Games » Oakland Athletics
Jun15If you're going to lose, lose fast
Lee Judge
None
How the hell are you supposed to beat a pitcher named Outman? I guess you don’t. At least the Royals played quickly, sticking to the immortal credo of Clint Hurdle: “If you’re going to lose, lose fast.” We’ve all got stuff to do, and now maybe we can get to bed before midnight.
I kept waiting for that one blow-up inning Luke Hochevar seems to come up with in every outing. It kind of happened in the sixth inning, but giving up one run isn’t exactly falling apart. It’s just that Hochevar will throw a few innings that make you think he’s got no-hit stuff that night and go from there to struggling in a heartbeat. He did provide the Royals with a quality start. Giving up only two earned runs in seven innings ought to be enough to win a ballgame.
By the way, in that sixth inning, good defense kept Oakland’s David DeJesus from scoring two times. With David on third, Royals catcher Matt Treanor blocked a pitch in the dirt and right fielder Jeff Francoeur did another excellent job of getting behind a fly ball and making a strong throw. DeJesus didn’t tag. The A’s didn’t challenge Jeff’s arm, but credit Frenchy’s good approach to the ball for that decision. If the outfielder is drifting or moving sideways, the runner will tag. If the outfielder is behind the ball and moving forward, maybe not.
Three more hits
Clearly, Alcides Escobar is going to be the next .400 hitter. All he has to do is keep getting three hits a night for the rest of the year (actually, I’ve got no idea what three hits a night would do for his average, but it would be pretty good). While Esky isn’t going to hit .400 or even .300 (he’s not, is he?), his approach at the plate seems improved.
I hesitate to say even that because I’ve spent enough time talking to hitting coach Kevin Seitzer to realize I understand the fundamentals of hitting, but not much more. While this hot streak won’t continue (at least at this pace), you can see Alcides taking the ball the other way on a regular basis, and that’s a good sign.
Hitting the ball the other way does a whole bunch of good things for a hitter. You wait longer and are better at recognizing which pitch is hittable and which isn’t. You keep the front shoulder closed and don’t pull off the ball, and you keep your head on the ball at the point of contact more often. Frankly, if you don’t have power, I don’t see why every hitter doesn’t hit the ball the other way.
On the other hand, when Clint Hurdle was managing the Colorado Rockies, I told him that the one baseball skill I understood was hitting the ball the other way. It just didn’t seem that hard. “I’ve got three guys I’d like you to talk to,” Clint said. If a hitter has pulled the ball all his life, the timing of going opposite field can be a mystery. Apparently my bat was slow enough to make me a natural opposite-field hitter.
In last night’s game, TV analyst Frank White mentioned that Esky seemed to be fouling fewer pitches off. That’s another good sign. Cal Ripken once said that when he was going good, he fouled fewer pitches off. When he swung the bat, he squared the ball up. Whatever we’re seeing with Escobar and however long it lasts, he’s at least showing that he can improve.
The first step is admitting you have a problem
Hitting and pitching coaches often leave guys alone until the approach they used to get to the big leagues is no longer working. The figuring goes like this: Somehow he got here, and lots of Hall of Famers had unorthodox approaches. Who am I to say he can’t make this work? (Plus, “fixing” a guy who’s going good and putting him in a slump is not so hot for a coach’s reputation.) So basically, the coach waits until the guy’s scuffling and a little desperate.
(I also think that’s the way most religions work.)
At that point, the player is willing to listen and change. The approach that was good enough through high school, college ball and the minors ain’t cutting it in the big leagues. The worst part for the coach and player is that the player almost always gets worse before he gets better. Doing things in a new way is uncomfortable, and the results rarely come easily.
Jeff Francoeur went through this in spring training. Seitzer was talking about some changes, and Frenchy was scuffling at first. Kevin asked Frenchy to hang in there and said that when they start putting spring training stats on baseball cards, we’ll start worrying about spring training results.
And by the way, Francoeur absolutely smoked two balls last night, lining out twice to center field. Hitting poorly and not getting hits is not the same thing.
The eyes have it
If you’re watching on TV and Chris Getz is at the plate, pay attention to his eyes. He will quickly glance at third base or first base to see where the opposing defense is playing and whether it’s possible to bunt for a hit. Whichever direction he looks, that’s where the bunt will go if the corner is back.
One last thing
Watch Melky Cabrera take a pitch. He watches it all the way into the catcher’s glove. The winter before George Brett retired, I got to hit with him once a week. (It took me awhile, but I figured out I was there to unjam the pitching machine while George hit … but it was worth it.) I listened to what George had to say as if it were going on stone tablets.
Anyway, the first thing George had me do was watch the ball without swinging. Just see the ball come out of the pitching machine and watch its flight. I had to turn my head with the ball and follow it into the netting behind me. There were two reasons for this. One, you can’t see the ball if your head isn’t down. And two, if I took that pitch, I would have a better chance of getting the call.
