Games » Los Angeles Angels
Apr8Nice start
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
Well, I could get used to this — win two out of three against the Angels? We got a good look at the Jonathan Sanchez show, and he pitched as advertised: great stuff that had a mind of its own. Sanchez threw five innings, struck out four, threw two wild pitches, had an error on a pickoff attempt and got catcher Humberto Quintero a lot of points for outstanding defensive play by making Quintero block numerous pitches in the dirt with a runner on third base.
Hold tight when Sanchez pitches — it looks as if it will be a wild ride.
Breaking up is hard to do
Shortstop Alcides Escobar picked up points for breaking up a double play in the seventh inning. I give the runner the benefit of the doubt on this play. If a runner hustles down and makes the pivot man move sideways or delays the throw to first in any way, I’ll give him the points even if he doesn’t flip the ball to the middle infielder. We ought to appreciate the hustle.
Game notes
• Another quick hook from manager Ned Yost. He’s not waiting around to see whether young pitchers can get out of jams. He’s making a move right away. This may signal a change from the goal of developing players in 2011 to a goal of winning games in 2012. On the other hand, it’s only three games into the season.
• Which is the same reason nobody should freak out about Alex Gordon.
• Jonathan Broxton was getting the ball up there at 98 mph — another thing we can quit worrying about.
• Billy Butler told me he was keeping the same approach that helped him last year: keeping his hands higher, which allows him to hit down on the ball. That gives the ball rising backspin, and that rising backspin helped the ball clear the centerfield wall.
• Apparently, Lorenzo Cain has yet to learn about Billy Butler’s speed. Butler was unable to score from second with two outs and Chris Getz on deck. (Two reasons to send Billy on Humberto Quintero’s single.) Lorenzo just assumed Billy would score and ran up his back. Paul Splittorff once told me that he didn’t mind issuing a walk that put a slow runner on second (which is how Butler got to second base). Split figured the slow runner still wasn’t in scoring position.
• Quintero also made a base-running mistake: getting doubled off on a Chris Getz line drive to centerfield. I’ve listened to Royals first-base coach Doug Sisson talk base running for hours — this stuff will get corrected.
• On the other hand, Escobar made an excellent read on Eric Hosmer’s sinking single to left and scored from second.
• Hosmer did the hard part, hitting the ball out of the park, but Chris Getz had Ervin Santana’s attention focused partially on first base. Santana was worried about Getz stealing, delivered a fastball to Hosmer and did it with a “quick step.” Rushing the delivery can make the ball stay up in the zone and then Hosmer made the ball stay up in the air.
Rolling the dice
Before Saturday’s ballgame, Kevin Millar, an analyst for Fox Sports and a former player, was asked to name the key to hitting for power. Millar said the hitter has to gamble.
Here’s what he meant. In the game that followed, Jeff Francoeur found himself in a 2-0 count in the first inning. The 2-0 count is a hitter’s count. The pitcher does not want to go to 3-0, so the hitter should get something good to hit. Knowing that, Frenchy geared up for a hittable pitch and let it rip. Unfortunately for Jeff, he got a pitch that broke down out of the strike zone, and he missed it by a foot. Francoeur gambled and lost. (Although he did get a hit before the at-bat was over.)
Shift to the fifth inning. Hosmer found himself in a 2-0 count. Now he geared up for a hittable pitch and got one — home run. Each hitter gambled on getting a hittable pitch in a hitter’s count. Hosmer got one, Francoeur didn’t — but they both took the correct approach. They tried to do damage in a hitter’s count.
If you go the video section of this site and look at the Kevin Seitzer video titled “Swing and a miss,” he goes over this mind-set in detail. If a hitter tries to wait and make sure he won’t be fooled, he will have a hard time hitting even a very hittable fastball. The hitter got his pitch and didn’t take advantage.
So when a hitter gets into a 2-0, 2-1 or 3-1 count, takes a mighty hack and misses, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It might just be good pitching. If the hitter doesn’t adjust his approach when he’s behind in the count, that is a bad thing.
You can roll the dice, but do it at the right time.
I’ll be repeating myself; get used to it
One of the questions that often gets asked at newspapers is, “How often do you repeat yourself?” You can’t assume the same people are seeing the same stuff every day, so you have to decide what needs to be repeated to get new readers up to speed. I don’t have an exact answer to that, so I probably will repeat some information just to make sure people know what I’m talking about. But I will always try to have some completely new information every day.
I wonder how often I should repeat this information.
