SPORTS FIGURES CAN K.I.S.S. & AVOID PARALYSIS

The Tampa Bay Rays had to beat one of baseball’s best pitchers, Toronto’s Roy Halladay, to complete a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays yesterday. Rays rookie left-hander David Price, making just his ninth start of the year, would be on the hill for TB.

The problem was Price, who showed flashes of brilliance when TB brought him up for last year’s post-season run, started this season in Triple-A to refine some pitches. To this point, anyway, Price had not really reached the same level of effectiveness that he showed the baseball world in his few post-season performances. The St. Pete Times offered the following summary of Price’s approach to his head-to-head battle with Halladay.

After watching the prized prospect pitch poorly on Saturday, Rays man­ager Joe Maddon told Price, and then pitching coach Jim Hickey, they would skip the usual planning sessions and just have him go to the mound, rear back and fire. The plan was, well, simple: Trust his instincts, don’t think too much about what he was doing.

In doing just that Price cured some of the ills that had been haunting him. He pitched six strong innings, giving up just one run on six hits, while walking only one Blue Jay. He got ahead of hitters by throwing first-pitch strikes to 18 of 25 batters. The Rays offense provided just enough and the bullpen supported him for the last three innings as they went on to close out Toronto, 3-2.

Price’s simplified approach-- less pitch-scheming versus certain hitters, throwing what he throws best and has most confidence in, and just rearing back and throwing—these elements produced great results. Coming into the game Price was pedestrian. He pitched 38 innings, gave up 35 hits and issued an unacceptable 30 walks en route to a 5.21 ERA. Following the winning outing yesterday his ERA tumbled to 4.71.

All of this brings to mind an acronym that is popular in coaching—K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

Coaches and players are often guilty of thinking that more is better. In football, especially, you see coaches making the offensive or defensive call from the sideline or press box with these huge laminated cards which often carry well over 100 different calls. There’s paranoia about not having enough, killing themselves with, “what about this, or what if they do that?”—what-iffing themselves to death.

When it comes down to it, they end up using a fraction of that, especially once they sense what is actually working and what is not. We have all heard players and coaches talk about “getting back to basics”, or “we really tried to simplify things.” I can’t remember the last time someone explained the reason for winning was by being more complicated or doing more than they felt they needed to do.

No matter what sport you are in, it’s all about execution. You can only execute what you understand. There is another coaching phrase that runs along a parallel track to the KISS approach and that is, “Paralysis through Analysis.” If someone is thinking too much, they can’t possibly play or execute to the best of their ability.

As you follow your favorite athlete or team, see if they are better off with KISS, or are they trying to do too much and suffering from Paralysis through Analysis.

TAMPA BAY RAYS STILL LOOKING FOR MAGIC

Last year's Tampa Bay Rays were the Cinderellas of Major League Baseball as they reversed a decade long tradition of being bottom-feeders in the American League East. They wore the glass slipper all the way through the AL Championship en route to the World Series before the clock struck 12:00 in the form of the Philadelphia Phillies.

This year's version of the Rays was celebrated for three straight night's at Tropicana Field as they opened their home season vs. the Evil Empire (a.k.a. New York Yankees). One night it's the raising of the AL title banner, another night it's the handing out of World Series rings, all 37,000 fans getting a replica ring, and more, and more.

With some off-season tinkering of their roster, baseball pundits joined the Rays' faithful in projecting this team to be as good or better than last year's Rays. Right now, there is no joy in Mudville. Tampa Bay is 16-20 and have a meager 4-7 mark against the teams who occupy last place in their divisions.

Could a hangover last from fall of '08 all the way into spring of '09? Can an organization that went from "worst to first" and provided a feel-good story for all of baseball slip back into their old form so quickly...and with essentially the same team? There is no doubting the old adage that says, "baseball is a marathon, not a sprint." With just about 25% of the season in the books there is still plenty of time for the Rays to re-kindle the fire, find their mojo, or do whatever it was they did to play like a bona-fide champion last year.

Seeing the Rays struggle in the first quarter of the season makes you better appreciate the great teams throughout all of sports who built dynasties, sustained a high level of success over time, and were able to handle the notoriety, pressure and expectations that was thrust upon them because of that success.