Games » Texas Rangers
May27How Melky Cabrera won the game in the 4th
Lee Judge
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OK, I may have exaggerated just a bit to get your attention (live with it, I’m a cartoonist), but Melky Cabrera did something pretty cool in the 4th inning that may have gone unnoticed: he ran the right direction.
With one down, the Rangers Michael Young came to the plate and hit a rope into right center that looked like a sure double - until Melky ran a great route. So what’s that mean? You hear someone say ‘he ran a great route’ all the time. What are they talking about?
OK, pretend you’re Melky Cabrera standing in center field and you’re at point A. The ball is hit to your left, so now imagine its line of travel off to the left of point A. If you run the shortest route to the ball it would be a straight line from point A to the line of travel, intersecting the line at the earliest possible point. We’re going to call that point B. The problem with this is you’re going to arrive at the line of travel moving laterally. You will be in a bad position to make the catch and a worse position to make the throw. The runner will be able to take the extra base, once he sees you moving away from second base.
So if running straight to the ball is the wrong thing to do, what is the right thing to do? You run laterally to the line of travel at an angle that has you arriving at a point behind point B. Once you get in line with the ball, you turn and start running towards it and the infield. Since humans don’t make turns at perfect right angles your route will look curved and that’s why it’s called a “banana route.”
I don’t know if you’re getting the mental picture, but the basic idea is you run to a point deeper than you have to, turn and catch the ball coming towards the infield. This allows you to react to any bad hop, (because you’re squared up) and means you’ll get off a stronger throw.
It also means Michael Young got one base instead of two. So when Beltre hit a fly ball to deep right center, Young went halfway and then retreated to first instead of being on second and tagging up. That meant when Nate Adcock threw his wild pitch Young advanced to second instead of coming home to score. And that meant the game was still tied after 9 innings.
What I just did here is a little unfair. (Remember the “get used to it, I’m a cartoonist” line?) Assuming everything would’ve played out the same if Melky had run a worse route and Young had got a double is a big assumption. And picking one play out of everything that happened in a game like this and saying that saved the game is a bit myopic. But appreciating a small thing, done well, that helps a team win seems like a worthwhile exercise.
The problem with baseball is they don’t tell you what plays will matter until the game is over. If they would just announce over the P.A. system that “THIS NEXT PLAY WILL DECIDE THE BALLGAME” everyone would focus up and be at their best. Until then, players will just have to try to play right all the time.
In the 4th inning, Melky Cabrera did, and it might have saved the game.
Small things done poorly
Well, now that I’ve built him up and made you appreciate his attention to detail: Cabrera got docked points for failing to slide into second on a close play in extra innings. The replay showed he was probably out, but got the call.
Matt Treanor probably left the plate too early on a ball hit to Wilson Betemit. Betemit had a runner going home and Matt assumed Wilson was going to try to turn the double play (which is probably the right play; this is one of those times when I wish they were at home so I could find out what was going on). Betemit looked home, but Treanor had left the plate to back up first, so Wilson took the out there. Betemit didn’t cut down the run and he didn’t have time to turn two after starting for home, so the Royals got stuck with the worst of the three options. It could be the mental mistake was Wilson’s, but until I hear something else, I’m assuming Matt had to stay home until he saw what play Betemit was going for.
Brayan Pena hung Eric Hosmer out to dry on a pop fly. The ball went up and appeared to be well within Eric’s area of responsibility (they’ve got a chart). Brayan put his head down and didn’t keep watching the ball. The wind caught it and pushed it back towards the plate and Hosmer ended up diving for it near Pena and didn’t make the catch. The batter (I think it was Nelson Cruz) then smoked the next pitch and it looked like he had just won the game with a walk-off homer, but the wind that gave him another chance also took away the home run.
By the way, both Brayan and Melky seemed to spend a little too much time at the plate admiring their extra-inning home runs. Maybe the wind was howling enough that they knew they were gone, but I’d hate to see them be wrong and lose an extra base in extra innings.
