Games » Texas Rangers
May19What Frenchy was thinking during the final at-bat
Lee Judge
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Bottom of the 10th inning, tie ball game, one down, runners at first and third, a base hit wins the game. Are you nervous? Not if you’re Jeff Francoeur. I asked Frenchy if there was any anxiety when he was at the plate in the 10th and he said no, he was totally relaxed.
Jeff said he’d been in that situation a lot and after a while it just seems normal: this is the business I’m in. The other reason he didn’t freak out was his ability to concentrate. He agreed that nervousness happens when you begin to think about yourself and imagine the possible result of the situation you’re in. If you’re totally focused on the moment, that absorbs your mind. There’s no time to imagine all the lousy ways things could wind up. OK, so what was Jeff thinking?
Once he got to two strikes, he moved up in the box and closer to the plate. He wanted to take away the slider and put himself in a position to hit that pitch. Frenchy said he was going to live with getting beat inside if that was what happened, but didn’t want to flail helplessly at a slider away.
In the 9th pitch of the at-bat, Cody Eppley gave Frenchy a two-seam fastball that got smoked into center field for the game –winner.
So Jeff Francoeur is always cool as a cucumber (why are cucumbers cool? - never heard the reason for that saying) with the game on the line? Only if he’s the one hitting. He said he gets nervous for his teammates when they’re the ones under pressure.
See? Something to concentrate on and no nerves. Time to think and you get the jitters.
P.S. Another reporter asked Francoeur if the recent losing streak had been “weighing” on the team. Frenchy got a big grin and said, “Weighing? No, it was p–– us off!” That’s the difference between going into a shell and fighting back.
I wouldn’t write these guys off yet.
The base-running
This will probably be a “running” theme throughout the season (geez, the humor just keeps flowing), but I’m going to continue to say that fans can’t freak out when the Royals lose a runner on the bases. This is the cost of doing business. The running game has paid off in so many ways, losing heart and changing tactics because it doesn’t work 100 percent of the time would be a mistake.
The Royals have gone from the bottom of the league in runs scored last year to near the top in 2011. They lead the league in stolen bases. The running game is forcing errors from the opposition defense. Decide to throw in the towel because some guys got picked off (more on that shortly) and you lose all that.
By the way, in the 6th inning Melky Cabrera did not get picked off, he was going on “first movement.” With some left-handed pitchers it’s impossible to read their move, so you roll the dice and go on his first movement, hoping he already has decided to go home. The Royals rolled the dice and lost.
Same thing when Francoeur tried to stretch a single into a double later in the same inning. If he stays at first, the Royals need two hits to score. If he makes it to second, one does the trick. Frenchy made it close enough that it was worth the risk; it just didn’t pay off.
Looking for solutions
One of my favorite guys to talk to is Doug Sisson. Before the game I asked if he thought Feliz was balking when Dyson and Aviles got picked off Wednesday night. Doug thought it didn’t make much difference. Feliz has a hell of a move, he’s going to keep using it and apparently the umpires aren’t going to stop him.
Rather than whine and complain about the situation, Doug studied Feliz frame by frame to figure out a new body part to key on. The runners were getting fooled by the keys they had been using and had to shift to something else.
Sis said others can find fault, but it’s his job to find solutions. (I’ve been working on the opposite principle all my life.)
Aviles ties the game up
Mike Aviles tied the game up in the bottom of the 9th with an awesome 11-pitch at-bat. Every pitch Neftali Feliz threw was a four-seam fastball. They ranged from a low of 97 to a high of 100. So why not drop something off-speed in there?
Once Feliz got to three balls, he couldn’t. Before that, he could’ve wasted a pitch out of the zone, but once he had to throw strikes he couldn’t go off-speed because his outfield was shifted severely to the opposite field, assuming Mike couldn’t pull 100 mph. If Aviles had connected with something slower it could’ve plugged the gap.
Pay attention to the positioning of the outfield and you’ll have a good idea of how they intend to pitch the batter.
The hit-by-pitch
OK, I’m hoping this story is almost over, but Kevin Seitzer wanted to see the bruise again last night, and I had to tell him it was gone. He was disappointed until he heard that our dumb stunt was seen on television in Japan. That set off another round of hysterical laughter.
Wilson Betemit walked up and I finally apologized face-to-face for saying he should’ve gotten hit by a pitch and he laughed and offered to teach me how to get out of the way next time.
Then Bruce Chen said if I wanted to try it again, he’d hit me with any pitch I wanted (he made me an offer I could refuse). He said he could hit me so softly with a curveball it wouldn’t even leave a mark or he could light me up with his best fastball. I asked where that topped out and he said 91.
I expressed some skepticism and he started laughing and said, “You don’t know, you weren’t there!” “OK, Bruce, I dated Madonna. You don’t know, you weren’t there!”
