Games » Minnesota Twins
May1Why Mr. Spock would be a good ballplayer
Lee Judge
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Baseball will eat you alive if you get emotional. I’ll give you two examples from this game: Jarrod Dyson led off the game with a single, and whether it was the roar of the crowd, trying to show off his speed or live up to his growing reputation, he tried to stretch it into double. He stretched it into a single-and two-thirds, and the ball was waiting for him when he arrived. He then tried to avoid the tag, rolled an ankle and wound up looking like a stock car going end over end across a NASCAR infield. Out of the game with a sprained ankle.
(Not the first time Jarrod has had footwork problems: He’s faster than bad news, but has hit a base awkwardly on occasion, sometimes slipping when he steps directly on top of the base, instead of the inside corner.)
If Jarrod stayed at first, he would have been able to steal both second and third. (Apparently Carl Pavano is horrible at holding runners.) If you know you can steal the bag on the next pitch, you don’t advance unless you’re sure … or emotional.
The other example is the Twins starter, Carl Pavano. He came out the game in the sixth inning after giving up seven runs and decided to beat a trash can to death with a bat.
Nothing hurts the dugout atmosphere like a meltdown. Fans may think it shows passion (one of the reasons were fans and not ballplayers), but it sends a message to the rest of the team that things really are bad and what happened to Carl is more important than what happened to the Twins.
If the ship is on fire and sinking, nobody wants to see the captain freaking out. It makes everyone think they really are doomed. You want to think that the captain has been here before and has some plan for saving everybody.
Ever watch Joe Torre? A player’s head could explode, and Joe would take another sip of coffee with a “yeah-sometimes-that-happens” expression.
If the Royals had come back from their 0-6 road trip thinking it was the beginning of the end, would they take three in a row from the Minnesota Twins? Nobody panicked, everybody seemed to say ‘sometimes you lose six in a row’ and go on with business.
There’s a reason this thing is called a grind.
P.S. It’s the American League. Carl Pavano doesn’t own any bats, so he probably has an upset teammate after trashing someone else’s gamer.
Other stuff
*Matt Treanor was on a contact play when he headed for home in the third inning. The infield was back so if it gets past the pitcher, Matt scores easily … but it didn’t get past the pitcher.
*They say doubles are made out of the box and Mitch Maier proved it in the fifth inning. On what appeared to be a single when it left the infield, Mitch was digging hard and never stopped. I asked him if it was better to come in the game unexpectedly (after Dyson’s injury) or spend all night thinking about the fact that he had a start the next day. Mitch said the same thing happened when he came off the bench to replace Rick Ankiel last season: he had a great game. So maybe Ned should never tell Mitch he’s playing until after the national anthem.
*Alcides Escobar made another of his jaw-dropping defensive plays to lead off the sixth. This time he got Jason Repko. The next batter, Justin Morneau, hit a bomb into the right field bullpen. The only way Esky’s defensive play isn’t the exactly the same as an RBI is that it doesn’t show in a box score. Put ‘em on the board or keep them off: it’s all the same.
*First Mike Aviles got picked off and then he did a great job avoiding the tag. I thought about docking him points for the pickoff and giving him points for the base running, but decided it was just an entertaining athletic spectacle in which nothing actually happened … kinda like soccer. (Soccer fans, my email address is ljudge@kcstar.com, I deserve your scorn.)
*I asked Ned Yost if he felt the Royals had an advantage in Kauffman Stadium. Upon reflection, I realize it was a bad question. Ned said the team felt “comfortable” in Kansas City, which made me realize I had just invited him to say something other teams could take the wrong way. Ned, if you’re reading this (and I don’t think you are) … OK, let me start over … Ned’s friends and/or family… if you’re reading this I apologize and will try to do better next time.
Lots of notes, but today’s an off-day so what the heck
Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer gave me the quality plate appearance/situational hitting stats the Royals keep. A quality plate appearance is any walk, hit, 8+ pitch at-bat or hard hit out. Anything over 40% is excellent and the Royals are at .420.
Situational hitting is moving the runner over from second to third with no outs, driving the runner in from third with less than two outs, sacrifice bunts and hit and runs. Succeeding 60 percent of the time is considered average, anything over 70%, excellent and the Royals are at .684.
