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Upcoming MLB schedule: Sunday Night Baseball (Sept. 20) Wednesday Night Baseball doubleheader (Sept. 23) San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks at 10 p.m. Baseball Tonight |
Following are highlights from this week’s Major League Baseball coverage on ESPN:
"K Zone" Demonstrates Pedro's Movement
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast (Sept. 13) included several uses of “K Zone” to showcase the movement and location of Pedro Martinez’s pitches against the New York Mets. Martinez threw eight scoreless innings to improve his record to 5-0.
Morgan Discusses Approach to Hitting
Sunday Night Baseball analyst and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan was poetic in sharing his approach to hitting. He also cited one of his favorite concepts – Mike Easler’s “see it, read it, explode” philosophy.
Morgan Explains Principles of the Circle Change
Joe Morgan explained the grip and rotation of the circle change, an effective pitch thrown by Philadelphia’s Pedro Martinez throughout his successful outing against the Mets.
Gammons’ Inside Pitch: Andrus leading ROY Candidate
Baseball Tonight analyst Peter Gammons’ Inside Pitch focused on Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus. Gammons cited Andrus’ defensive prowess and offensive improvement overthe second half as the leading factors in naming him a leading candidate for A.L. Rookie of the Year.
Kruk and Winfield Examine Pitch Tipping
ESPN’s John Kruk and Dave Winfield analyzed video of Philadelphia’s Brad Lidge against the New York Mets,which led them to believe the closer was tipping his pitchers – most notably his signature slider– this season.
John Kruk, on Whether the Tigers Can Hold off A.L. Central Competition
“Absolutely, and because of three guys – (starting pitchers) Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello. When you have three power pitchers at the top of your rotation…it eliminates long losing streaks and when you do lose a couple of games in a row…they have the ability with one of those three guys to stop a losing streak. If they stop one losing streak the rest of the way, the other teams just can’t catch them.”
ESPN’s 20th Year All-Star Team Voting Continues
ESPN continues to celebrate 20 seasons of MLB coverage with fan voting determining a 20th year All-Star Team. ESPN viewers have voted throughout the first half of the season to narrow the list of 
10 candidates per position down to three finalists in each category. This week, the fan vote will determine their favorite center fielder over the past 20 years. The winner – Ken Griffey, Jr., Ichiro Suzuki or Bernie Williams – will be announced during Sunday Night Baseball September 20. Last week, fans voted for Rickey Henderson as left fielder over Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez. Next week’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast (Sept. 27) will recap the entire 20th year All-Star team.
Media contacts:
- Nate Smeltz (860) 766-4550 nate.smeltz@espn.com
- Diane Lamb (860) 766-2245 diane.lamb@espn.com
