You guys see this ... Verlander last night

[swerb]

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/video/pla ... d=13867701

This is classic

[British_Pharaoh]

Victor's bewildered stare sells the hilarity.

It looks like he was trying to catch the hitter off guard and throw a quick, sly strike.
Blew up in his face.

[bucknutz94]

I think he got confused and thought he was throwing to 1st. If you look he stepped off the rubber and made the throw. Or, he went to the Dock Ellis school of pitching.

[bookelly]

Brain fart. Loved how they were trying not to laugh on the mound.

[peeker643]

Brain fart. Loved how they were trying not to laugh on the mound.

Yep- He locked up and got caught between two things going through his head, each of which he's done a thousand times.

It's funny to see it though.

[swerb]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_le ... mlb-wp3620

After a conference, the umpires got it right: Verlander had thrown an illegal pitch. A balk was called, the runner on first base moved to second and DeJesus' at-bat continued. He eventually walked.

Here's Verlander's explanation:

"I went to go pick one and I didn't get my body turned," Verlander said. "The way I thought — and this was all in milliseconds — if I just throw it home, they won't call anything."

Rick Eymer of MLB.com described it fittingly as something suited for a softball game. It resembled a crow hop. The A's didn't know what to think.

"That was the strangest thing I've ever seen," A's manager Bob Geren said. "It took like six coaches to try to figure out what he did."

Verlander found the whole thing funny.

"I saw the video of it and I couldn't help but laugh at myself," Verlander said.

"It might be the first time it happened in general. I thought nothing could happen at the plate. It was funny talking to the umpires. They gave me a hard time about it, too."

Rightly so. Verlander got out of the jam in the fifth ("At least I did that right," Verlander said) but ended up taking the loss.

[Erie Warrior]

I've never seen that from a professional, them laughing is the best part.