It probably wouldn’t surprise you that Billy Butler (.491) and Alex Gordon (.479) are two of the leaders in quality plate appearances, but how about Matt Treanor at .435? It’s the difference between hitting well and getting hits. (Mitch Maier is over 70 percent in a limited sample, but didn’t do anything to hurt himself today.)
As for situational hitting, guess which three guys have been perfect? As of Sunday morning, when I got these stats: Mitch Maier (1.000), Chris Getz (1.000) and Brayan Pena (1.000). Seitzer keeps these stats to help in making out the lineups and to prove a point: fans remember the failures more than the successes.
Fear the beard
I asked Sean O’Sullivan what Matt Treanor said to him during a visit to the mound in Saturday night’s game. As I recall, the count was 0-2 and then Sean struck the guy out, so I figured Matt must have passed on some vital information.
Wrong again. Matt told Sean the umpire wanted him to wipe his hand off if Sean touched his beard. Never thought of that one, but I guess a beard would be a pretty good place to hide pine tar, Vaseline, a nail file, a work bench … whatever you could get away with. (Hmmm…ever notice how many pitchers have beards?)
Sean also said the leadoff walks weren’t due to being over-amped at the beginning of an inning. He said that happens at the beginning of games, but after that he feels under control. Knowing that he’s over-striding when he leaves the ball up helps him adjust quicker and make a pitch when he has to.
How to steal a base without running
Ever since Doug Sisson talked about the quality of pitches thrown after numerous pickoff attempts, I’ve been paying attention. Saturday’s game had a perfect example in the fourth inning: Alcides Escobar was on first and Matt Treanor was at the plate. No way Twins pitcher Brian Duensing wanted to walk a run into scoring position with two outs, but that’s just what he did. Duensing was so worried about Esky taking off (making three pickoff attempts) he walked Treanor on four pitches. Like Sis says, sometimes the threat of a steal is as good as a steal. Just one more way the Royals aggressive approach on the bases is paying off.
Playing straight up
We made a video with Doug Sisson on the signs he uses to position the outfield. Every time a new hitter comes to the plate (and sometimes during an at-bat), Doug can be seen on the top of the dugout steps, positioning outfielders. (Watch the video and you’ll be able to amaze your friends by telling them what Sis is telling the outfielders…it also ensures that any first date at the ballpark is also a last date at the ballpark.)
After we turned off the camera and microphone, Doug said some of the best stuff: Hitters who are ahead in the count have more chance to pull the ball, hitters who are behind in the count tend to go the other way. (When they’re ahead, they’re more aggressive. When they’re behind, they have to wait and see if they’re swinging at strike three out of the zone.)
Doug said playing “straight up” consists of the leftfielder being in line with first and second, the right fielder being in line with third and second and the centerfielder being in line with home and second. (Heck, I always just stood in the bare spot.) They start from “straight up” and position from there. Sis also pointed out that he can’t always get the angle to see when they’re straight up so he has to find something in the background (especially on road trips) to use as a sighting device. That also means Doug has to stand in the same spot every time so he doesn’t throw the sightings off.
You know, you grow up watching this game thinking you know how it’s played, and then find out you didn’t have a clue. It’s really interesting to talk with these guys, find out these amazing details and bring them to the website.
Royals coach Doug Sisson explains his outfield signs
Kansas City Royals coach Doug Sisson explains some of the signs he gives to the outfielders in getting them into position during a game. May 1, 2011 (Video by John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star)
Aviles
Maier
Hochevar
When you're doing these videos you have no idea how they'll come out. It's kind of like being in a car wreck and when everything stops moving you wonder 'what just happened?'
So the first time I saw this was at 6:15 this morning. Doug Sisson did a great job, but my favorite part is the periodic spitting. Now THAT'S an old-time baseball guy.
Fascinating world these guys live in, ain't it?
Great as always Lee. I've been away from the thread for a few games, because..I was getting emotional with the games last week and just couldn't figure out how to comment without it coming thru. I was glad to see our starters work well, except the walks are huge piece that needs to be addressed. If it's not SOS walking 7, it's Luke being up by 4 or 5 runs and walking a batter (or two) below the Mendoza line.
Reading that SOS was jelly legged with food sickness gives him the pass this time. I think Luke had flash backs of his previous years and the Twins of yester---err, last year hitting off him. A couple weeks ago when he had multiple runs to work with, he went after the batters, making them put it in play.
