Games » Texas Rangers
May29The good, the bad and the ugly
Lee Judge
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THE GOOD:
Well, let’s start with Danny Duffy. He has made three starts and has shown improvement each time. He kept his pitch count down and threw six innings. He didn’t walk anyone until the seventh inning. He seemed to work quicker. After his teammates put a five-spot up for him in the top half of the inning, he came out and threw a shutdown inning in the bottom of the fourth. Duffy has shown the ability to adjust quickly and take his game to another level. Everyone should be happy about that.
Everyone should also be happy about the Royals’ defense. Each position player made at least one outstanding play in this game, and Alex Gordon had two. Wilson Betemit charged a slow roller and made a nice throw across his body to get a runner out, and Chris Getz did the same. Eric Hosmer made another nice 1-3 put-out and helped out his buddies with good stretches at first base. Brayan Pena handled a tough block and kept a runner out of scoring position. Alcides Escobar made another one of those running-backward-to-the-grass-and-spinning-to-throw-a-strike-to-first plays that he seems to turn in once a game. Melky Cabrera made a sprinting, leaping catch, Alex Gordon dove for one to his left, and Mitch Maier ran a great route and turned a double into a single by the way he approached the ball.
The second Gordon catch deserves a bit more explanation: Alex was going back and hit the track and then did exactly what he’s supposed to do. He reached out with his bare hand, found the fence so he knew where he was and made a leaping catch. (We’ve got a couple Mitch Maier videos in the can where he explains running a good route and playing the wall, so watch for those.)
Brayan Pena crushed an upper-tank home run, Escobar came through in one of those late-inning clutch situations with a big sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and Mitch Maier had two hits and a walk. (Guys like Mitch are clubhouse favorites because they accept their roles and don’t whine. Everyone’s happy to see a guy like that come through when he gets his chance.)
THE BAD:
Billy Butler made the same base-running mistake that he made not too long ago. Billy was on first base and Betemit hit a rocket to left. Josh Hamilton was going back for the catch, and if he had made it, he would have been on the warning track. When the outfielder is moving away from second base, a base-runner on first can go all the way to the bag or even around it. If there’s a catch, the throw will be late and weak and the runner has plenty of time to get back to first. Billy only went halfway, and when Hamilton reached up for the ball, Billy started to go back to first. Hamilton missed the catch, the ball went all the way to the wall, and Billy only made it to second base, robbing the Royals of a runner on third with one down and robbing Betemit of a double.
Mistakes will be made, but it’s a good idea to try to find new ones.
In the seventh inning, Ned Yost brought Everett Teaford in to face a left-handed batter. Everett walked the only batter whom he was going to face on four pitches. Aaron Crow bailed out Everett, but you don’t want your situational lefty to be effective only when the situation calls for an intentional walk. When you’re only facing one guy, there’s no time to get a feel for the game. Bang strikes and take your chances.
(Side note: There was a meeting on the mound that included Brayan Pena, Chris Getz and the pitcher du jour … I think it was Aaron Crow … and they all covered their mouths with their gloves. This is to prevent any lip-reading by the batter. Or maybe the umpire. Mike Estabrook seems to have a pretty short fuse.)
THE UGLY:
What else, the ninth inning. Whatever it is, Joakim Soria is not the sure-thing closer he has been in the past. I don’t know what’s up (as I hope I’ve made clear), but it seems as though something is. Frank White (who knows more than me and always will) talked about lack of fastball command.
Joakim almost beaned Nelson Cruz on his first pitch. I don’t think he meant to do it, but once you come up and in on a batter and put him on the seat of his pants, the classic move is to then go low and away. Hitters aren’t too crazy about leaning out over the plate after a close shave. Just to prove Frank’s point, Joakim missed that spot, too. Joakim has seemed to pitch behind in the count more often, and that means hitters can sit on a fat pitch. Cruz did and crushed a no-doubter on 3-1 pitch.
(Y’know, some people have complained about Ron Polk’s system offering 6+ points for a save. If Joakim hadn’t blown four saves, the Royals would be 27-25 now. There’s nothing like the pressure cooker of the ninth inning. If it seems like just another inning, try thinking of it this way: Everyone can walk a foot-wide plank when it’s laying on the ground. Put it 100 feet in the air, and the challenge looks a bit different. In his book on pitching psychology, Harvey Dorfman says the three most challenging innings for a pitcher are the first (trying to get comfortable), fifth (qualify for the win) and the ninth (actually winning the game). Six-plus points seems pretty cheap for a save these days.)
So Joakim blew another save, but the worst was yet to come. Somehow Mike Napoli scored on a play that scorer Elvis Andrus ruled a single. (Weird fact: On a walk-off hit, you only get credited for the bases you run out, no matter where the ball ends up.) Napoli was running on the pitch, but he still was going to be out by 10 feet.
