficulty to learning the pitch. It was once said that it takes one day to learn a knuckleball and a lifetime to learn to throw it for strikes. What a great quote!

Having said all of this, I believe that the future of the knuckleball is still quite bright (despite what the announcers and baseball analysts say). What the game of baseball needs is young pitchers like Zink who are dedicated to the art of throwing the games most elusive pitch. Wakefield has already been a model for all others to look up to and compare against, so the groundwork is set for a resurgence of this type of pitcher in the near future. Baseball, like any other aspect of life, goes through phases, and I believe that a new era of knuckleball pitchers is just beyond the horizon. Recently the Twins were scouting a young knuckleball prospect named Sean Flaherty after observing Wakefields dominance in the dome. Along with this, the New York Yankees were reportedly looking for a knuckleball prospect to counter Tim Wakefield. The Chicago White Sox still have Charlie Haeger throwing the knuckleball for their AAA team, and of course the Redsox organization has become known as an extremely good place for knuckleballers to develop and grow. Hopefully this great pitch will continue to fool batters in the coming decades, and I'll be able to turn on my TV and see a good knuckleball pitcher at least a few times each year.

(P.S.) For any of you who are interested in learning more about this subject, there is an excellent site on the internet called "Knuckleball HQ" that you should check out. There are very knowledgable people on that board who answer questions from aspiring knuckleball pitchers and track the progress of those currently in the professional system. Check out the message boards, and tell Dave "Hi"! Heres the link: http://www.oddball-mall.com/knuckleball