George said that when you follow the ball all the way into the catcher’s mitt, it looks as though you saw it really well, but spit on it … and that might convince an umpire that the pitch wasn’t really that good.
Interesting game, isn’t it?
Hochevar
Escobar
Treanor
Good game, Hoch looked tough, Escobar is taking his lessons to heart, and sometimes the opposing pitcher is just too good. Hats off to the A's for a job well done. Time to move on and get ready for the next game.
You really never should have referenced Frenchy when analogizing Al-Bar's difficulty in remaking his swing. Lets look at his season by month: April: .316/.361/.551/.912 May: .233/.287/.388/.675 June: .250/.281/.346/.627 (.627!!!!!)
Lee, please show me a worse cleanup hitter in all of baseball the last 7 weeks. I like Jeff. I root for him. He is the best def RF we have had since I can remember (better than young Dye). But he is a terrible right handed hitter and all the early season hub-bub about his new approach and swing is all gone now. He has no significant trade value at all right now as ALL teams are astutely aware of the above stats. After this season he will have a few more years in the NL as a Lefty bench bat and def replacement, but the experiment of Jeff as a regular starter is over. Sad, but true.
correction, he is terrible vs. Right handed pitchers.
Against the good pitchers, a meltdown pitch is all it takes, and Luke threw that one right down the middle of the plate when the A's had their second run on 2B. Benjamin, great stats on Frenchy, I hope Dayton and Yost know them, as his career shows occasional good months but not the needed consistency, and it looks like more of the same here. But Cain and Myers and Eibner are on the way, so the fact that at heart Frenchy does not listen and does not change is sad but true, will be his loss more than ours. On the other hand, it is huge news if Alcides can become a .280 hitter, with that glove for which we do not have a replacement. I am guessing that now only will he cool off some, but the league will adjust now that he is no longer getting himself out on the outside pitches. But Lee is right, the fact that he has proven himself to be willing to listen and change, the same key step in religion and AA (to realize you need help and be willing to repent/change the problem), is a very important point, for when the next adjustment is necessary, he now knows it is worth doing.
I'll take Frenchy just the way he is. Looking at the total picture, he is still very young, has a terrific attitude, one of the best fundamental outfielders in the game, cannon for an arm, and hits the snot out of the ball most games. As Lee says above, he smoked two balls to center field last night - one to the wall that I thought surely would go for extra bases. I don't see the Royals doing anything with Frenchy. Run him out there every day. If a better clean-up option comes available, fine, but don't take Frenchy out of RF.
Benjamin, you said, "After this season he will have a few more years in the NL as a Lefty bench bat and def replacement". Interesting since he is a right handed batter. Do you even follow the Royals enough to know the difference between him and Melkey?
meant vs. Leftys bench bat. If you read my correction Joel, its obvious I was referring to pitchers when speaking of Lefty/Righty. I didnt feel the second correction was necessary, but there you are. Speaking of Milky, he's caught up with Jeff in hrs and rbi already, not even close to half way thru the season. Not what you want out of a cleanup hitter. I sure hope he gets hot again, but Im realistic. Derrek Lough would probably be a better all around player today in RF, but Jeffs current slump makes him unmovable so thats not likely until Sept.
Close game last night. Hos fouling out to end the threat was the huge at bat of the night. Not much else to say about the game.
If Escobar stays hot the next week think there will be any consideration to moving him up in the order? I think they would want to get him as many at bats as they could per game. Or would that put too much pressure on him and cause him to slump?
Have to admit, Yost is one heck of a manager. The things he is doing are paying off much more often than not. The running and keeping Escobar in and not pinch hitting. Confidence is up all the way around with this ball club. It may not be the dream season that the start suggested but it still has my full interest. Sometimes it's a very good thing to get a Manager in his second gig.
OK, some times they actually expect me to do my job here at the Star and that slows down my participation on the website.
As for Frenchy: I think looking at a few numbers and then offering them as conclusions instead of evidence can lead you astray.
So Francoeur's slumping. Does that necessarily mean it's because he's repeating a pattern from the past? Does that also mean it's a pattern that will be repeated in the future?
As always, when you look at numbers, unseen factors play a role. Was Frenchy slumping by himself or did the whole team slump? (And I'm pretty sure they did.) That might indicate the entire team facing tough pitching.
Do the slumping numbers mean he's inconsistent or did he face a rash of pitchers that are tough on him? (Pineiro comes to mind: Jeff was looking for a ball out over the plate and Pineiro was starting the ball there and then running it in.)
I don't think any responsible GM would look at a few numbers and conclude that Jeff is no longer a starter.