Bruce said neither was Madonna.
I’m kinda getting my butt kicked in these clubhouse conversations lately. When you’re losing a battle of wits to someone whose first language isn’t English, you might need some new tactics.
Hochevar
Francoeur
Holland
I am a little curious about a situation in the bottom of the 10th. Runners were on first and third with one out and the infield playing in. The first baseman was well off the bag and on edge of the infield grass but Hosmer (runner on first) still took a normal and rather modest lead off of the bag. Is there a reason not to take a lead comparable to where the first baseman is positioned to help eliminate any (even remote) possible double play or is it just assumed that the defense has taken the double play out of the game by their positioning?
But aren't there much more outs on the basepath lately? It's like the league has heard of the Royals' aggresiveness and adapted, but the Royals hasn't counter-adapt these adapt yet. They aren't constantly evolving.
Mr Davis... I'd assume that he doesn't want to get too big of a secondary lead so that he can get back to 1st base in the case of a throw from the catcher. Otherwise, I'm with you, another step or two never hurt anyone (or does it).
I completely agree with you Willie. I was really confused as to why Hosmer didn't steal 2nd in that situation. Weighing out all the Pros and Cons I think it would have been the right thing to do. The only potential negative would be getting doubled off on a line drive, but that's not too likely. Taking 2nd base would have eliminated a ground ball double play. Also, if it's then 2nd and 3rd and Melky gets thrown out at home on a ground ball, Hosmer is now at 3rd with 2 outs and Billy up rather than at 2nd. He would score much more easily on a Butler single. As it turns out, I guess it didn't matter, but it still bugs me.
Yamfun ... yes, there have been more outs on the basepaths. My question was a curiosity not a criticism. The base was unprotected and the gap between the first baseman and Hosmer was rather large.
1st and 3rd the other day...Gordon took a high hittable pitch. Last night, French wasn't walking on a close pitch. He wanted to win the game. Don't know if it's Seitzer, but French is the glue for this team. The Royals have been after him for years. Let's see if they sign him to an extension later in the year.
cool as a cucumber eh? well I believe it stems (yeah stems) from the fact that they grow on the ground and are shrouded by the leaves of the plant. Or if you prefer the "accepted" description...Meaning
Calm and unruffled. Origin
Cool here means imperturbable rather than having a low temperature. Cucumbers are cool to the touch.
First recorded in John Gay's Poems, New Song on New Similies, 1732:
Anyway, we're 21-22 and I'm still "cool as a cucumber" (Calm and unruffled). I believe in these boys. Just like I believed in John Mayberry back in '72. (Go John hit two, send the Greek to Waterloo). Individually, they don't really stand out. Collectivelly, they can be a force to be reckoned with (think of ants). Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organization and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. In other words, these boys adjust their approach at the plate based on the situation at hand. They look to each other to pick one another up when necessary and they defend themselves to the end by fighting til the final out. (hence the many walk-off wins to date). Maybe we won't win the pennant this year. It's a long shot for sure. But it won't be because the boys don't try...don't fight. They give their best and fight til the last strike has been called. Only then do they concede. Reluctantly. Yeah, our pitching is suspect. But more often than not our pitchers have pitched well enough to keep us in the game. Yes, even Kyle Davis. I know, I know Kyle Davies. Great stuff, poor results. Reminds me of another pitcher who struggled at one time. On December 10, 1971, Nolan Ryan was traded to the California Angels along with pitcher Don Rose, catcher Francisco Estrada and outfielder Leroy Stanton for shortstop Jim Fregosi. The deal remains controversial, and has been cited as one of the worst in Mets history. It has been argued that in light of his ineffectiveness,had Ryan not been sent to another organization, he would have continued to struggle with his control. And yes, I know. Kyle Davies will never be a Nolan Ryan. Perhaps more of a Steve Jones. Who knows? But he is part of the team and I'll support him til he's gone. Besides, if Joe Poz can have Duane Kuiper, I can claim Kyle Davies. But I digress. Maybe we don't have the best talent in the league. But these boys have chemistry. They feed off each other. Okay, gotta go. Time to check out of the motel and head back to the streets. Yeah, I'm a homeless guy. I live on the streets of this city. I plan my day around these guys and their games. They give me hope. And maybe, just maybe along the way they'll win a game or two because they know I care as do many others. Our lives may be lost and incomplete, but we don't stop loving the game of baseball or the fellows that represent our city. Melky, Billy Boy, Alex, Hos, Chen music, and one of my favorites, (even prior to being a Royal) Frenchy. Show'em boys. Show'em you belong and that you are winners. Cause you are. I believe in you boys. I do. Ya'll are "cool as cucumbers" and will deliver when the heat is on. Take care, God bless and now go out and kick some booty like ya know you can!