Escobar’s ridiculous defense
Last night I counted four above-average plays Alcides Escobar turned in at shortstop. It’s getting ridiculous. He went out on the grass to his backhand side, made the stop and threw a bullet for the out. I almost didn’t score it an outstanding play. He already had three and I thought “Oh, he makes that play all the time,” but then thought why downgrade a play that would be difficult for anyone else just because Esky makes it easily? We really need to appreciate what he’s doing on defense and remember it when he doesn’t get it done on offense.
Who the hell is Felipe Paulino?
Yesterday I said that losing Tejeda and getting Paulino didn’t seem like much of an upgrade. Looks like the Royals knew something I didn’t. Apparently, they needed someone who could throw long relief (I think Adcock was that guy until he went into the rotation) and Paulino pitched great.
Maybe his ERA was inflated by Coors Field. Whatever it was that had his numbers so high, didn’t show up last night.
And speaking of Coors Field: after watching a few games there, I thought the infield was fast, so you didn’t want the ball hit on the ground, and the ball flew, so you didn’t want the ball hit in the air. I asked Clint Hurdle how the hell a pitcher was supposed to pitch under those circumstances. His response was revealing.
“We know you’re going to give up home runs, don’t walk two people first.”
This gets us to the “limit the damage” concept so important to pitchers and that gets us to Nate Adcock. He struck out Beltre in the first, but threw a wild pitch while doing so (which doesn’t say much for Beltre’s pitch selection). Beltre reached first and came around to score. Then Nate walked Kinsler to lead off the second and Kinsler came around to score.
This game is hard enough without helping the other team.
Getting our money’s worth
That’s 12 extra-inning games so far this season. I’m torn between being a fan and a journalist. A fan wants his favorite team to win and a journalist wants to see anything but a tie game. It might be overtime to fans, but our bosses don’t see it that way. You get paid the same whether it’s 9 or 19 innings and most of us would rather see 9. Yet that was still pretty cool last night, wasn’t it?
Sorry
The game ended so late last night I thought I would make fewer mistakes if I waited until morning to enter the numbers. So if you catch one (and I already have) just think how bad it could have been.
Hosmer
Cabrera
Escobar
We have a lot to be thankful for this year, not the least being an improved defense and a bull pen full of young effective arms giving us hope for the future. Thanks for highlighting the defense. Everyone loves and notices the big bashes like in the 14th inning last night, but often the contributions on defense are overlooked but are just as important.
Lee, about Pena and Cabrera and their admiration of their home runs, what is it about the long ball that makes so many players want to sit back and admire them? I mean, I get it if >I< were to hit a homer why >I< would admire it, because let's face it, I'm not going to do that much in my life.
Then again, I'm not paid to do that and I definitly won't get the opportunity. Why do so many ballplayers gaze at the glory of their homers? Is it just the kid inside them saying, "Look, I saw _ do that when I was a kid!"???
Thanks, Joel. When I started this I made a conscious decision to highlight defense partially because it gets so little attention elsewhere.
I also decided to error on the side of being generous on awarding points for oustanding defense for the same reason.
Some might think I go overboard (they might be right), but if I make people at least think about defense and keeping runs off the board, it's worth doing.
Jason: Once again our comment section is messed up. Perhaps we should invest in some homing pigeons or set up some really young, light riders with really fast ponies. At this point it might seem more efficient.
If I got the gist of your comment which I could only see in part(why do ballplayers like to watch their home runs?), I don't know. I never hit one myself.
I did find out standing and watching line drive singles to right is not a good game plan.
If you're watching on TV you'll sometimes see a player who makes a great play look up. He's watching himself on the scoreboard.
I've been doing the pre-game show and recorded them on my DVR. I watched one and the experience was so uncomfortable I deleted the rest.
Who wants to know what you really look and sound like? I didn't enjoy it. But maybe if I did something awesome I'd feel differently.
Anyway, overly enjoying one moment may mean you don't like the next moment at all.
Lee, I was just looking at the average points for game. I think we are undervaluing the relief corp (Crow, Wood, et. al.) Might need to offer some points for an effective hold to make more sense out of their contribution? What do you think?
