Joe Blanton working to rectify recent rough outings

DENVER - Joe Blanton conducted a light throwing session on Wednesday in an attempt to figure out what is going wrong with his mechanics.

In Thursday's blowout victory over the Rockies, he was called into the game in the ninth with the Nationals comfortably ahead 16-2. He began the outing with a strikeout, but then the Rockies mounted a rally, scoring three runs on three hits. He managed to induce a pair of flyouts to end the game.

Blanton's ERA now sits at 11.00 over nine appearances to begin the season.

Prior to Thursday's game, he spoke about what he is working on to fix his mechanics in what he felt was a solid bullpen session.

"It went good. Hopefully figured out some stuff," Blanton said. "You kind of don't 100 percent know til you get in the game and get in against hitters. But anytime you walk away from a session getting work in feeling positive, it's always good."

Blanton said he sensed something was askew early in the month. He was hoping the bullpen session result was going to help him turn things around.

"I have felt off for a couple of weeks at least now," Blanton said. "That was probably the first time it felt on the right track. Hopefully a good thing."

What has been difficult for Blanton is the problem isn't with just one pitch. He hasn't been able to focus on fixing just one issue.

"Everything really," Blanton said. "My changeup has kind of held its own. Kind of been my saving grace actually. That was probably the one thing that kept me going. Fastball location wasn't all the way there and the life wasn't exactly where it wanted to be because of the mechanics.

"Curveball and slider both just hadn't been as crisp and located and (haven't) been able to do exactly what I want with it either. Those are big for me. I'm kind of a off-speed guy out of the bullpen. I rely a lot on curves, sliders. And when I throw in some fastballs, they have to be located well. When they're not, it's tough."

Blanton has spoken with pitching coach Mike Maddux about trying to fix his mechanics. But having pitched for so many years, Blanton can usually figure out the tweak necessary to get right.

"He helped me a little bit," Blanton said. "I'm usually very good at self-diagnosing. I think this is one of those that crept in at the end of spring. I don't think I really realized it. We had a couple of rainouts, so time got pushed back. Next thing you know, you're in the season and you're trying to figure everything out. I think everything got away from me a little and I didn't recognize that it was far off as it was."

Blanton said he organizes his thoughts by writing down each mechanical issue and what he believes might be the reason why hitters are seeing his stuff so well.

"I have it in my phone. I have a checklist of mechanical things during the season," Blanton said. "Even last year, I felt I was fairly consistent the whole year, but there were times I would throw in an outing - three up, three down - but I was like that wasn't quite right and I got to fix that. So I would be able to do that and once I figured out what would make it better, I would kind of jot a little note down and go back through. Sometimes it's something new."

So is it his release point?

"For me, personally, it's more at the beginning," Blanton said. "Usually, if it's at the end, something is wrong at the beginning. If there is five steps and step five is off, it's usually because step one, two or three is off. It's usually (something) that was before that (final step). I usually just try to start from the beginning and work forward instead of working backwards."

What is curious about the predicament that Blanton is in right now is his changeup is fine. But every other pitch is not where he wants it to be. Ironically, for younger pitchers, the changeup is usually the last pitch they learn to master before they can sustain in the big leagues.

"I guess the problem I would say is the thing I was doing wrong led me to be able to throw a changeup and not any of the other pitches," Blanton said. "That was kind of the saving grace. Sometimes mechanically you can throw and that's what's confusing you. If you have four pitches - fastball, curveball, slider, change - you may be throwing, my curveball, changeup are good but my fastball and slider aren't good right now.

"Ideally you want all four (pitches) and that doesn't always happen. Sometimes a mechanical default can lead to still throwing a pitch effectively and others not. So that's kind of a weird thing.

"After throwing for so many years, you kind of have a good feel for your body and when you've been doing something wrong. I've been knowing, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was and trying to tweak things and do this or that to try to figure out what it was. So, hopefully, this is on the right track and usually you just run with it. It feels weird sometimes still when you do it. Sometimes the right thing feels wrong because you've been doing it wrong, if that makes sense."

Recently, Maddux came to Blanton with something he found in his video study of the right-hander's delivery.

"He brought a suggestion. He said he went and watched video and, 'I may have seen this,' and so we went out and played catch," Blanton said. "It was something I hadn't even thought of. Hopefully, this correction will help me jumpstart and go. It sucks that you have to go through it. You don't want to give up runs, but that's kind of almost the fun part is trying to figure it out. It's frustrating at times, but it turns fun when you finally figure it out, like, 'Oh! I should've done that two weeks ago.' "

Then there is the mental side of the game. Does it make it tough to figure out what is going wrong with his mechanics and delivery when Blanton has to sit and think about in the bullpen for six or seven innings each game?

"I think it's worse for a starter, they have way more down time," Blanton said. "But there's also more time to work on stuff because you know you have a bullpen session coming up. So there's time to get out and try things, whereas a reliever, you don't have that down time mentally so much because every game you're in there.

"You basically go out and you're trying to get mentally and physically prepared to go in a game. There's not really that time to try to work on stuff in 20 to 30 pitches before you go in a game. That's it. Once you get out there, you either have it or you don't. Figure it out once you're out there."

After the Thursday outing, Blanton will continue working toward a solution.