Lee - in the spirit of playing a humble role in actually helping the Royals, you have good connections there, so I am hoping that you can nicely share, with Doug Sisson, and our advance scout/now video scout guy, and Ned, this excellent information from Craig Brown at royalsauthority.com: "One word about the caught stealings… The Royals no longer use advance scouts. Instead, they rely on video. I recommend they invest in an internet connection. One quick check of Baseball Reference reveals that Derek Holland has had 84 stolen base opportunities against him this season. Meaning, there have been 84 instances where a runner has been on either first or second and the next base has been open. Of those 84 chances to steal, opposing runners have made the attempt only two times. Two out of 84. In other words, nobody is running against Holland this year. And when they do… they’ve been caught. That’s right. There hasn’t been a successful steal against Holland all year." Thank you, your posts are great. Steve.
Lee, Im becoming wary that you are losing your objectivity. You have been allowed into the clubhouse for the first time, and have been gawking all the players, and they have kind of "mascotted" you and all, but your not a Kansas City Royal. Your an unbiased observer. Or at least you should be. What I see more and more is you being an apologist. Saying Milky didnt get picked off is laughable. Call it whatever you want, paint it any color you like, what actually happened is, he, by definition, GOT PICKED OFF. It is a fact. Also, I want to suggest you review your work (or ask colleagues to do so) and evaluate whether your getting a bit too preachy. I know you used to manage a beer league team, but sometimes you insist on turning your post into Baseball Fundamentals 101 (for Jr High kids). You dont need to point out for example, that Frenchy trying to stretch a single into a double is an example of aggressive baserunning. We know that. Your readers are smart. We know it eliminates the DP, we know it puts a runner in scoring position if he makes it, we know that being on 2nd is better than being on 1st. You probably will choose to get defensive in response, and thats fine, but Im just giving you one readers honest opinion. You havent been a sports writer before(The Pine Tar Rag doesnt count), so there is a learning curve. You have presented some insightful, worthwhile stuff and now maybe your pressing to fill content a little. Think George F. Will's 'Men at Work' type insight, less Bob Gretzesque homer propaganda. Good luck buddy.
Lee - you are a great bridge between great ideas and the Royals (in this case Doug Sisson, the advance scout/video guy, and Ned), please pass on this excellent information from Craig Brown at royalsauthority.com: "One word about the caught stealings… The Royals no longer use advance scouts. Instead, they rely on video. I recommend they invest in an internet connection. One quick check of Baseball Reference reveals that Derek Holland has had 84 stolen base opportunities against him this season. Meaning, there have been 84 instances where a runner has been on either first or second and the next base has been open. Of those 84 chances to steal, opposing runners have made the attempt only two times. Two out of 84. In other words, nobody is running against Holland this year. And when they do… they’ve been caught. That’s right. There hasn’t been a successful steal against Holland all year." Thank you. Steve.
Lee, Im becoming wary that you are losing your objectivity. You have been allowed into the clubhouse for the first time, and have been gawking all the players, and they have kind of "mascotted" you and all, but your not a Kansas City Royal. Your an unbiased observer. Or at least you should be. What I see more and more is you being an apologist. Saying Milky didnt get picked off is laughable. Call it whatever you want, paint it any color you like, what actually happened is, he, by definition, GOT PICKED OFF. It is a fact. Also, I want to suggest you review your work (or ask colleagues to do so) and evaluate whether your getting a bit too preachy. I know you used to manage a beer league team, but sometimes you insist on turning your post into Baseball Fundamentals 101 (for Jr High kids). You dont need to point out for example, that Frenchy trying to stretch a single into a double is an example of aggressive baserunning. We know that. Your readers are smart. We know it eliminates the DP, we know it puts a runner in scoring position if he makes it, we know that being on 2nd is better than being on 1st. You probably will choose to get defensive in response, and thats fine, but Im just giving you one readers honest opinion. You havent been a sports writer before(The Pine Tar Rag doesnt count), so there is a learning curve. You have presented some insightful, worthwhile stuff and now maybe your pressing to fill content a little. Think George F. Will's 'Men at Work' type insight, less Bob Gretzesque homer propaganda. Good luck buddy.
