Interesting observations in The New York Times on the Yankee's pitcher Randy Johnson and his redesigned slider after making good use of it last night:

Flaherty has stressed to Johnson the importance of releasing his slider from a higher arm angle. That adjustment has helped the pitch dive toward a right-hander's back foot, instead of cutting side to side and staying in the swing path too long. On one slider last night, the Pirates' Freddy Sanchez took a full swing, and the ball hit him in the knee. With Johnson's fastball reaching 96 miles an hour and with occasional changeups mixed in, the slider was almost untouchable. "It's a nasty pitch right now, and he's got the fastball going, too," Flaherty said. "You really feel back there that if he just mechanically stays where he needs to be, it's really going to be tough for them to get off it."