His history certainly makes him a contact pitcher without the ability to get 7+ Ks in a game. As long as he can rely on his defense (and he should be able to) he can still have a really successful year.
It's been really interesting watching Sisson at the park so far this season, and it's that type of communication that I think has been lacking in the past. I will draw some parallels with this season to the 'Believe' season, where the coaches are...really coaching.
The only negatives I saw from the entire series were 1) the amount of walks 2) Frenchy getting waved home by Eddie Rodriguez to get thrown out easily. IMO, a definite "Owen Windmill" moment, but only his first so far this season.
Watching Pavano beat the trashcan into submission, while then seeing the Fox Sports camera zoom out to see three "Sad Clown" Twins fans sitting above the dugout was definitely the web gem of the series. Who says you never see anything surreal at a baseball game?
Kevin: Glad to have you back, but what's up with taking games off? Ya gotta play hurt on this team.
I agree with you about the walks. Unless you're working around a guy for strategic reasons at some point you say 'here it is, hit it' and rely on your defense.
I probably disagree about Eddie sending Frenchy home (there may be some numbers I'm unaware of) but feel free to disagree with my logic, if I'm wrong it won't be the first time.
As I recall there were two outs and Escobar was one deck hitting something like .232. If Eddie holds Frenchy he now has a 23% chance of scoring (and it could be higher or lower depending on the matchup numbers). I think you send him.
There are times those base coaches are sending guys knowing that if the defense does everything right, the runner will be out, but those odds are still better than having the on-deck batter hit.
If Frenchy goes home in the same situation ten times I think he scores more than twice, due to a bad throw or a dropped ball...but like I said, I could be wrong.
That's more than fair about Frenchy. I do love the aggressive base running we have. But from my vantage point (3rd base side behind home plate) I didn't think he had it. You do have to play the numbers sometimes, and others you have play by gut. Fair enough.
And you won't have to call me out again for not 'playing hurt'. :-D
I was sitting two rows behind first base yesterday (Sunday) and watched Dyson come flying out of the box and around first as soon as that ball left his bat. If I could have frozen time, I would have and gone to Vegas and put down a substantial bet that he was gonna try for two. The problem was that he hit it hard and it was fielded cleanly. That kid can fly, but nobody can fly that fast without a stewardess.
It was also a pleasure watching Maier bat. The dude has been sitting on his wallet since spring training and he comes in (off the bench - replacing Dyson) and has great at-bats, runs the bases well, scores runs and plays good D. In years past, we didn't have many guys on the roster that could do that at all. Now we have guys coming off the bench doing that. To me, that's the beginning of the end of losing for our franchise.
Another great article, Lee. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks, Adi, I'm also a huge Mitch Maier fan. I love the blue-collar guys (ever notice how much time I spend with Getz, Treanor, Texeira, Pena, Chen, etc.?)
I think I relate to being less talented than the stars and having to work hard and be smart to play with them.
That's one of the reasons few great players become great managers. The marginal guys really have to pay attention to the small stuff to keep up with the guys who can do it effortlessly.
For me, that makes them better interviews.
On the tv replay they showed that Aviles was out on the first SB where he was called safe. My guess is that 'positive' mistakes will be made more. He is more likely to be called safe than out due to the speed of the action and how difficult it is to see the small things in a bang-bang play. Is that something that smart aggressive base-running tries to capitalize on or do they think that those plays will go both ways about 50-50? Basically, are they counting on bad calls going there way more often then not and on defensive mistakes?
I've never heard anything about that. I know there are plays that umpires can get blocked out on, but if the players are counting on that I'm unaware of it.
I have absolutely nothing to add, but wanted to tell you that I'm enjoying these posts. Please keep it up.
Kenneth: I'm just glad you're enjoying the site. It's been a lot of fun to go to the park, find out new stuff and bring it back to the readers.
I hope it's made the game more enjoyable for everybody.
Also nothing to add, but enjoying your column for the past few weeks. Couldn't agree more on Maier, not only does he look like a gamer - he plays like one. That to me is the best thing you can say about a ball player.
Yeah, most of the people who really pay attention to the team are big Mitch Maier fans. Didn't complain about not starting, played big when he did.
When I was managing I quickly learned there were two types of players: the ones who would tell you the were good and the ones that would show you.
Mitch shows you.
That is awesome and I'm adding all of those signs to my 13 year old team.
Jacob: Glad to be of help.