A "see ball, hit ball" person has no preconceived notion of what's coming - they just react, which I think is what some of the great raw talent hitters do (Manny, Giambi). The guys who supposedly have the best batting eyes are more reactionary because they have the talent to react quickly enough.

A-Rod is what he is. But if anything, when has he had legit protection in the lineup? I'd love to see them sign Manny. Let's see what A-Rod can do with Manny hitting behind him (albeit an older version than what Papi had).

0 As for guess hitters, I've always thought that meant hitters who were trying to guess the pitch and location before the pitch is released. Hitters who see the ball and react aren't trying to figure anything out. They're simply following the old Berra logic. I place Manny firmly in this category.

yeah i thought a guess hitter was someone that tried to guess the pitch and location and was going to swing based on that guess.
manny is definietly see the ball, hit the ball.
not sure i would put giambi in that category - why do feel he is andre 3 ?

Ok, IPK pitches tonight. I'm back to being on the edge of my seat. When Hughes comes back I'm going to be watching every pitch through my fingers. Anyone else feel that way?

and i know what you mean about phil and ipk 7 - it's like we can't endure much more of them getting hurt or being ineffective

I'm more attached to Phil. I think because I've been following him almost since he was drafted and hoping he'd be the homegrown ace we've so desperately longed for. Joba and IPK just sort of burst onto the scene quickly being college kids who rocketed through the system. By all reports Phil's been back to his old self during his rehab so we'll just have to wait and see, but I remain cautiously hopeful. I hate that I get this attached, its stupid.

You posted a notice about Phil Simkins and the Daily News.

The story was about how the Yankees in the championship season of 96 used a body cooling invention of his and never got credit for it.

He finally asked for compensation, but the Yankees turned a deaf ear on him which has kept him in a homeless situation ever since and deprived the firefighters, police, soldiers, elderly, and everybody from having his revolutionary body cooling device that could have saved thousands of lives from heat stroke and allowed us to win the war in Iraq, years ago.

It's a great story and a sad one for the Yankees, which might explain why they stopped winning championships so suddenly and were humiliated by Boston.

It just might be the curse of the Kool Rope coming back to haunt them.

The reason I know the story is because I am Phil Simkins!!!

And for those who want to know the entire story follow along:

I had been in touch with the trainer for the Yankees, Gene Monahan, in 1995, about the cooling units and had made him several units of the necklace version which he kept in the training room locker.

He had even put me in touch with the Valvoline Nascar racing team and Mark Martin their driver to see if they could test the units while driving in a race.

I sent down 2 heavy duty Kool Ropes to Mark and he tried them out while practicing in his race car.

He got back to me and said that they worked great and if I could get the electronic freezer pack finished, he would definitely use them at races.

During the 95 season, the weather during the Yankee games never got too hot so the ropes were never used, but in 96 I developed the yellow Kool Rope for use by firefighters, policeman, construction workers, that i sent you the sample of.

I called Gene Monahan during the season and asked him if he would show the new unit to Dwight Gooden to see if he would endorse them and also that they were not for athletic use.

I dropped off to Yankee stadium, 2 units in late July and called Gene back on August 20 to see what Dwight had said.

Gene told me that he wanted to wait till after the season ended before doing any endorsement deals and then as I was hanging up the phone he said, "Oh by the way, Phil, some of the players have been using it in batting practice!!!"

I said to myself, Wow, now I am a part of Yankee history!!!"

Gene asked me to give him a call back in two weeks when they returned from California and he would discuss it further with me.

But, the team was doing so well at that time, I decided not to call until after the season was over, so not to take attention away from them winning.

I told the firefighters up at the 77th about the Yankees using the units and said that if we could be patient and wait until the season was over, if they won the Series, than what better publicity to get them into production than to have helped keep the team cool.

Well, as the story goes, they won an exciting Series with everything falling into place and I knew that my moment would soon come.

I waited until after the parades and festivities were over before I sent a letter to Mr. Steinbrenner.

He had known about the team use of the ropes right after Gene told me because I called his office and told his secretary, Lisa,about it and then sent her a unit to give to Mr. Steinbrenner, which she kept in the office refrigerator.

I waited for a reply and got none.

I then sent another and the same thing happened.

I did not know what was going on because I was not asking for money, just acknowledgement of my contribution.

It was a day or two after Christmas when I walked into a copy store on west 52nd street to fax another letter to Steinbrenner, when I saw on the wall all of these Christmas cards that were signed by Yankee players.

