Games » Cleveland Indians
Apr19How Bruce Chen does it
Lee Judge
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“Not everything that’s important can be measured, not everything that can be measured is important.” Either Albert Einstein said that or Albert Einstein should have said that. One way or another, it brings us to Bruce Chen. I’ve had fun talking about Bruce winning ball games when he’s out there with nuthin’, but I’ve decided that’s both unfair and incorrect.
Bruce brings a lot to the mound, but high velocity isn’t on the list. And baseball fans do obsess about velocity, mainly because we can measure it and understand it…sort of. Pitchers can give the ball three qualities: location, movement and velocity. Chen has location and movement, but how about velocity?
Well, velocity doesn’t just mean throwing hard, it can also mean throwing soft. Changing speeds, adding and subtracting, make timing a pitch difficult. Hitters have a comfort zone that depends on their bat speed and fans tend to think of velocity as getting above that comfort zone. But pitchers can also get below that comfort zone and that’s part of what Bruce does. He makes the hitter slow down and slow down and slow down and then blows a mid-eighties fastball past them. A pitch that would’ve gotten crushed if he’d thrown it before slowing down a hitter’s bat speed.
I watched part of the game with Jeff Montgomery and he noted that Chen rarely throws the same pitch twice in a row, changing arm angles, location and velocity. It might be impressive to see someone throw 100-mph straight as a string, but that’s throwing.
And Bruce Chen is a pitcher.
May I assist you?
Alex Gordon threw another runner out trying to score (great play by Brayan Pena to hold onto the ball at the plate). So if the Royals outfielders throw that well, how come people keep running on them? I recently wrote that someone with 0 assists might throw better than someone with 10 because nobody runs on the first guy’s arm. So when I found out that Jeff Francoeur leads all active players in outfield assists I asked him why.
“Hey, if your arm’s so good, what’s up with all the assists?”
Fortunately, Frenchy thought that was funny and said there were times people were going to run on you no matter who you are, like with two outs and a chance to score a run, and he’d been able to take advantage of the situation. (Just like Alex did in this game.)
Side note: Brayan Pena blocked a pitch in the dirt with a runner on third. The Royals won by one run. No block, no win, at least not in nine. I try to pay attention to the little stuff that wins games.
Blocked pitches with a runner on third so far this season: Matt Treanor 14, Brayan Pena 7. That’s a bunch of runs.
A tale of two double plays
Chris Getz was the pivot man on a big double play in this game. Second basemen have to be gutty on the DP. Unlike the shortstop, second basemen can’t see the runner coming at them. They know he’s coming, but aren’t sure where he is. This runner was Michael Brantley and Chris said he knew Brantley was fast and had a good chance of dumping him. (Frank White once told me he also kept track of who wore spikes and who wore rubber cleats…Frank doesn’t try to catch foul balls and keeps the window closed on cold nights…Frank’s pretty smart.)
Anyway, Getz stepped into the runner and got taken out while successfully making the throw. Getzie was walking around after the game with an ice pack from knee to ankle on his left leg. Mike Aviles tried to turn a double play the night before without stepping into the runner and couldn’t get enough on the throw.
Getz getting knocked for a loop while hanging in on a tough play, then getting up and banging out a triple in his next at-bat sends a message, to the other team and his teammates.
Speaking of tough guys
Jason Kendall leads all active players in getting hit by pitches (well, he will once he gets active). We talked about why: All hitters handle the middle third of the plate pretty well, Jason dives to cover the outside third and that leaves the pitcher the inner third. If they want to come in off the plate to move Kendall off the outside corner, he refuses to budge and uses the rolling the shoulder move we talked about yesterday to protect himself … that and an elbow pad.
Finally …
I said yesterday that losing a poorly played game on Monday night wasn’t as important as how the Royals reacted in the next game and they reacted great. It got a little rough at the end, but the team didn’t fold and battled through the final three innings.
Here’s a saying suitable for a tattoo, “Being a winner means getting up one more time than you were knocked down.”
And Kendall, if you decide have that tattooed somewhere, you owe me royalties.
Chen
Gordon
Escobar
small typo... "The Royals one by one run."
One thing I've been wondering - what do the bullpen pitchers think of hanging out in left field with no access to the tunnels? I know the decision wasn't made to make the players happy, but it does take away a minor convenience that they maybe used to enjoy.
Also, do you know anything of a starting pitcher's job during off days? For example, they may sit on the bench, but are they watching batters to give advice to the pitcher whenever he's back in the dugout? Or does everyone keep to themselves?
Good analysis as always Lee. I am a Getz fan simply because you don't have a single team in the MLB where all players can bat above .300, as long as Getz is timely, and hitting close to the team average, and still turning plays, we need to keep him where he's at. He was a huge surprise for me this year, perhaps he is finally healthy and we are seeing the benefits of that. (sound like another player you know?)
