Games » Chicago White Sox
Jul20How Gordo scored
Lee Judge
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It’s the 11th inning in an a 1-1 game. There are two down. Alex Gordon is on third, and Billy Butler is at the plate. Ex-Royal Mark Teahen is playing third base for the White Sox, and reliever Sergio Santos has been brought in to face Butler.
A runner at third takes his lead based on the position of the third baseman. If the third baseman is close to the bag, the runner will stay close to the bag. Nobody thinks Billy is going to bunt because Billy doesn’t bunt. Plus there are two outs, so a squeeze isn’t in order anyway. What all that means is Teahen is playing back.
That is a point in Alex Gordon’s favor. He now can take a bigger lead.
Alex tells Royals third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez that Santos has nasty stuff down and if a ball in the dirt gets away from Chicago catcher A.J. Pierzynski, he will try to score. The Royals’ offense has been struggling, and Gordon figures it’s time to push it on the base paths and not wait for a two-out hit.
Another point in Gordon’s favor: He’s ready for what happens next.
A runner at third takes his lead in foul territory. That way, if he’s hit by a batted ball, he won’t be called out. If the ball is not put in play, the runner returns to third on the baseline. That way the catcher won’t have a clear throw to third base for a pickoff. It’s a 2-1 count, and Alex has his lead. When the pitch is delivered, Gordon takes a secondary lead.
A secondary lead is a couple of shuffle steps toward the next base. Those steps get the body in motion and shorten the distance that the runner has to cover. When he’s on third, Alex likes to take a walking lead and ends up with his right foot in front of his left in a balanced position, ready to sprint toward home plate or return to third.
Then Gordo sees it: the down angle of a pitch headed into the dirt. He extends his lead, but if Pierzynski blocks the pitch, Alex would have to be ready to get back to third base. A.J. gets a piece of the pitch and the ball squirts sideways … and Alex bolts for home.
He’s committed now, but the ball shoots off at an angle in line with the basepath. That makes it extremely difficult to read. If the ball goes toward the backstop, Alex can see how much distance there is between the catcher and the ball. If the ball goes off to the catcher’s right, Gordon can’t tell whether the ball is far enough away for him to score.
At this point Alex thinks, “Oh, crap.” (We can use that word, right?) He isn’t sure he will be safe, but it’s too late to change his mind. The ball rolls just far enough away. Sergio Santos is just a bit slow in covering home plate, and for the second straight night, the Royals are winners.
And so is Alex Gordon.
How you beat good pitching
If you ask Royals manager Ned Yost how you beat good pitching, he won’t talk about hitters and the adjustments they have to make. Ned’s theory is you beat good pitching with good pitching.
When the opposing pitcher is bringing It … or nasty … or filthy (the latest term is “he’s shoving it” and I will leave it to your imagination to figure out just where the pitcher is shoving it), the hitters can’t do much about it. Like they say, good pitching beats good hitting.
What you need at that point is a nasty, filthy, “shoving it” pitcher of your own who keeps the score close until the bullpens get involved. I’m not sure any of that describes Royals pitcher Bruce Chen. He probably nudges it more than shoves it, but on Wednesday night he gave the Royals another quality start.
This is the type of game you will see when and if the Royals get good. Excellent pitching. Tight defense. And just enough offense to get a “W.”
P.S. This game featured more of the pitching inside philosophy. Bruce hit three White Sox batters, but I’m not sure he throws hard enough to warrant retaliation.
Feet first
As a reader pointed out, Gordon also made a great catch, sliding feet first, which may have saved him from injury when he hit the left-field wall. The feet-first catch came into vogue as a way to go after sinking line drives without risking the ball getting past the diving fielder. You hope to catch the ball, but if you don’t, then hope the ball hits your sliding body and stays in front of you.
Aviles returns
Mike Aviles is returning from Omaha after the Royals traded Wilson Betemit to the Detroit Tigers. Mike was trying to get here from Memphis (apparently not an overly popular airline route) and didn’t make it in time to pinch-run or pinch-hit in extra innings.
Getting ready for the Rays
I asked Royals first-base coach Doug Sisson what the base-running plan would be once the Tampa Bay Rays get in town for a weekend series starting Friday. He said that plan would be developed on Thursday.