I asked the owner, Marthe, how she came by these and she said that her husband worked for the Yankees in the PR Dept.

So, I told her the story and asked her if she would give Gene a call to see what happened.

She spoke with him by phone and told me that he said that the team had used the Kool Ropes for a week in batting practice and then found them to be cumbersome and for me not to write to Steinbrenner anymore.

Well, I was crushed to say the least and didn't know why they would want to keep it a secret since they obviously had a positive effect on the performance of the team and by publicizing their use, it would have enabled me to get them into production for everyone, including the fans who came out to see games on really hot days.

So, for years after never knowing what happened and still trying to get the units into production someone told me that they probably didn't want it to be known that they used the ropes because it might have been considered an unfair advantage.

Gene Monahan knows the truth and the fact that they used the ropes for a week where they were playing in a heat wave in Texas and Kansas City and that they had to win at least one game at Texas or they would have known that they never could beat them at home which would have been a psychological disadvantage come the playoffs.

They won the third and last game they played in Texas and you had to know they were desperate after losing the first 2 to try anything to win. It was a close 6-5 win but keeping cool in that heat surely gave them the feeling of being able to overcome any obstacles and feeling as if they were Supermen.

They went on to Kansas City where they won 2 out of 4 and won on the hottest and most oppressive days. They also won in Texas on the hottest day. Then they left for cooler locations where they did not need the units.

TEMPERATURE IN DALLAS ON JULY 30, 1996
96.1
DEW POINT
69.4
HEAT INDEX RANGERS WIN 15-2
126

TEMPERATURE IN DALLAS ON JULY 31, 1996
89.6
DEW POINT
73.5
HEAT INDEX RANGERS WIN 9-2
107

TEMPERATURE IN DALLAS ON AUGUST 1, 1996
96.8
DEW POINT
72.5
HEAT INDEX YANKEES WIN 6-5
133

TEMPERATURE IN KANSAS CITY ON AUGUST 2, 1996
82.4
DEW POINT
67.3
HEAT INDEX KANSAS CITY WINS 4-3
87

TEMPERATURE IN KANSAS CITY ON AUGUST 3, 1996
89.6
DEW POINT
70.1
HEAT INDEX KANSAS CITY WINS 11-4
104.7

TEMPERATURE IN KANSAS CITY ON AUGUST 4, 1996
95.0
DEW POINT
74.2
HEAT INDEX YANKEES WIN 5-3
127

TEMPERATURE IN KANSAS CITY ON AUGUST 5, 1996
91.4
DEW POINT
74.2
HEAT INDEX YANKEES WIN 5-2
114

The 1996 World Series win marked the birth of the modern day Yankee dynasty, where they went on to win 3 more championships and made the playoffs each year, since.

It is a dark secret, kept by the Yankees for twelve years, that have prevented the world from having their cooling units and, certainly, changing the course of history!!!

If you guys want to get rid of a curse that might be keeping the Yankees in real hot water, and you can't blame me because I'm still stuck in homelessness, post this and give Lonn Trost a call who on 2 occasions called me a liar and the other asked what I wanted, because he knew it was true, before slamming the phone in my ear and then stand outside the player's entrance before a home game, usually he arrives about 2:00, and shout out to Gene Monahan, "Is it true that the team used Phil Simkins's Kool Rope in batting practice during the 96 season to keep cool in a heat wave in Texas and Kansas City??? "And why did you stiff him for the past 12 years and not allowed us to get our ropes???"

Monahan is the "keeper of the secret" guys so you have to get in his face and stay there until he fesses up, and then I can get you your ropes and the curse will be lifted.

But, you would think I would be still mad and hate the yankees??? Sure, to some extent, I'm human, but I will root for them and stand up for them by fighting a devious plot to put a curse on Yankee fans by putting up a monument to the Red Sox by a closet Sox fan who was the architect behind renovating the old Verizon buiding on 42nd street and sixth.

Dan Shannon, the architect, and Yankee hater, had the color of the building made in, brace yourself, "Fenway Green!!!"

That's right. Check it out. It's the exact color and shade of the notorious fenway Park and the Green Monster!!!

And you know how I found out his plot???

I matched the color on Google images and then went to his site where he had his projects listed and I knew that if he did any work in Boston then he certainly would know what that color was.

What I found at the bottom of the page when everything else was done in NYC and I was ready to admit he might be clean as a whistle was this entry:

0 ST. JAMES, Boston, MA, (1991)
Senior designer for 600,000 sq.ft. office building in
Boston Back Bay for Macomber Development.