The one complaint I had from last night is....Blake Wood. When I have a group of starters that go for the ball when it's hitting the infield, and a bullpen with people like Jeffress that can get caught by a line drive at his head and hang on to the ball, even Soria trying to knock down a ball up the middle. We see Blake Wood dodge TWO balls hit up the middle last night. That to me is unacceptable. You have NINE defenders on the field at a time, not 8 and a pitcher. Get him some infield practice and threaten to send him back down (depending on options) if he decides to be a "Robert Dorn" on the mound. I may be overreacting on this, but I'd like to know your thoughts on this one....
Tyler, thanks for catching that. I was going to write something tonight about how exhausted I am when the team is in town. I'm sure I'm making mistakes in the numbers also and haven't had time to doublecheck them, but will shortly.
As for the bullpen switch: supposedly made because the sun hits right field harder, but it's been so cold that hasn't been an issue. The relievers do feel a bit trapped out in left. Kanekoa Texeira called it "Monkeys in a cage" and said when the pen was in right they got more girls from Rivals hanging over the railing (these are important issues in baseball).
On off-days the starting pitchers all have a running and throwing schedule they follow and the day before their start they 'chart' pitches: track what was thrown in what count and how the hitter reacted. It helps them focus for the next day and the information is shared by everybody.
It may be Wood just isn't as athletic as the other guys or doesn't finish in as good a fielding position (I'll have to pay attention to that). I didn't think he dodged those balls, but thought both had a chance to be caught when they left the bat and they weren't.
One interesting note I forgot: the bullpen phones went out and the Royals had to have the cop in the dugout radio the cop in the bullpen to get Wood up. First pitching change by law enforcement hostory?
"Hostory" ? See, I told you guys I'm exhausted. For the record: law enforcement history.
When I saw the Crew Chief talking to Yosty and then the PD, I knew the phones had to not be working, specially since they went into the opposing dugout.(Watched from home again, on call this week)
It's fair, similar to NFL games where one side loses contact with their box in the stands.
That's a good point, I'll have to watch his finish from now on and see where he's at, although he is a righty and I want to say one of them passed him on the left. If he's not athletic enough, would it be beneficial for the team to bring the infield in setup for DP when he's pitching regardless of a runner on 1st?
Kevin, I thought about it and you may be right, I do remember some body English on one. As for the infield setup, I don't know, I can ask around. They did have Texeira warming and he's the groundball guy so I thought we might see him instead.
Another thing I forgot to mention from last night: when I was talking to Jason Kendall he said he was guessing, but his impression is switch hitters don't get hit by too many pitches, they see the ball coming from the other side.
Like-handed hitters have the ball coming at them all the time and have to decide at the last split-second if the ball is going to hit them, but agreed raising the hands is a bad idea, it exposes the ribs.
Always something new to learn, isn't there?
Usually not the grammar police, but I couldn't stand seeing a minor flaw ruin my daily read!
Let's just blame it on the batboy.
Tyler, be my guest. I need as many editors as possible. We went back and fixed the one you caught. If you find more, don't hesitate.
I can't believe you didn't talk about the effect Kila's defense had on this game. He missed two balls that a firstbase should scoop. The last was in the ninth: if he had scooped it the bases wouldn't have been loaded since the game would have ended on Gordo's excellent grab.
(God I've got the same grammar bug you do ;) )
Yeah for all the talk about how Kila would displace Butler at first because of his defense, I haven't been impressed. He may theoretically have more range, but a first baseman's first job is to catch the balls thrown by the infielders, isn't it?
I would think with Kila doing poorly at the plate right now, he is pushing himself so much that it might be affecting his defensive game. Do managers ever force a player to come in later for a few days when they get into a deep slump? If I was in a slump I would want to work even harder (come in earlier and take more reps) just to get out of the slump, but that can sometimes only make matters worse. What tactics do big leaguers use to get over 'mental' slumps?
Glad you mentioned Getz's gutsy play. Watching the replay of the DP made it look like whoever was sliding got his knee good. Frank White's commentary was that it is going to receive contact, but the second baseman needs to be quick-footed so that the lead leg is not firmly planted to avoid injury.
And how about the 1st play of the game by Escobar. Human highlight reel, that guy.
Sorry, guys been out of the loop all day. I'll get to these comments as soon as I can.
I agree that Kila either should've been able to scoop or at least stop a couple of the throws to first. What I've heard is he's considered better than Billy, but not a lot better than Billy, although he made a nice play tonight.
As for getting out of mental slumps: giving up seems to be part of the process. You've tried everything, nothing is working, forget it all and just play ball (exactly what Kanekoa Texeira told Kila).
I've also heard a couple of cold ones can come in handy.