This morning I got to look at Kevin Seitzer's Quality Plate Appearance stats and Jeff is over the team average. He's also over .420 which is regarded as excellent. He leads the team in hard-hit outs with 17 (last night added two to the total).
Most pro teams keep some version of quality plate appearances just so they won't fall into the trap of looking at a few numbers and jumping to conclusions.
Maybe Frenchy is going to dwindle away over the summer, maybe he's going to get it going. I don't know, I'm pretty sure he doesn't know and I think it's a safe bet nobody else knows either.
He's 27, he's got one of the best arms in the league, he just set a career high in stolen bases, he's got 41 RBIs with 23 games left to go before the All-Star break and he's one of the most positive personalities you could ever have in a clubhouse.
I'd think someobody would want him...I hope it's us.
A P.S.
I think it's incorrect to say Francoeur doesn't listen. His last two hitting instructors have stressed going the other way. Jeff is well-aware that he get's 'pull-happy' (we've talked about it several times) and that he needs to be aware of the tendency.
He's trying to get a ball out over the plate (witness his closed stance in an effort to go that way), but teams know his weakness.
You see a lot of pitchers start something down the middle and then try to run it in. His reaction is to try to adjust and hit it.
He knows he needs to change that and spit on the inside pitch. But change is hard and he's got years of pulling the ball to overcome...plus, it's all happening at 95 MPH.
Doug: I don't have any insight into Ned's thinking, but I would guess you leave Escobar alone. He's going good now and you probably don't want to do anything to change his playing conditions. I'd just look at him as a second lead-off man and take advantage of him being on-base and fast in front of the 1-2-3 guys.
Plus, with Getz in the 8-hole and the catcher in the 7th, you can use Chris to move the runner if you think Esky will drive the run in.
As for Esky hitting .280 (as mentioned above): fans were too quick to bury him and now might be too quick to put him in that category.
Everybody I've talked to at the park thinks .240 would be adequate with his defense and any thing beyond that would be gravy.
I hope he hits .280, but if watching every game for the last year and a half (almost) teaches you anything, it's don't rush to judgment.
Good OR bad.
Chuck: I would think most managers are better the second time around. They have a chance to think about what went wrong and how to do things differently.
I hope what we're starting to see are the pieces coming together for the future. They're not where they want to be, but they don't seem a million miles away, either.
I am not a fan of the decision to play Betemit at first and have Butler continue to DH. Butler wants to play in the field. It is clear, he is not as good as Hosmer, but I don't think there is much difference between him and Betemit. Let the big dog eat. It is odd to me that Yost seems to be intentionally jerking around the team's best hitter by a mile. First the astronaut comment, and then he says I haven't talked to him about him being a pinch hitter in the NL parks but I am sure he can do the math. That entire dynamic strikes me as weird.
It is clear that Hosmer is the better fielder. But it is just as clear that Butler is the better hitter, at least right now. And Butler, it seems to me, is every bit as much of the future of the team as Hosmer is.
Escobar is not as good a hitter as he has been the last week. And he is not as bad as he was the two weeks before that.
And the one thing I wish we were doing with Francouer is maximizing the percentage of at bats he was getting against LHP's. I'd love to bat him between Gordon and Hosmer so that when teams bring in situational lefties, he is there in the middle. Cabrera is historically worse from the right side of the plate, and it has been far worse this season (Warning - small sample size for this season anyway.). Let Mitch spell him one day each week against a tough RHP, and get him between two lefties, and I think he'd be much more productive. And Mitch could use some more playing time anyway.
Curtis, I like your idea for Frency hitting second with Butler (when there is a dh)fourth and Cabrera fifth.
Curtis: As always, interesting comments. I agree with getting Maier more playing time and I was told that once it got hot. we'd see that.
Getting him at-bats when it would be good for someone else to sit down makes sense.
Lee, you say:
Most pro teams keep some version of quality plate appearances just so they won't fall into the trap of looking at a few numbers and jumping to conclusions.
how is 7 years of failure in the league a small sample size? My point had nothing to do with jumping to conclusions. On the contrary, any view that Jeff's hot April is indicative of a change is making a huge conclusion jump. What I have shown ARE facts. His positive attitude is not enough. He is not doing his job. For the sake of the teams future, lets just all pray that Dayton doesnt resign him. Let his .737 career OPS provide clubhouse leadership somewhere else. Great guy, bad offensive baseball player.
Benjamin: If we're playing 'let's project numbers and predict the future' you've decided a player on pace to have a 100-RBI season isn't worthy of being a starter for anybody, much less the Royals.
Do I think Francoeur will continue to drive in runs at this pace? I don't know and neither does anybody else.
My point was that taking a few numbers and pronouncing someone great or awful is risky business. Tell me if you want a player to look bad or good and I'll find some numbers that support either point of view.
A couple stats will not paint an accurate picture.