Sentences with word «knuckleball»

The Astros had a backup catcher throw knuckleballs for them on Tuesday night.

The emergence of knuckleball phenom R.A. Dickey probably contributed, as that would have been what Crash (now a manager) would teach Nuke to keep him from being out of baseball entirely.

«There's so much more to life than baseball,» says famed knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti.

And this year he has pulled a low - and - inside Phil Niekro knuckleball for a homer; hit a high - and - tight fastball past Steve Carlton into centerfield to knock in a run in a 6 - 0, four - hit shutout of the Phillies; and, in another complete - game win, a five - hit shutout of the Mets, he got an RBI on a groundout after New York Pitcher Charlie Puleo had walked the Padres» No. 8 hitter intentionally.

When he wasn't allowing knuckleball shots by Jeff Carter to go in with his team only down one goal, or bus - chucking his teammates after the game, he was trying to chop down an oak tree.

He looked around for the big flexible mitt he used to catch knuckleballs and discovered that Gary Gentry, a pitcher what's more, had swiped it, leaving Silvestri with a regular catcher's glove, which is not the best piece of equipment with which to catch a long drive.

Chicago weather is like a Phil Niekro knuckleball — totally unpredictable.

There were glorious knuckleballs.

«I got Doug Mirabelli for my interview, so I asked him how he became the league's premier knuckleball catcher,» says Todd Simpson (above, interviewing, and in action), who spent 10 years as an NHL enforcer.

«He was gracious but explained it was by default since Tim Wakefield is the [big leagues»] only knuckleball pitcher.

It was a fast, subtle knuckleball that was without a lot of peers in baseball history.

In the first week of the season the graphic was only a minor annoyance, but soon it will drive us mad as we find out for the 316th time that Tim Wakefield has thrown another 68 mph knuckleball for the Boston Red Sox.

Thus the fastball falls less than a ball thrown without spin (neglecting knuckleball effects) during the 60 feet 6 inches it travels to home plate.

You're getting set for a one - timer that you can hopefully take off the shoulder an the chest, then all of a sudden you see this speedy knuckleball coming at you.

A witty and sometimes surreal sci - fi comedy, Men in Black is a wild knuckleball of a movie that keeps dancing in and out of the strike zone.

GLENN O'BRIEN — Neil has a wicked knuckleball.

He played for a long time, won a lot of games, but he was the kind of pitcher who, as knuckleball pitchers tend to be, are invited on the roster.

Like a backup catcher throwing knuckleballs.

Dickey spoke about possibly being traded by the Mets, the day - to - day grind in the major leagues and how the knuckleball saved his career.

Then something clicked, he could control his knuckleball far better, and he won a Cy Young.

In the eighth inning Dodger pitcher Charlie Hough's first offering to Jackson was a knuckleball that looked as if it were controlled by a radio with weak batteries.

The backup catcher was throwing knuckleballs, with some fastballs harder than Jered Weaver's mixed in.

Best knuckleball?

If Eric Hosmer doesn't get that pitch — if he gets a cement mixer of a slider, floating up there like a knuckleball, and pops it up — maybe everything's different.

And he throws a knuckleball now.

The puck may be standing on end, a no - chance proposition for the goalie, the shot following the flighty course of a knuckleball — at 90 miles per hour.

It wouldn't have been the best choice offensively, but in my alternate reality he still learns the knuckleball, and he would have been like the Shohei Otani of long relief.

They just sit there and spam knuckleballs over and over again and you just have to hope the computer decides to hang one (which admittedly is how much knuckleballs work in real life too).

Three years later the Bowie team included Morales, the wisecracking second baseman who never took a book home from school because there wasn't enough light to read by; Javier (Lefty) Holguin, the pitcher with a knuckleball so loco that nobody would play catch with him; Jose (Rocky) Galarza, the smoky - eyed third baseman to whom Bowie coeds dedicated yearbook pages; and Ramon Camarillo, the catcher whose hunches came to him in dreams.

We even suggested bringing back Phil Coke because fingerpoints and knuckleballs are fun, dammit.

«It's a knuckleball with speed,» former Capitals goalie Olie Kolzig says.

«My only regret is that I wish I'd gotten ahead of someone so I could have thrown a knuckleball,» he says.

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask got off to a rough start against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night when he allowed this knuckleball shot from center ice to get past him.

Canucks forward Jannik Hanson was just looking to dump the puck in the zone and get a line change, and next thing you know, his knuckleball drops down and catches Rask sleeping.

You throw that knuckleball, and there ain't nobody going to hit it.»»

Out of desperation he learned to throw a knuckleball, and 24 years later, at age 45, he has 202 major league wins.

The first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season, Canseco quickly devolved into a circus act whose gaffes have included blowing out his elbow throwing knuckleballs, allowing a fly ball to bonk him on the head and bounce over the fence for a home run, and seeing how fast his sports car could zoom on jet fuel.

«The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then pick it up.»

He had a chance with a free - kick but decided against the knuckleball (he's saving it for City), and just went with a curler to check if Pickford was paying attention.

There is actually a bit more to the story, however, since sometimes players will strike balls so as to give them very little spin — the equivalent of a knuckleball in baseball.

In addition, the researchers determined that «the optimally hit curveball will travel farther than both the fastball and knuckleball, because of beneficial topspin on the pitched curve ball that is enhanced during impact with the bat.»

60 Minutes Sports, Season 2013, Episode 5: R.A. Dickey describes how he throws it, but it takes science to explain why his knuckleballs do what they do.

Plus, R.A. Dickey sheds some light on the secret of the knuckleball and an in - depth look at the World Darts Championship.

A supposedly washed up pitcher, Dickey developed the knuckleball (a very unique pitch that is almost impossible to master and even harder -LSB-...]

Leon's first baseman spent his mornings taking online courses through the Florida Virtual School, the knuckleball pitcher was taking a «dual enrollment» English class through the community college, and the left - handed pro prospect had enrolled in a financial management course at a local college (in case he was drafted).

Sure, I can throw a knuckleball.

There can be personal problems, financial problems, a death or any one of those knuckleballs life continually throws at us all.

The best was a softball version of the knuckleball — a spin-less ball that baffled batters the first time they saw it, but even when they did hit it they could never get any distance on it.