TORONTO - Last month, when Jerad Eickhoff threw a slider that Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton missed by a foot, Larry Andersen's eyes widened. Andersen - former reliever and minor-league pitching coach, now broadcaster - considers himself a slider connoisseur. When Eickhoff shelved the pitch in a subsequent start, Andersen approached him in the dugout.
Eickhoff, who tossed six shutout innings Monday in a 7-0 win over the Blue Jays, had become too predictable as a two-pitch starter. Andersen was not the first to tell him he needed the slider. But, for some reason, the dugout conversation stuck in Eickhoff's head.