Games » Oakland Athletics
Jun16The Royals let the A's relax
Lee Judge
None
Well here’s some expert baseball analysis: when you strike out 16 times you’re probably going to lose a ball game. Add the three outs that the Royals made in the air and that’s 6 1/3 innings in which the A’s got to catch fly balls or to watch people trudge back to the dugout. That’s not enough pressure on the defense. When you hit a ball in the air one guy has to do one thing, when you hit a ball on the ground two guys have to do three things and when you strike out all those guys get to relax.
The Royals’ game plan is to pressure the defense. Steal bases, go first to third, lay down bunts or put the runner in motion, all to make sure the other side doesn’t get to stand where they usually stand and do what they usually do.
The plan is to make the other team uncomfortable. Make the other team do unusual things. Force the other team to make the plays. Sixteen outs that force the other side to do nothing more than watch, isn’t part of the plan.
Sometimes it’s the other guy
The temptation for fans is to conclude the Royals sucked, or at least sucked in this game. As a team, they’re second in the league in hitting. Three games ago they scored nine runs. They didn’t all forget how to hit since Sunday.
Gio Gonzalez has a 2.69 ERA. Catching a good pitcher on a good day can make your offense look pretty flat. Just remember, different pitcher, different game. Whenever a reliever comes into a game the tide might turn, or it might get worse.
Joey Devine started the 7th with an error and a walk, but then struck out the side. Michael Wuertz got smoked four times and three went for doubles. The Wuertz inning is a reminder that an offense that looked dead can come alive in a heartbeat when the right (or wrong) pitcher takes the mound.
So the Royals deserve some criticism. It’s hard to be competitive with 16 strikeouts. But keep this in mind: sometimes it’s the other guy.
And sometimes it’s you
The pitchers didn’t make it any easier on the offense with four walks and one hit batter. Two of the walks scored. Unless the pitchers are working around a hitter for strategic reasons, that’s something they should be able to control, but didn’t. A 6-4 ballgame is different from 8-4. Knock out the two runs they gave away and the Royals would’ve had the tying run at the plate five times in the last two innings. The tying run at the plate changes the defense and the pitches thrown. Keep the tying run on deck or, better yet, in the dugout and the pitcher can be as aggressive as he likes.
A key rule to being competitive: don’t help the other team.
A moving story
In the course of writing something about Jeff Francoeur, I asked Kevin Seitzer for the Royals hitting stats. One of the numbers Kevin keeps is “hard-hit outs.” Kevin says a hitter really has to lean on one to get a “hard-hit out,” and that means Jeff Francoeur has leaned on a few. Frenchy leads the team in that category.
It’s really hard to hit, so when you really nail one, it’s extremely frustrating to have it caught. Just watch Billy Butler. Billy slams the bat down and looks disgusted, Frenchy takes it like a veteran. You know you’re going to get some flares to fall in and rob a few hits yourself, so it’s all part of the game.
(Although when we talked about the “it all evens out” concept, Francoeur made an interesting distinction: it always seems like the laser beam you hit into the shortstop’s glove comes with the bases loaded in a tie game and the flare falls when you’re down by six with the bases empty. I think he’s right.)
Anyway, when you’re in a funk and everything you hit on the screws winds up in someone’s glove, what can you do?
Move in the box.
Russ Morman, current AAA hitting coach for the Giants, laid that one on me. For whatever reason you’re hitting lanes are resulting in outs. Move up or back in the box and change those lanes. This is something fans can watch for if you really pay attention.
Russ told me he once smoked a line drive just to the left of the opposition shortstop. The next at-bat the shortstop was standing right where that line drive had gone. That told Russ he was getting the same pitch again: that location, at that velocity, plus Russ’s bat speed equaled a ball to that spot.
Russ called time and stepped out as if he’d missed a sign and asked for the signs again. (The batter or runner makes a rolling motion with a finger, as in “rollover those signs again.”) When Russ stepped back in, he was in slightly different position in the box. The next line drive was just to the right of the shortstop.
Changing where he stood changed the hitting lanes. Some hitters (Tony Gywnn was one) never want to move in the box: it’s part of their comfort zone. Other hitters move around depending on the situation. And lots of hitters move up in the box while bunting (it helps the ball stay fair).
So, if you’re looking for one more thing to watch at the ball park, try the hitters’ feet. You may be moved.
