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Olenberger Finds Way Out of Struggles
by Martin Renzhofer, Salt Lake City Tribune
August 10, 2007
In one of those light-bulb-above-the-head moments, Kasey Olenberger
realized in a flash the source of his recent pitching struggles.
"I was wracking my brain," he said. "My hand wasn't in
the right place
in my glove when I started [my windup]."
Simple enough.
In his next start, a 6-1 victory at Round Rock, Olenberger allowed
four hits and struck out eight in seven innings to pick up his Pacific
Coast League-leading 10th win.
"When I would go forward, my arm was dragging," Olenberger
explained.
"It was a little thing like that. I was a little more free with my
hips."
Through 90 games, the 29-year-old righthander was the Salt Lake Bees'
most consistent pitcher. Following the three-day Triple-A All- Star
break, Olenberger had a stretch of starts that were anything but
consistent, losing three straight and once failed to get out of the
fourth inning.
Yet, in a tribute to Olenberger's tenacity, on July 31, he gutted out
a seven-inning 8-5 victory against Iowa, despite giving up four runs
in the first three innings. It was Salt Lake's second consecutive win
on the heels of dropping eight of 10 games.
"I just had to bear down," he said. "I had just enough
stuff to get
guys out. It was a test of character. I wasn't at my best. I was
giving up hits and would have been easy to get frustrated."
The satisfaction came by shutting down a team that had been hitting.
The win was also the last of a homestand and helped propel Salt Lake
to a 4-3 road trip that saw the Bees reclaim first place in the
Pacific North Division by a game over Colorado Springs. Salt Lake
begins an eight-game homestand today. Olenberger is scheduled to start
Saturday.
"It was huge for Ollie to keep us in the game," Salt Lake manager
Brian Harper said. "That to me was a better start than when you have
everything going. That type of game is easy for pitchers."
Olenberger's ability to take games into the later innings is a
blessing for a bullpen that has a tendency to get used up in the
hitting-happy PCL.
"It was almost imperative for Kasey to go seven [against Iowa],"
Harper said.
This has been Olenberger's best season as a professional. After
pitching several seasons in Italy, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound graduate of
Long Beach State was signed by the Los Angeles Angels as a non-
drafted free agent on Dec. 1, 2004.
Olenberger leads the PCL in innings (152) and is fifth in strikeouts
(103). More important, he has walked only 34.
Also, with about five starts left in his season, he is in sight of the
Salt Lake franchise record of 13 wins.
"I didn't know that until just now," he said. "I wasn't
aware of it,
and probably won't give it much more thought. If it happens, great. I
could get five no decisions."
Olenberger points toward Salt Lake pitching coach Charles Nagy for
helping discover the small hitch in his delivery. During a bullpen
stint between starts, they just stopped throwing and started talking.
"It was a huge, huge deal," Olenberger said. "Don't get
me wrong, when
you're dominating, hitting spots, that feels good, too."
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