FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It's not exactly an unwritten rule, but sometimes it certainly seems illegible.
When a pitcher is tipping his pitches it's time to break out the code. That's exactly what happened after Matt Barnes revealed Monday afternoon that his problems against the Twins at Hammond Stadium stemmed from giving away a subtle hint to the Minnesota batters.
This time the euphemisms fell to pitching coach Dana LeVangie who did his best to dance around Barnes' proclamation.
"No, first off, I thought too many good swings were taking place for a guy that was actually throwing really well," said LeVangie, who informed his pitcher of the problem during a lengthy mound visit. "I don't think we'd seen that from Matt Barnes when he's throwing good pitches and they're having good swings. We had to have a little conversation."
So, about that pitch-tipping ...
"There were too many good swings," LeVangie added with a wry smile. "Too many good swings."
And regarding details regarding what Barnes was told involving the tipping of the pitches ...
"Things got better after the trip," LeVangie added.
Then it was Alex Cora's turn.
While LeVangie seemingly was aware of Barnes' revelation, the Red Sox manager -- who has a stellar reputation throughout baseball when it comes to identifying pitch-tipping -- was seemingly caught off guard a bit that his reliever had broken radio silence.
The initial observation from Cora regarding Barnes' one-inning outing (which resulted in a pair of hits and two runs) was nondescript.
"With Barnsey, I mean, the stuff is good," he noted. "The breaking ball is good. Velocity is actually higher than last year. He's in a good place."
Then came the question about Barnes' explanation for the outing, which did finish with a strikeout of Marwin Gonzalez after LeVangie's mound visit.
"He said that? I don't know about that," Cora said, pausing for a second of reflection before adding, "He said that!"
Why the mystery? Cora has his reasons.
"I just, the reputation I have around the league, I hate it," he said. "I don't look for stuff like that. It was Dana."
All of it offers some optimism for Barnes, who has struggled some after a delayed start to spring training, allowing five runs over his four innings of Grapefruit League action to date.
"It kind of salvages the outing for you in a sense," Barnes said. "It goes from me wondering, 'I feel like I'm making quality pitches. I feel like my stuff is pretty good and getting smacked around,' to, 'OK, maybe that's the reason.' Now I get to instantly change that and, 'OK, is my stuff where it needs to be.' Those guys are plenty good. they don't need any help knowing what's coming. That makes your life a whole hell of a lot harder. It makes it a lot better. It does."
