Maybe Zumaya should worry a little less about the scoreboard radar gun and a little more about getting hitters out. Or at least getting baserunners out.

Ah, a snarky comment from Ben, what a surprise. I think Zumaya's success this year has been just fine.

I couldn't resist. Sorry :-)

The thing about Zumaya is that he's said he looks at the gun in every stadium in which he pitches. So of course a team is going to screw with him. As he matures - he's still just 21 - he'll probably learn to stop checking out the gun. What does it matter what the generally inaccurate readings say anyway? If you're mowing down hitters, you're mowing down hitters whether the stadium claims you're throwing 103 or 97.

While it may just be immaturity that causes him to look at the radar gun, there is likely some benefit as well. I did a lot of reading about biofeedback in my sport psych classes... studies looked at biathletes, who exert themselves in cross country skiing and then need to slow their heart rate down to fire a rifle without trembling hands. Having a scientific feedback monitor showing their heartrate helped them perform the task better. I used to weigh myself before I pole vaulted in college, almost daily. My weight could fluctuate by as much as two or three pounds up or down from day to day, depending on how much liquids and food I had eaten that day and the night before. And while I may have been biased, I did feel as though having that extra piece of information could help me get a better picture of what was causing me to do well or poorly on a given day.

For Zumaya, I'd imagine there's a similar effect. Maybe he feels a part of his mechanic is "off" during a particular outing. He probably has a hard time knowing - just by sight - the difference between a 100 and 103 mph fastball. But that could very well be the difference between a hitter fouling off, and ripping one down the line opposite field. Seeing the accurate scientific feedback can help spot issues that would otherwise be invisible to them.

I think Mike makes a good point. There's a reason teams do things like this to screw with opponents, though I doubt they realize themselves exactly what that psychology behind it is. I remember listening to a Red Sox-Yankees game on the radio a few months back...RJ was getting hammered at Yankee stadium. One of the commentators started laughing because the stadium radar gun showed like 99 or 100 or something on Randy's fastball, and there was no way he was throwing above 95. I think at that point in the season he usually hovered around 93 per the TV.

Even if Zumaya is consciously aware that teams might try to mess with him, subconsciously...who knows if it has any effect.

Of course, I'm sure St. Louis isn't the first team to try this. And Zumaya was actually better on the road this season (1.52 ERA vs 2.36 home, 1.06 WHIP vs 1.29 home). So other teams haven't done a great job psyching him out. :)