Message posted by: Craig S.

Hi everyone! I am here on my semi-monthly visit

The Phillies won game one of the World Series last night, which is just about the greatest thing to happen to Philadlephia in 25 years, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share something I learned watching my favorite team on several occasions this year.

One night I was at the ballpark, and perhaps it was the angle of the seats we had that night, but for some reason I noticed something very interesting about the way Brad Lidge ran out from the bullpen and across the outfield to close the deal on another game. I figured what he was doing was unique at the time. He was in perfect posture (pitchers supposedly know a lot about posture), he was leaning slightly from the ankles, and he seemed to be gliding across the turf doing nothing but gently flicking his heels to the rear. His armswing matched his stride, as he gently swung his elbows to the rear. Anyone who knows the technique is already thinking, “It sounds like he was ChiRunning.”

I was in New York helping Danny Dreyer with a workshop a few weeks ago, and I asked him if he was a baseball fan, but it turns out he has never watched a reliever run from the bullpen! (This is just a funny side note.)

After seeing Lidge glide across the outfield on his way to the mound, I began to notice that about 90% or more of the relief pitchers in the MLB run the same exact way. Now, I really do not believe that anyone is teaching ChiRunning, or any other technique to relief pitchers or even baseball players in general. I am pretty sure of this, because when Shane Victorino pulled his calf muscle several times last season and this season, he obviously hadn’t been told to stop wrecking his calves by overstriding and running on his forefeet (I am kind of kidding, since I am sure I would do the same trying to run down a fly ball.) However, I do believe that there is a definite reason that relief pitchers run that way. If you think about it, a relief pitcher warms up while the guy before him is usually starting to crumble. Often the game is hanging by a thread, the jerk on the mound has just walked two batters, and the reliever knows that 44,000 screaming fans are going to expect a m
iracle. He is warming up as methodically as he can, trying to only throw as many pitches as absolutely necessary to warm up, without expending the finite amount of energy he has to get through whatever number of batters he is being asked to face. (For any non-baseball fans that are still actually reading, relief pitchers are often former starters who due to age, wear and tear, etc, can only pitch good stuff for a limited number of pitches — some are good for one inning, others can go a little longer, some only see one or two batters on a given night). OK, so the reliever is warmed up, he is primed, he is coiled like a cheetah that is going to not only devour his prey but do it as quickly as possible and call it a night. He exits the bullpen, and then it happens. He just leads with his forehead, totally relaxes, gently lifts his heels, and floats to the mound.

He runs with total effortless because his primary motivation is to use as little energy as possible getting from point “A” to point “B.”

If it was possible to teach that in five minutes, then I could do a helluvalot of ChiRunning lessons in one day! The truth is, we are kind of dense, especially if our life, or career, is not on the line. Hmm, but I sure know some triathletes that look at their physical health that way.

So, if you want to learn to run without injury and more efficiently, and you are too cheep to take a ChiRunning lesson just watch the Phillies beat up on the Rays this week!

• Trade rip

GO PHILLIES!!!

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