Eiland Fixed The Farns?

From Bob Klapisch:

Dave Eiland remembers the first time he saw the fatal flaw in Kyle Farnsworth's delivery last winter - a subtle bouncing of the hands when the Yankee reliever should've been taking the ball out of his glove. There it was, every batter, every pitch, over and over again on video. A fraction-of-a-second delay kept Farnsworth from getting to his arm slot in time, which choked his fastball, flattened out his slider and otherwise turned him into the most hated man in pinstripes last season.

Eiland might not have been splitting the atom, but in the Yankees' universe, the discovery was the equivalent of genius. He approached Farnsworth on the first day of spring training, sat him down in the video room and said, simply: "Let me help."

Suddenly it all made sense: The reliever with a 98-mph heater routinely was pounded in 2007 because his arm had been in the wrong slot all along - a mistake that Ron Guidry, Eiland's predecessor, never saw. Upon replacing Guidry, Eiland calmly suggested to Farnsworth that he get the ball out of his glove quicker. The coach smiled and said, "Kyle jumped on board right away with it."

The Yankees have been reaping the dividends ever since.

Reaping the dividends? Really? I don't know about you, but I'm not sold on the idea that The Farns is fixed just yet.

Yes, his slider has been good recently, but earlier in the year it was his cutter that was impressing people, but eventually he had one of his bad games, then another, and another, and his ERA rose to 4.50. The next thing you know the people who were praising him were now talking about how bad he was.

To me that is exactly what's going on here again, and if he has a bad week or two and his ERA jumps again, people will be calling for his head.

There is one stat that I am impressed with; The Farns has yet to blow a lead. He's lost a couple games, but when he has been brought in with a lead he's been able to hold it. As a result the Yankees are 36-1 when leading after 6.

In May he had a 4.50 ERA and everyone was fearful of having him pitch in big spots, then he had a much better June and people are talking about how "good" he's been. I hope we see the June version for the rest of the year, but one good month does not mean a pitcher is fixed.