Swindell’s Left Arm Comes Alive Against Angels

The complexities of the human arm have been a source of amazement for longer than it has been used as a weapon of conquest on a baseball diamond. But it is in baseball where the internal differences become so apparent.

All arms are not created equal, though one usually comes with the same parts as another. Most are perfectly suited for the tasks we ask of them, such as supporting a knapsack, pushing a door open and thrusting high into the air when our favorite team scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

But some, like the left arm of the Cleveland pitcher Greg Swindell, are made to pitch.

So it was understandable that the 55 days that preceded Swindell’s 9-2 complete-game victory Sunday over the Angels caused some anxious moments. Swindell, a 23-year-old former University of Texas star, had gone from 10-1 to 10-9, from having dreams of a Cy Young Award to nightmares that he might never win again.

“Arms go through dead periods,” Swindell explained. “It came on me kind of suddenly, and I couldn’t figure it out. I thought maybe I was throwing too much in the bullpen or maybe I wasn’t following through enough. For some reason, I wasn’t getting the same bite on my curve or the same zip on my fastball.”

It was during the All-Star break that Swindell began to get a grip on his problem. With the help of Cleveland pitching coach Joe Wiley, he discovered he wasn’t putting his weight behind every pitch.

“I’m a power pitcher, always have been,” Swindell said, “so if I don’t rare back and give it all I’ve got, I’m leaving something on the mound.”

To make sure Swindell put all of his 6-foot 3-inch 225-pound frame behind every pitch, Wiley compared videotape of his winning efforts in May to his losing outings in June.

“It was a subtle thing, but the differences were obvious,” Swindell said.

But so were the signs that Swindell should be winning, once he made the proper corrections. He was throwing well, but still lost three in a row because of the Indians’ anemic run production.

“Even though I wasn’t winning, I felt better about the way I was pitching,” Swindell said. “I knew it was just a matter of time until we got enough runs for me to win.”

Against the Angels, who provided his last victory (on May 30), Swindell’s trademark fastball was zipping “better than ever” and his curve was breaking just enough to help him record eight strikeouts. He allowed six hits and walked none. After giving up a run in the first, he hung a curve on the outside corner in the sixth for leadoff hitter Devon White, who hit it over the left-field fence for his seventh home run of the season.

“Giving up one like that has been the difference recently for me,” he said. “But today, it didn’t hurt. I’d never lose if I got nine runs every time out.”

There was a time, of course, when Swindell had the cockiness to think he’d never lose. After just three starts at Class-A Waterloo in 1986, fresh out of Texas and being drafted in the first round, the Indians pulled him into the fire, the first player to go directly from Class A to the Indians in 16 years. The worst pitching staff in the American League needed help, and Swindell looked as much like a savior as the organization had. He finished the year with a 5-2 record and a 4.23 earned-run average. The progression continued last year, though he suffered a broken finger that contributed to a 3-8 record and a 5.10 ERA.

“In the beginning, Greg thought he could go out and blow it past major league hitters,” Cleveland manager Doc Edwards said. “But he came around, especially during this slump.”