BOSTON CROSSING, Boston, MA, (1989 to 1990)
Senior designer for the master plan and architectural
design for 3 million sq.ft. mixed-use project in
downtown Boston for Campeau Development.

So, as Columbo would break out a cigar when he cracked the case, I said to myself, "I got this guy!!!"

Check out the Green Shadow Post article and see what I said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08292007/business/the_green_shadow.htm

If I truly hated them would I try to save the team from a curse worst then what the Sox endured.

This one is right in your own backyard sitting right in your face.

Blackstone Group owns the building, so you got to call them, but don't do anything stupid, OK guys.

We'll get the color changed!!! and you guys help me with the Kool Rope. This has been a bitch of a ride but' things happen for a reason and I have some other monumental things to come out.

Take care guys!!!

Phil, Koolman2, Simkins

Meanwhile, as for your curse - In case you haven't noticed the Yankees won three more world championships after 1996 and have made the playoffs each year.

It sucks that you're homeless. But you're probably schizophrenic too. Good luck getting the help you need to get your life back on track.

15 yeah i agree with you on phil. in many ways he represents the shift in the farm.

20 thanks - i guess i could see it that way too. maybe he is a subset of see the ball hit the ball; since it seems that someone with such a great eye like giambi is someone who is ultra selective and is basically only looking for his pitch only; whereas the larger group see the ball/hit the ball guys are looking for anything they can crush - not just a specific pitch

I'd say that Alex often operates as a guess hitter.

A non-guess hitter is more someone like Damon or Cano who's MO is more to react to any given pitch with a short stroke, focussing not on unloading, but on making solid contact consistently.

Guess hitters thus look more foolish when they miss since they've committed their balance before they actually know how the ball is going to break.

I think that's basically right, no?

Yes, he can crush a mistake, of course, but yes, if a pitcher can execute his pitches in a critical spot, he doesn't have much to fear from Alex.

Manny, on the other hand, can hit any pitch with authority, thus (to my mind) taking more initiative in an ab than Alex.

It feels like Manny is never, ever off-balance whereas it feels like Alex is often off-balance.

It's true I don't watch Manny play everyday, but honestly, I can't recall ever having seen him look as bad at the plate as Alex can.

I can't recall any series in which Manny's looked vulnerable or weak. Could be a faulty memory or just chance, but there it is.

Please. That's one of the more ridiculous things I've ever seen published on this blog. You take a sample of a dozen or so PAs in which you've seen him take a few fastballs for strikes and conclude that there is some simple formula to get him out, while ignoring the fact that for the last 12 seasons he has mashed pitching in a way that none of his peers have ever come close to. Lazy analysis.

As I recall he had a lot of 5-3, choppers and even sharply-hit balls, but right to the thirdbaseman.

Why does it matter what he looks like to us, we are not his hitting coach, we don't know what he's supposed to look like. The fact remains that he is the best hitter on our team by FAR. All hitters will slump now and then. But he could look like he was doing the cabbage patch when he swings for all I care. I judge his body of work over a season. And when I do that, I don't have much to complain about.

Of all the things for us to be disgruntled with vis a vis the Yankees, Alex Motherhumpin Rodriguez and his last 14 ABs should not be all that high on the list.

That's something to be feared, for sure, but in my mind, it's an entirely different kind of fear than the kind that a hitter like Mattingly or Manny can instill even in the best pitchers.

With hitters like this, a pitcher can make his pitch and the batter can still hit it with authority.

Because I don't remember a guy who looked lost at the plate.

Perhaps you do?

So I must conclude that the only way a hitter qualifies as "great" is if they CAN NOT be pitched to. What does that even mean?

Every hitter can be pitched to, that's why almost every hitter like, in history, makes an out more often than not.

I guess if I cared what a guy looked like as opposed to his results, I'd be reading FigureSkatingToaster.

When I watch baseball, I guess it's fair to say that I watch it as a coach, with attention to form, technique, mechanics, aesthetics, whatever you want to call it.

I guess we're just talking about two different things, or maybe about the same things from two (not necessarily incompatible) perspectives.

Not sure what you want me to say.

And that just perplexes the shit out of me.

Some hitters excel at striking pitchers' pitches with authority.

Do you ever listen to pitchers (Darling, Cone, Leiter, whoever) talk about particular hitters and what it was like to face them?

They rou