Pitching a ball is a strange, unnatural movement, if you ask me. So here's Roy Halladay, frozen in mid-pitch: Click on the image to see a larger version.
Great, great picture, Aaron. We've all seen so much baseball that the sheer violence of a pitcher's motion often passes right by us.
When I watch Doc in person (from behind home plate) as opposed to on TV (from a centre field camera) what I always notice, and what always makes me fret, is this quick and short upper body twist he does from the full windup as he starts his motion. I never notice it on TV, but I never fail to notice it at the park. Always makes me think he's going to wrench his back. I don't even think about his arm and shoulder. The things we take for granted...
I don't know if it's the camera angle or not, but the apparent rotation of the wrist bothers me.
You know, it used to be that slasher/horror movies scared me but now the mundane shot of a school-bus full of children sliding off the road into water in The Sweet Hereafter is my nightmare. Similarly, it's not the dramatic collision at the plate that gives me a chill, but rather pictures like this one.
What a difference in this year's images. Any new renditions of this sickening scene to come, Aaron? Although, if you consider what followed last year...
I'm afraid to put them up.