CC Sabathia's Magical Touch Cured Ian Snell

· Steele: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-an-extraordinary-man-of-principle-and-conviction/">Man of Conviction | <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/hank-greenberg-could-relate-to-flood/">Greenberg Relates
· Moore: Flood's Peers Owe Him Apology
· Blackistone: <a href="http://kevin-blackistone.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame/">Cooperstown Should Open Doors
· Fletcher: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-a-hero-to-todays-players-those-who-know-his-name/">Modern Players Know Little of Flood
· Stradley: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/for-curt-flood-antitrust-meant-exactly-that-at-supreme-court/">Antitrust Meant Just That

Since coming to Milwaukee, CC Sabathia's been phenomenal. The way things are going right now, he's going to insert himself into the NL Cy Young race despite not arriving in the NL until early July. He's been so good that Ian Snell, who's been floundering to regain the form that made him one of the NL's more promising young starters in 2006 and 2007, watched some footage of Sabathia on his iPhone on Monday, mimicked some things he saw CC do, and struck out eight Cardinals in seven shutout innings last night:

"I couldn't take my eyes off CC," Snell recalled. "And you know what? The more I watched, the more I knew what I had to do."
[...]
"Watching CC, he used his fastball command to set up the slider, rather than vice versa," Snell said. "Well, I put my fastball where I wanted, and everything else happened."

As a Pirate fan, I think it's awesome that Snell finally managed to get some of his form back. As a geek, I think it's really cool that he used his phone for such a cool purpose. And as a cynic, I'm a little curious as to why pitching coach Jeff Andrews never bothered to tell Snell that maybe he should use his 96 mph fastball from time to time. How can a coach not see what a pitcher figures from watching baseball on his iPhone?