Brayan had the ball in plenty of time, but he neglected to get out in front of the plate while making the tag. Because Brayan was behind the plate, Napoli could sneak a foot in on the high tag. So a day of outstanding plays ended on a bad one.
This was one of the most enjoyable games I’ve ever seen … for 8½ innings.
The warning track at Kauffman Stadium with Royals Mitch Maier and Lee Judge
Royals outfielder Mitch Maier and The Star's Lee Judge look at how outfielders use the warning track to determine their distance from the wall in Kauffman Stadium. May 26, 2011 (Video by John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star)
Pena
Maier
Duffy
Soria continues to be a mystery, but I agree with Frank on fastball command. Said so a couple of days ago. The question is what is causing it, and can it be corrected? I think I would try a game where he only got to throw fastballs and cutters - no curves or sliders and see if that would get him back in the groove.
Joel: Pitching mechanics can be a mystery. You do something with the little toe on your left foot and it affects the forefinger on your right hand.
I know a little about the mechanics of throwing, but not much compared to the people who do it professionally.
The theory Frank White was throwing out Sunday is that Joakim is 'opening up' too soon.
If I've got this right, that means his left shoulder is spinning out towards the first base line before it should and that puts his right hand more on the side of the ball than the top.
The ball then gets a kind of 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock rotation (from the pitcher's point of view). There's more pressure on the side of the ball spinning in to the atmosphere than the side spinning away from the atmosphere and THAT pushes the ball up and in to a right hander, which is why he almost killed Nelson Cruz.
The other plausible theory is that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
We do these videos and I don't usually see them before they get posted. I just watched the one we put up this morning about playing the wall (hats off to the web editors who got this up at the same time I talk about Alex playing the wall in Texas).
The most amazing thing about this video is this: Like I've said, I'm six feet tall. Check out Mitch Maier when he's standing next to me. We don't look like the same species. And Mitch isn't one of the bigger players. Kyle Farnsworth was scary huge.
Just a good thing to keep in mind when you're at the park and deciding whether to heckle on of these guys: the closer they get, the bigger they seem.
Sure we can blame Soria again. But there were quite a few pitches that were left up again. Most of the pitches were deposited in the stands. The two run homer in the eighth was the killer for me.
When will the players and coaches become accountable for these mistakes? Butler is one of my favorites, but like him, I'm a "husky" ball player. I try to make up for my lack of speed by using "smarts". I know, slow pitch softball and Major League baseball, two different beasts. But I try to put myself in good position to catch balls in the OF. And, I'm a relatively smart baserunner. I haven't seen Butler make any smart decisions on the basepaths in a long time. He needs to use his head to make up for his lack of speed. I don't think it's the base coaches fault. By not getting to third, and allowing Betemit to get to second could have cost the team. I'm starting to look for some accountability.
Vinnie: I think there is accountability, but baseball deals with it in a funny way. Coaches will rarely criticize players in public. It's considered 'throwing someone under the bus' and can cause a lot of hard feelings.
Privately, it's a different story. A manager will defend a player in public and them air him out in private. Some of that has already been going on. The coaches know that what happens on the field reflects on them and want to get this stuff fixed. They just won't talk about it publicly very often.
Eventually, everyone is accountable. Baseball only lets you suck a certain amount of time before you get replaced. Some players have a lot of rope and some have a little, but eventually you have to get the job done...or at least be better than the alternative. Butler played a lot of first, but was replaced when a better alternative arrived.
As for his base running: I know they go over this stuff, I've watched them do it. Clearly, not everybody retains everything so you have to ask if it's the teacher or the student.
The home run you mentioned was given up by Crow and he was clearly disgusted with his approach, saying he threw too many four-seam fastballs to Michael Young, especially since a slider is his best pitch.
Crow called it a 'mistake all of the way around' probably meaning those pitches shouldn't have been called, but if he didn't like the call, he should've shaken off Pena.
Like I said, eventually everyone will be accountable, it just might not be on the same timetable that you would use.
And don't downplay your softball experience too much, you're right, it is a different game, but anyone that plays has a different perspective than anyone that doesn't. It's not at the same level, but you've got a basic understanding of the problems a player confronts.
When I was coaching kids once a year we'd have a practice game between the kids and their parents. I wanted to remind the adults of how hard the game can be.
It would usually shut up some of the more critical parents...for a while.
It's so true when you reference the size of these guys, Lee. I am ALWAYS amazed how small I feel next to these guys at spring training--Maier, Kila, Gordon, Montgomery, Hosmer, et. al.
I am a high school coach and try to explain this to my 5'8" athletes who are certain that they're only one scout away from a Division 1 scholarship. Unfortunately, size does matter. There are exceptions...but even the exceptions have exceptions.
Let's keep that 'size matters' stuff a secret as long as possible, hmmm?