While everyone else enjoys an off day, the base-running coach, hitting coach and pitching coach (and if I’ve missed anyone, forgive me) have to study video and scouting reports to get ready for Friday night’s game.
Speaking of Friday night
Watch Luke Hochevar, the Royals’ starting pitcher on Friday night, and the catcher’s glove. Hoch said everyone is talking about pitching inside and changing speeds and really believes that is part of the solution to his troubles, but he thinks the main thing is pitch execution.
No matter how good the idea is (go up and in and then low and away) it’s not going to work if he doesn’t get it up and in and low and away. Luke said that when he simply thinks about hitting the catcher’s glove, everything is clear. When he lets other thoughts creep in, everything is cluttered.
Pay attention Friday to the catcher’s mitt. That’s what Hoch will be trying to do.
Royals Louis Coleman demonstrates various grips for Lee Judge
Kansas City Royals pitcher Louis Coleman demonstrates for the Star's Lee Judge how pitchers hold the ball when delivering different pitches. July 11, 2011 (Video by John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star)
Chen
Gordon
Francoeur
This is probably just a random numerical anomaly I've noticed, but 50 points in the Polk system seems to be the magic number for the Royals - they've never won a game in which they have totaled less than 50 points, and they have only lost about six or seven games they have exceeded 50 points.
Seemed like an interesting trend...
Derek: It's not the first time people have wondered if there's a relationship between points in Ron Polk's system and winning.
I actually don't have a clue, but it would seem possible to score 50 points and have the other team score more system points and win if the game was high scoring (in the traditional sense).
Do you think they'll ever move Moose to bat in front of Hosmer or Butler so he can see some better pitches to hit? I keep thinking of Marris/Mantle... Marris hit homers because Mantle batted behind him.
Michael: The last time we talked about it, Moose thought he was getting pitches to hit, he just wasn't hitting them.
Usually putting a hitter in front of someone like Hosmer or Butler would be done to prevent pitchers working around that hitter.
I don't think anyone is working around Moustakas right now, he's just not handling his pitch when he gets it.
Great stuff as always. Are season point totals available for the other teams in the American league? I was looking at Royals totals and saw that Chris Getz has the fifth highest among Royals. Obviously the fact that he plays decent defense and has played a lot of games contributes to this. It would be nice to know how he, and the other players, stack up against their competition.
I appreciate Frenchy's aggressiveness, but I wonder if him taking that double forced Ozzie into walking Hosmer. If it's first and third, I think Hos bats. And we may take the lead there.
Also, Pena looked very overmatched. I haven't seen that from him this year.
Interesting commentary Lee - also by many of the posters here. I agree with Vinnie that Pena looked "out of it" at the plate last night. He's been off all year, but last night he looked especially off. I wondered if you had noticed that Pena recently started throwing sidearm. Do you know if this is something he is being instructed to do - or if he is having some discomfort throwing overhand? His throws are tailing off at second, which as Frank White commented a couple of weeks ago, could get Getz or Esky injured trying to catch the ball into the body of the sliding runner.
Don: Pena's throws have always tailed into the runner to some degree. I don't know if it's gotten any worse or if he's dropping further down, but I'll put it on the list of things I ask about.
Early in the year when I asked Getz where his feet went when the catcher was throwing down on a stolen base, he said he could straddle the bag with Treanor's throws (because they were straighter), but needed to come out in front of the bag when Brayan threw so he could move laterally.
And, yes, those throws could draw the fielder into a collision. Several times I've seen Getz go over the runner in order to keep the ball on the infield.
Even so, Brayan's thrown 35% of all base stealers out which is better than Treanor's 28%. On the other hand, Brayan gets to handle most of the left-handed pitchers and they should be able to do a better job of keeping runners close.
FINALLY! I am able to log back into this site to comment!! Lee, I have enjoyed your updates since the All-Star break but have been unable to comment on anything. I am pretty frustrated right now b/c it seems like the coaching staff is giving themselves alot of pats on their own backs for coming up with the "revolutionary" idea of pitching inside to keep the hitters from getting comfortable and focusing on just one part of the strike zone. I'm sorry but isn't that pitching 101 stuff there?