You've got a point. Ron Polk created the system over two decades ago and told me that was why there were so many categories for complete games: Pitchers threw more of them back then.
That's one of the reasons we added quality starts: to reflect the way the game has changed.
I don't want to mess too much with Ron's system (I've screwed it up by tinkering in the past), but did consider adding 'holds' (although a relief pitcher is never going to come out on top of this thing and shouldn't, so comparing reliever to reliever is the best gauge of how they're doing).
Anyway, I tried to get 'balks' added after Hochevar committed a couple early in the season and I'm still waiting for the IT guys to get to that, so I gave up on adding 'holds'. Good idea, but we're working short-handed.
Fully understand the limitations you are working under. Perhaps it is something to consider for next year when you have all winter to get change incorporated. Agree with your basic concept. Reliever should not come out on top or even near an effective starter. However, if they are doing their job effectively, they should not be on the bottom just because they were not the last to pitch and get the save. Notice the disparity between Soria's average points and Crow. In my mind, Crow has been as valuable over the season so far and would think they should be closer together with some recognition of the tougher closer role.
Yeah, I thought middle relievers went undervalued in the system last season. Their basic complain is the only time people want to talk to them is after they lose a game.
At what point do we just abandon the starters entirely and let the bullpen pitch the entire game? Even if we were lucky to survive Collins' outing, that was ridiculous last night.
The ball to Betemit with runners on first and third was just not hit hard enough to turn two. I think Wilson did the right thing in looking to take the out at home. If it is hard enough, then you go for the twin killing. But if that is unlikely, since the runner on third was slow, we should have gotten the out at the plate.
Thank goodness for TiVO. I made it through eleven innings last night and then just paused it and went to bed, to finish it in the morning.
This is off the subject you have been discussing today, but I wanted to talk about the Greinke trade and how it has affected our teams performance. First I'll say this. Escobar is obviously a defensive wizard, and I love his hustle and attitude.But he is absolutely killing us at the plate.Now I know some are willing to sacrifice offense at S.S. for the kind of range and big play ability he brings.I dont know Bettancourts numbers this year, but I'll go out on a limb and say he's having a better year than Escobar.Our biggest problem this year has been starting pitching.It seems to me a rotation that looks like this would have us more consistent W's:Grienke,Hocheaver,Chen,Duffy, Francis(not sure on the order of the last 3).I can't really judge the rest of the trade because I have'nt seen enough of the other prospects,although Jeffress has shown flashes with that whip of an arm.I think we should have made Grienke punch his tough s**t card and play.I know its a defensive downgrade with Yuni but maybe an actual professional batter at the plate would make up most of that.Escobar looks like a kid at the plate,and is starting to remind me of Tony Pena Jr. Its all water under the bridge now but thats just my opinion.
Escobar looks like the classic great glove no stick short stop. The long drive in the 9th last night was not a good sign. He needs to beat the ball in the ground and run.
Seitzer is getting all the love, but McClure is getting a lot of gas out of empty cans with his mostly no name staff.
Hope it continues.
I think fear of burnout is why Yost keeps bringing in new guys. Many of the pitchers on the staff can be replaced by a lot of available pitchers.
Curtis: Other than Collins, the bullpen was amazing last night. Earlier this season Paul Splittorff told me Collins was getting away with working out of the zone, but people were starting to catch on and letting those pitches go. I don't know if that's what we're seeing or he's just missing. I'll ask Treanor when they get back.
As for the ball to Betemit: I didn't think it was smoked either, but Nelson Cruz was running and Wilson had Getz at second (a better bet to turn the DP than Aviles). Either way, I'm guessing Treanor has to wait and see what Wilson decides to do before taking off to back up first. Wow, Matt and I are going to have a lot to talk about. Let's hope something good comes up in the next couple days so I'm not hitting him with a bunch of negative stuff as soon as he walks in the door.
Crystal: Bring up any subject you like. What I was hoping to create was a site where people could discuss baseball and the Royals, so fire away.
