Wednesday, April 07, 1999

Tomko spots flaws in his delivery

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BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        The Tuesday afternoon matinee Brett Tomko viewed won't win any Academy Awards or even Cy Young Awards. But it might prevent future horror shows.

        Tomko watched a videotape of his performance in Monday's season opener against San Francisco and thought he noticed that he was rushing his delivery — “flying open,” as pitchers say.

        “I don't think it's real major,” said Tomko, explaining that his flaw makes his “arm drag a little bit, which gets everything up in the zone.”

        Tomko thought he could fix his delivery during his usual between-starts throwing session in the bullpen today.

        “I know where I should be, I know where I am and I know what I need to do to get there,” said Tomko, who yielded six runs and eight hits in 3ö innings in the Reds' 11-8 loss Monday.

        Pitching coach Don Gullett pointed out that Tomko wasn't the only Opening Day starter to be treated rudely, noting that several premier pitchers suf fered the same fate. That list included Los Angeles' Kevin Brown, Texas' Rick Helling, Atlanta's Tom Glavine, the New York Mets' Al Leiter and Kansas City's Kevin Appier.

        “If you look at the box scores and see the highlights on TV, a lot of guys got caught up in throwing the baseball on adrenalin and power rather than being pitchers.” Gullett said.

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