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Patrick: No, numbers for other teams aren't available. This system is widely used in college baseball, but, as far as I know, we're the only ones using it for a major league team.
Vinnie: When Francoeur took off for second there was only one down, so by stretching his single into a double, he kept the Royals out of a double play situation.
But I don't know that either crossed his mind when he made the turn.
As for Pena: I don't know if he's getting worn down, but we're hitting the time of year when people start to drag a bit. Esky and Getz have had hardly any time off. It's been brutally hot out there and it wouldn't surprise me if players are doing things to conserve energy or switching to lighter bats.
Darral: I don't know that the coaching staff has patted themselves on the back, I think those of us in the media are doing most of the patting.
And, yes, pitching inside is a basic. But a basic that a lot of pitchers neglect. I know I'd be better off if I ate less and exercised more, but I don't. If Bob McClure could convince me to do those things, he'd deserve some credit.
Seems pretty simple if you are the coach. Pitch inside and challenge the hitters or you won't pitch in the Big Leagues. Don't understand why it took them half a season to execute this basic fundamental of pitching? I challenge whether it was in the gameplan before the All-Star break.
Lee, I've given this some thought and concluded that Billy should get a point for his pathetic swing at the slider headed for the dirt, which distracted the catcher enough to miss the bounce and allow Gordon to score. That play was an excellent example of why blocking pitches in the dirt with a runner on third is of value and why you and Coach Polk offer something unavailable in sabermetrics, which will note the wild pitch but can't quantify a successful block.
Good post, Lee, thanks.
What's up with Ozzie's rant after the game? Can't he give credit where credit is due? Bruce Chen is a good pitcher that does what it takes to win. I like Ozzie- his rants are fun, but not at the expense of another professional who has just kicked your butt the last two starts! GO BRUCE!
Wanted to see if I was the only one that noticed this last night. After Gordon scored and ended the game the whole dugout was running out and celebrating. Even 0-22 Moose was jumping up and down. Butler looked like someone just shot his dog and it seemed like he was more angry about missing the pitch than happy that the Royals won. Does he even want to be here anymore?
Darral: I agree pitching inside should be something you do routinely at the major league level. Guys just get away from it and need to be reminded that's the way to do it. You may have a point that it should've been done before this, though.
Jim: Thanks. Blocking pitches in the dirt goes unnoticed until one doesn't get blocked. Then it seems like a big deal. The other thing is it takes that pitch away in a similar situation: will Santos feel comfortable burying another slider with a runner on third?
And I agree that Polk's system provides some insight that sabermetrics doesn't, just like sabermetrics provides some insight that Ron Polk's system can't provide.
Jeff: Some people have trouble giving credit to the pitcher when his stuff doesn't seem overwhelming. Usually that means the pitcher is doing something else real well to get away with subpar stuff.
Not Ozzie's best night: he loses on a wild pitch, gets smoked in the eye and then goes off on a guy who beat him.
Scott: You're not the only one that noticed Bill Butler's less than enthusiastic response after Gordon scored. Obviously I don't know what was going through his head at that point, maybe he was reacting to a bad swing at a bad pitch or maybe he wanted to be the hero, couldn't say.
But if you want to see an incredible reaction to that moment, go to MLB.com, find that game and click on 'wrap'. Jeff Francoeur looks crazy with joy. I thought that picture summed up Frenchy's personality in one image.
Can you imagine what was going through Gordon's mind, flat on his face, about to be belly-flopped by 225 lbs of ecstatic Handsome Frenchman?
What a great game last night huh ?! First i would like to say welcome back Mike Aviles! Great job by the starting pitching here of late!I wonder how The Ozzie's shiner is feeling? To bad we couldn't send Pierzinzki home with one as well! lol I myself am looking forward to the next Kyle Davies start, we can all see his has a really nice arsenal of pitches that appear to be average or above average especially his curveball.Good job as always Lee on the Royals coverage, And good job Royals on the baseball your playing, really fun to watch!
Jim: I was working late last night and looked at the MLB.com site to confirm a couple things, saw that photo and started laughing out loud.