When crazy pitch is working, batters simply knuckle under

BOSTON -- Wanting to put it correctly, Terry Francona explained the details of managing a knuckleballer.

"There's really nothing to say to him," said the Red Sox manager, speaking of 41-year-old pitcher Tim Wakefield. "The pitch is so elusive that you hope you don't take him out too soon. A knuckleballer can give up two runs quickly, then give you four great innings."

In Tim Wakefield's world, slower can certainly be better. (AP)

Which is exactly what happened Saturday. In 94-degree heat against the Mariners, Wakefield gave up three hits in the third inning, and the score was tied 2-2. He finished with a seven-inning, two-run effort in an 11-3 Red Sox win.

"He made a slight adjustment to stay back in his delivery," said Kevin Cash, the catcher who replaced Wakefield's long time ally Doug Mirabelli. "He had a great feel, he threw more slow knuckleballs than any start I've seen."

Slow? How about 58 mph? How about a pitch that takes five minutes to get the plate and still makes you look like a fool.

"The way to catch a knuckleball," Bob Uecker once famously said, "is to wait until it stops rolling and pick it up."

It can be agonizing to watch a knuckleballer, but sometimes it's fun. Wakefield's dipsy-doodle is like a child at play, here, there and everywhere. It doesn't spin, but it turns and twists and makes a batter dizzy.

"You have no idea where it's going to go," said second baseman Jose Lopez, Seattle's only .300 hitter. He went 0-3 against Wakefield. "It moves, like, four times."

The knuckler, invented by baseball masochist Eddie Cicotte, who pitched for the White Sox 100 years ago, is a breeze of a pitch, a kind of linguini delivery that corkscrews in mid-flight and makes everyone involved -- hitter, catcher, umpire -- brace for the event.

Words like "flutter", "dance" or "jiggle" are often used to describe the cruel trajectory, and no hitter can master the puffball. Charlie Lau, the legendary hitting instructor, once said, "There are two theories of hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither one works."

It's a small, elite club -- Hoyt Wilhelm, Charlie Hough, Phil Niekro (who had that tortuous knucklecurve), Tom Candiotti and a few others. The mechanics have to be almost perfect because there's such a small margin for error.

"A guy who throws 96-97 can get away with a mistake," said Wakefield, "but if I hang one, it's in the seats."

The most curious thing happened in Boston's game against Seattle. For two intriguing innings, there were two knuckleballers in the game. When Miguel Batista walked more people than a crossing guard, the Mariners called on long reliever R.A. Dickey to try to match the master Wakefield.