Hitting Really Has a Hold On Me

In an article posted by Carl Steward, 4/8/2013, in the San Jose Mercury, Steward goes on to say that the walk-up music for Marco Scutaro right now would be the Coasters' "Searchin'."

Says Scutaro: "I was fine in spring. I just lost the feeling. It's going to come sooner or later. You just keep playing, keep fighting. That's why hitting is so hard. It's a feeling sometimes, and you have to wait a while for it to get back. You just keep searching."

"I know what I'm doing wrong," Scutaro continued, "I don't want to do it, but my body doesn't want to cooperate. I'm jumping at the ball. Timing-wise, I'm just kind of jumpy at the plate. I don't let the ball travel."

Actually I've been in this very situation. Just couldn't contain myself. Itching to pull the trigger I cannot watch the ball go into the catcher's glove. I'm following the ball and measuring my swing and I just have to murder the darn thing.

I wouldn't say the song is "Searchin'" I'd say it's more like the Smokey Robinson tune, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me."

Baby, I don't want you, but I need you (here's the part where I just have to swing the damned bat)
Don't wanna kiss you, but I need to (like to let the ball go by but I just can't)
You do me wrong now, my love is strong now (the wide one isn't my friend but my hand-eye thinks it has a solution)
You've really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
You really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me) (after I hit a weak grounder to the third baseman. Or even worse, a roller back to the pitcher)

You have to get a feel for how the ball is moving. By watching it into the glove you get a sense of timing as you bend your knees, take a deep breath and await the next pitch. Or as Scutaro says, "I have to get my rhythm back. The student of the game that he is explains himself. "During the season, it's going to happen sooner or later. You're going to get off. (Song is your choice.) That's what you fight the entire year, hitting-wise. You just try to make adjustments every day."

One hundred and sixty-games, from April to October, is a long season. All kinds of things to deal with. But losing and the finding the rhythm can be an uncomfortable one seeing as how we all need a certain amount of balance incorporated in our every day lives. Movements must flow like a boot camp cadence or the shinbone will become a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

(thanks to Carl Steward of San Jose Mercury for his article about Marco Scutaro)

Kevin J. Marquez