The New York Times - 06.08.2019

SCORES ANALYSIS COMMENTARY TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019 B7

0 N

On Monday morning, Major League
Soccer officials met in New York to deter-
mine if they should punish a player who
had grabbed a field microphone during a
national television broadcast on Sunday
night and used it to urge Congress to act
to end gun violence.
By lunch, M.L.S. had decided that no
punishment was merited.
And by late afternoon, the player, Phil-
adelphia Union midfielder Alejandro
Bedoya, had been named the league’s
player of the week.
The honor capped a whirlwind 24-hour
discussion of politics, gun control and the
place of both in sports that had begun
with nine shouted words from Bedoya
during a game on Sunday night in Wash-
ington.
A former member of the United States
national team, Bedoya had scored the
opening goal in the Union’s 5-1 win over
D.C. United and then peeled off toward
the sideline, where he celebrated with
his teammates. But as the gathering
broke up, Bedoya headed toward a tele-
vision microphone placed on the grass,
leaned down to grab it and shouted:

“Congress, do something now. End gun

violence. Let’s go.”

The statement was not out of charac-

ter for Bedoya, who had expressed — in

more explicit terms — a similar call to ac-

tion on social media in the hours before

the match. But it created a potentially

uncomfortable situation for M.L.S.,

which has striven, often to the annoy-

ance of its own fans, to keep political

symbols and banners out of its stadiums.

An M.L.S. official, speaking after a

league meeting on the incident Monday

morning, confirmed that Bedoya would

not face a fine or a suspension. Hours lat-

er, M.L.S. issued a brief statement that

acknowledged the right of players to ex-

press their opinions. The statement

made no mention of Bedoya specifically,

or his decision — apparently sponta-

neously — to broadcast his opinion to a

nationwide audience through a live mi-

crophone.

“The Major League Soccer family

joins everyone in grieving for the loss of

lives in Texas and Ohio, and we under-

stand that our players and staff have

strong and passionate views on this is-

Plea on Gun Violence Draws

Not a Penalty, but an Award

After scoring in a game on Sunday, the Philadelphia Union’s Alejandro Bedoya grabbed an on-field microphone and

called for action against gun violence. Fans successfully campaigned to have him named the M.L.S. player of the week.

SCOTT TAETSCH/USA TODAY SPORTS, VIA REUTERS

By VICTOR MATHER

Continued on Page B10

The split-finger fastball helped Masahiro

Tanaka become a star in his native Japan and

then jump to the United States and a $155 mil-

lion contract with the Yankees in 2014.

At its best, the pitch darts sharply inward

and down against right-handed batters. Its

drastic late movement has left batters whiff-

ing a third of the time they have swung at it —

managing a measly .195 batting average

against Tanaka’s splitter from 2014 through

last season.

But like many puzzled pitchers around the

majors these days, Tanaka has not been able

to get his trademark pitch to behave quite the

way it used to. He has clearly struggled this

season — he was on pace for a career-high

walk rate and earned run average (4.78) en-

tering his start against the Baltimore Orioles

on Monday.

Tanaka did well early against the Orioles

and took a 6-1 lead into the sixth inning, when

he allowed more four runs and departed with

one out. The Yankees ended up with a 9-6 win

even though Tanaka allowed 10 hits, walked

two batters and pushed his E.R.A. to 4.93.

Analyzing his difficulties on the mound, Ta-

naka has identified a possible culprit, as have

many other pitchers: the baseball itself.

“You grip the ball, and it feels a little bit dif-

ferent,” Tanaka said recently through the in-

terpreter Shingo Horie. “And then when

you’re throwing with that difference in hand,

obviously the movement of the ball becomes a

little bit different, too.”

To compensate for that unfamiliar feeling,

Tanaka, 30, has begun tinkering with his grip,

hoping to restore his mastery of the splitter.

It’s no secret in this era of record home run

rates that many players believe the ball has

changed. The Minnesota Twins are on pace to

smash the season home run record of 267,

which was set by the Yankees last year. And

this year’s major league hitters could exceed

the record 6,105 long balls hit last season by

more than 600 homers.

As dissent bubbled, Major League Baseball

commissioned a study that was released last

year and found that the ball had less drag,

which allowed it to travel farther, but the re-

searchers could not pinpoint the cause of the

change. A report by The Athletic in June

found that the seams of some 2019 balls were

lower than those on the balls from 16 previous

seasons, a change that would improve the

aerodynamics.

All of this led to more expressions of con-

cern, both from established pitchers who are

having stellar seasons — such as Washing-

ton’s Max Scherzer and Houston’s Justin Ver-

lander, who claimed the balls were intention-

ally juiced for more home runs — and from

those who are laboring, such as Tanaka and

his Yankees teammate J. A. Happ.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has fiercely

pushed back against the notion that the balls

used by M.L.B. — which are made with natu-

ral materials and hand-sewn in Costa Rica —

had been deliberately changed.

“Baseball has done nothing, given no direc-

tion, for an alteration in the baseball,” he said

at the All-Star Game last month.

That hasn’t appeased many pitchers.

For so long, Tanaka has placed his index

and middle fingers along two seams of the

baseball to throw his splitter, while other

pitchers spread their fingers farther out. This

season, Tanaka said, he has noticed a differ-

ence in the seams, and thus the behavior of

the splitter.

Masahiro Tanaka’s signature pitch, the split-finger fastball, has not been moving the same way this season. Entering Monday night, he was on pace for a career-high walk rate and earned run average.

DAN ISTITENE/GETTY IMAGES

Suddenly Losing Their Grip

Struggling with his splitter,

a Yankee says the ball feels

different. He isn’t alone.

By JAMES WAGNER

To get a steeper drop, Tanaka has been

tinkering with his handling of the seams.

“We need to adjust to the ball,” he said.

BRIAN FLUHARTY/USA TODAY SPORTS, VIA REUTERS

Continued on Page B9