Lee, Im becoming wary that you are losing your objectivity. You have been allowed into the clubhouse for the first time, and have been gawking all the players, and they have kind of "mascotted" you and all, but your not a Kansas City Royal. Your an unbiased observer. Or at least you should be. What I see more and more is you being an apologist. Saying Milky didnt get picked off is laughable. Call it whatever you want, paint it any color you like, what actually happened is, he, by definition, GOT PICKED OFF. It is a fact. Im sure baseballreference has logged it as such. Also, I want to suggest you review your work (or ask colleagues to do so) and evaluate whether your getting a bit too preachy.......CONTD
CONTD....... I know you used to manage a beer league team, but sometimes you insist on turning your post into Baseball Fundamentals 101 (for Jr High kids). You dont need to point out for example, that Frenchy trying to stretch a single into a double is an example of aggressive baserunning. We know that. Your readers are smart. We know it eliminates the DP, we know it puts a runner in scoring position if he makes it, we know that being on 2nd is better than being on 1st. You probably will choose to get defensive in response, and thats fine, but Im just giving you one readers honest opinion. You havent been a sports writer before(The Pine Tar Rag doesnt count), so there is a learning curve. You have presented some insightful, worthwhile stuff and now maybe your pressing to fill content a little. Think George F. Will's 'Men at Work' type insight, less Bob Gretzesque homer propaganda. Good luck buddy.
I apologize for the multiple copys of my post. I didnt know what happened to it. I hit enter, it disappeared and all I saw was: No comments have been posted. Diverting all comments from an article to a completely separate page seems counterintuitive and misleading. Im full of opinions today. This one was out of embarrassment I admit.
Guys: We had problems with posting comments on the site (again) so that's why things have been a bit screwed up this morning.
That's why I haven't responded until now, plus I was up until 2AM last night posting numbers and game notes and decided to sleep in.
I intend to get to all the comments eventually (I wondered why Hosmer didn't go myself and will ask him today), but did want to respond to Benjamin's concern that I've been 'mascotted' by the players. (Geez, do I have to wear the Sluggerrrr costume?)
Actually, it's a fair question and I should explain what I'm doing and why.
When I started this gig I asked my buddy Tim Bogar (third-base coach for the Red Sox) the best way to approach the clubhouse.
Bogie gave me two great pieces of advice: 1. Watch the game. Don't just record history, really watch the game closely for the fine points. 2. Make sure my first encounter with a player was positive. Wait until he'd done something well and then talk to him about it. That way when something went poorly the player would realize I was just trying to be fair and do my job.
I followed Tim's advice and the players responded well. They appreciated some of the small things being noticed and they appreciated the things they do well being noticed.
The perception that I'm trying to be fair helps immensely when I have to talk about something negative and THAT'S how you can tell whether I've been co-opted by the players: am I willing to point out the bad stuff?
Well, here are some recent examples:
I've pointed out that Matt Treanor didn't have enough bend in his wrist on that wild pitch the other night, that Duffy was too slow to the plate, that Aviles has been trying to turn the double play while avoiding the runner, that Francoeur made a high throw that allowed trail runners to advance, that Betemit lost track of the outs, etc. etc. etc. Need I go on?
(Heck, apparently now every time a player gets out of the way of a pitch they're being heckled by their teammates with "What's Lee going to say about THAT?" even though I've moderated my position on the subject...that stuff hurts.)
Go back and read the posts and you'll find plenty of comments about things done poorly. The players have been willing to talk so openly with me because they think I'm not coming in with a positive or negative point of view: I just want to understand the game I just saw.
If I were covering up for players why would there be any mental mistakes recorded? Most of those go unnoticed by the majority of fans and I could just sweep them under the rug if I wanted to.
I've told several people that I spend about 2/3s of my time explaining that fans should not be upset about the thing they're complaining about and about 1/3 of my time saying here's the thing you missed that you ought to be upset about.
The proof of my objectivity will be in what I'm writing. Look at the stuff I've written and you'll see. Just because you're mad about something and I don't agree doesn't make me a 'homer'.
Case in point: (and this gets to the subject of how much the fans really know and I don't have a clue so I try to explain what seems necessary) Melky Cabrera by actual definition was not picked off. It was scored a 'caught stealing' and announced that way in the press box.
I specifically asked Ned Yost whether Melky was going on first movement because I wanted to know whether the out was caused by inattention or was just a gamble that the Royals lost. That's why I write this stuff: so people can understand what they just saw.
And if you think everyone knows why Fancoeur tried to get to second you weren't sitting near the people I heard loudly complaining about it.
So that's it, gotta get back to work preparing for tonight's game. Just keep reading the notes and if you quit seeing anything critical, THEN accuse me of being a mascot.
P.S. Let's not forget this team is playing well and in a season that was expected to be awful we've had a lot of pleasant surprises. There were Royals teams a few years back that I probably would've been burying night after night. But I'm not going to be cycnical to make sure I don't get criticized.
It wouldn't be fair...and that's what I'm trying to be.
And, Benjamin, don't worry about the mulitiple posts...it gives me more page hits.
Guys: Just got back from the clubhouse and have some answers to the questions posed here. They'll be on the website tomorrow morning.