As for Greinke: he was not seen as a negative clubhouse influence, but wasn't a positive one either. He just went his own way. I think overall the clubhouse atmosphere is much better this season, but you've also got to perform, not just like your teammates.
Despite my unspectacular record of convincing women of anything, I'll give you my argument on why I like Escobar despite his hitting.
Ball clubs just want to win and that can happen in a number ways. You can do it by scoring more than the other team or naking sure the other team scores less. (The 'score less' route largely goes unnoticed and unappreciated).
Escobar went 1-5 last night, scored one, laid down a bunt and struck out with the winning run in scoring position in the 11th, so not so hot on that side of the ball.
On the other side of the ball he made four above-average defensive plays (one was going to his left up the middle and included a 360 spin...Yuni doesn't make that play, he had a hard time going to his left because of bad footwork). So what would the score have been after 9 innings without Escobar's defense?
The Royals probably lose that game. So he might be killing us at the plate, but saving us in the field.
(And by the way, I was one of Betancourt's defenders last year: I didn't think he was that bad defensively and thought he had a very good year offensively.)
And I agree with you about the starting pitching: they just haven't been good enough to carry the club to a winning record.
OK, there's my Escobar argument, feel free to disagree with it. Just cause I think it, doen't make it right.
P.S. Where do you get those tough s**t cards? I'd like to hand out a few.
Dennis: I agree with you about Escobar hitting the ball in the air. Same with Jarrod Dyson. But it's not for lack of trying: Seitzer has had nets that hang from the ceiling installed in the inside batting cages.
They hang down to about the height of your average ballplayes head. So if the hitters hit the ball up, they'll hit those nets and drop down to the floor. This is a reminder to concentrate on line drives and hard grounders.
If you ever come out early to watch BP pay attention to how many balls get absolutely crushed...and then land on the warning track.
Hitting the ball in the air at Kauffman Stadium is a bad game plan. The idea is to have other team come in and hit fly balls while the Royals shoot the gaps with line drives and hard grounders.
There is a feeling the Escobar can learn to do this if given enough time. Meanwhile, his defense keeps him on the field.
I just went to baseball reference to compare Betancourt to Escobar. Betancourt is batting .226/.254/.339 while Escobar is batting .220/.257/.260. So Yuni has a little more power - 3 homeruns so far - but is both five years older and an abomination on defense. And makes roughly ten times as much this season.
Now that doesn't mean the Greinke trade was necessarily a success. But we are vastly improved at shortstop because of the trade.
Curtis: Thanks for the information. I don't know what he's done over there so far, but I never thought he was an abomination on defense when he was here.
He went back and to his right pretty well (nothing like Escobar) and was actally pretty good on the slow roller in front of him (he had a very quick release). The balls to his left were the big problem.
I was told that after he took his shuffle steps forward on the pitch, he would end up with his left foot slightly in front of his right.
On balls hit up the middle he would then try to crossover with his right foot instead of drop-stepping with his left. In effect he was running around his own left foot. That's why we saw all those routine-looking grounders get through.
Because I expected him to be so bad (based on reputation) I had a higher opinion of him than I probably should have held.
Bob Dutton, who's been watching baseball since Moses held the first pickup game in the desert, thought Yuni was about average.
After watching Escobar for 50 games, I see what Bob meant.
Agree with you, Lee, on the Grienke/Escobar situation. Escobar is starting to occasionally contribute on offense (walks, sacrifice bunts, occasional hit) while being one of the big reasons for the defense being much tighter and the team more competitive. We do need more consistent starting pitching, but Grienke has not give Milwaukee that this year so not sure what his contribution to the team would be if he stayed.
Just checked. Grienke is 3-1 in 5 games (28 innings) and is averaging less than 6 innings per game with a 5.79 ERA. With the Brewers offense backing him, he is winning - would not with the Royals with the paltry runs/game they have had recently.
Joel: Interesting stuff. You're right, if he were here and putting up those numbers, people would be asking what's wrong with Zack.