Positioning to see the field from third base with Royals Eddie Rodriguez
Kansas City Royals third base coach Eddie Rodriguez explains to Lee Judge how he positions himself to see the field from third base. June 14, 2011 (Video by John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star
Escobar
Betemit
Pena
The resting A's didn't start w/ the 16 K's or some fly balls, it started when a lineup card with two-thirds of the top of the KC order resting was turned in. I'm all for players getting a day off, but Hosmer and Gordon on the same day? Hosmer isn't old enough to be tired, and the two of them play LF and 1B and you've been over the "toll" of playing either those lately.
On a side note, plenty written over the last few days on Butler, 1B, the DH and interleague play coming up. Interesting that Betemit was at first w/ Hos sitting today. If he or Maier have never DH'd much I'll buy it, but if Butler isn't going to play the field w/ Hos sitting, well then he's not going to play the field at all.
I've wondered if moving up in the box against a ground ball or 'junk' pitcher helps. Seems if you're topping balls, that another six inches forward would get more wood on the middle of the and would also take a little of the break off of a curve or cutter, get it when more is in the zone.
Tough game tonight; A's have some pitchers, Francis is giving up runs in chunks and seems inconsistent, Royals' hitters acted like they had an early flight to catch.
Wow, from the picture on the home page I guess Fenchy doesn't ALWAYS taking striking out like a veteran. Maybe a Golden Sombrero (three strikeouts is a hat trick, four a GS) will do that to you.
Glenn: Betemit is considered a better glove than Butler (not by much, but better), so you're right about Billy's chances of playing first.
I think Mitch and Wilson playing had more to do with getting them some at-bats than resting Hosmer or Gordon.
Jim: I can see you made a comment about moving up in the box, but can't see the whole comment because (once again) we're having website problems. (I'm as stunned as you are.)
Anyway, there are two schools of thought on moving up to handle breaking stuff: move up and get it before the break or move back, see it's going out of the zone, and lay off.
In my experience (and, boy, you should take THAT with a boxcar full of salt) if a breaking pitch is worth a damn, you aren't going to hit it anyway. (Actually, Mike Schmidt said the same thing.) You hammer the stuff that hangs and try to lay off the good ones.
I don't know that Frenchy's problems are from hitting the ball hard right at someone. Only 16% of the balls he is hitting are line drives (LD%). There is only one player still with the Royals that has a worse LD% and that's Escobar. Given Frenchy's .290 batting average of balls in play (BABIP)he's actually gotten pretty lucky so far. A quick rule on this is to add .100 to a players LD% and that will be their BABIP. So he's gotten an extra 30 points on his BABIP than we would expect.
There are some things that can sway that number though. The biggest is ground ball to fly ball ratio. Hit more balls on the ground and your BABIP will go up (generally speaking). Frenchy has a below average GB/FB ratio (it's not by a ton but it's there) so we would actually expect his BABIP to be around .260 or below.
None of this is to bag on the guy. Just to counter Seitzer's/your case that he's hitting the ball just fine. His defense and club house presence add value without the bat...and he's still doing pretty darn well this season even with the current struggles.
I wouldn't argue that Francoeur's hitting the ball just fine, he's still chasing too many inside pitches. I was arguing that one number doesn't tell an entire story. The numbers you bring up are interesting and help round out the picture.
I would be interested in knowing how they determine line drive percentage. Is a ball hit to the track in Oakland (which clearly had some height, but wasn't a fly ball in my mind...it was smoked) a line drive?
What's the highest point a ball can reach before being called a line drive?
Same with grounders: Is a one-hop shot through the infield a groundball or a line drive?
My impression, which can be faulty, is that you're right: Frenchy hits a lot of balls in the air. If I get a chance, I'll ask about this.
I'm in St. Louis and it's raining. Don't know yet if they're playing tonight. Hang loose on me posting games.
If there are two tomorrow it might make the posting very late. Also, the hotel is trying to jack me $13 a day for internet service and I ain't buying so I guess my post times will depend on how much Starbuck's coffee I can drink.
Actually from what I've found it's somewhat subjective on what is and is not a line drive.
Here's a pretty good article as well on the problems with using batted ball data. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10523
As far as him hitting the ball in the air, it's not really a bad thing because he has a good amount of power those can turn into home runs (which aren't figured into BABIP). It becomes more of a problem when guys like Getz and Escobar are hitting a ton of fly balls (which they both hit the ball on the ground just like they should).
Interesting note (at least to me anyway), Traenor has a LD% of 20 (AL average is 18) with a high GB/FB ratio but only a BABIP of .270. I would look for him to start getting some good luck and getting some more hits here soon.
Enjoy St. Louis!
Sun came out and the game's on. I'll have some stuff on the clubhouse and stadium tomorrow.