I’ll be repeating myself; get used to it
One of the questions that often gets asked at newspapers is how often do you repeat yourself? You can’t assume the same people are seeing the same stuff every day, so you have to decide what needs to be repeated to get new readers up to speed. I don’t have an exact answer to that, so I’ll probably repeat some information just to make sure people know what I’m talking about. But I will always try to have some completely new information every day.
I wonder how often I should repeat this information.
Hosmer
Butler
Quintero
Bob Forer
1 year, 1 month agoWith Billy’s very respectable OBP and penchant for smacking doubles, we are going to see a lot of Butler-on-second-two-out situations this year, just as we saw last year. You gotta love his bat, but he has to be one of the worst base cloggers in the majors.
Its almost impossible to coach speed, but you can coach base running. Has the coaching staff worked with Billy on getting a bigger lead and/or jump off of second base? The probability of scoring from second with two outs decreases tremendously when it takes two hits, as opposed to one, to plate the runner.
Greg Tatro
1 year, 1 month agoAlong with the first comment…there was an article earlier about Billy losing weight. I don’t know if that would have improved his speed any but it sure wouldn’t make him any slower from last year.
Joel Kallem
1 year, 1 month agoHopefully, some of the doubles from last year will end up over the fence like the one in the first today. Then it doesn’t matter how fast he runs the bases.
Joel Kallem
1 year, 1 month agoLee, I counted 16 points for Braxton. Perhaps the save should not have appeared, but I thought it was legit since the tying run was on deck.
Kevin Flanagan
1 year, 1 month agoGreat series win. Sanchez was just as you said, although he was 2 wild pitches from tossing 5 shutout innings.
Hosmer continues to amaze. I don’t see anyway to pitch to him right now. He’s on everything and completely covers the strike zone.
Getz had a couple of very hard hit balls out of that new stance today. One was the line out you referenced where Quintero got doubled up. The other was a hot smash to RF. He really looked good. I kept wondering why he wasn’t trying to steal and get into scoring position for Hosmer. Now I realize after reading your column, he probably helped Hoz get that meatball by distracting the pitcher.
Quintero had 4 very solid at bats. He’s looked much better than advertised with the bat. Both catchers and both 2B are contributing with the stick in this series. Royals keep that up they will score a lot of runs this year.
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month agoBob: Billy came in to camp light and according to Yost faster. However faster is a relative term. Faster than what. A persons speed is pretty much what it is. Otherwise we all could train enough to be olympic sprinters. Smart base running can be taught. Watching Billy last year there were several times they held him at third when I think he could of scored. I however have alway subscribed to forcing the opponents hand. Make them throw him out.
Let him run over a few catchers. I am going to buy a stop watch per Lee’s suggestion and try to get some times on guys running the bases. Am interested in speed of runners from home to first and then first to second on a double. I suspect Billy’s major problem may be he is a slow starter. Not a sprinters start but once he is moving he’s not so bad.
Just my thoughts.
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month agoKevin: Read an article right after Quintero joined the team and he said one of the first things he wanted to do was talk to Seitzer and find out what he was teaching these young guys. Looks like he listened, as you said, so far his offense is not as advertised.
Dave Beal
1 year, 1 month agoI couldn’t help but think of Butlers stance when watching Quintero at the plate. If he can take some of Billy’s and Seitzers approach he just might be able to be a valuable offensive player too. He drove the ball to the right center gap several times. But what I really liked from a catcher, especially one new to the team, and on an important and precedent setting first series, was the way he went out to the mound and got on the same page with the pitcher, several times.
Dave Beal
1 year, 1 month agoIf I could play mind games with the team… I’d say go out and treat each home stand and each roadtrip like a playoff series. Win the 4 out of 7, or 4 out of 6, with focus and intensity, and build on the over .500 record consistently. Value every game. The ones you don’t give away are just as important as the ones you can steal, and in the end make all the difference in the world. That’s something that might be difficult for the youngest team in the majors, but then again, they have the mindset and do not appear intimidated at all about now doing it in the major leagues.
Joel Kallem
1 year, 1 month agoLee, just went back and looked at grid again. Your right - don’t know why I tripled award for K’s. Dumb!!! Dave, you are right. Like the way he handled pitchers getting them to a comfort zone, especially in the critical last couple of innings. If he keeps hitting, he may make it difficult for Brayan to stay on the club when Salvatore is ready to come back.
Dave Beal
1 year, 1 month agoOne last thing. All the Getz haters, who are dead wrong, IMO… they showed a stat today. Chris Getz hit .321 with RISP last year. He also makes pitchers work fouling off pitches. He steals, runs the bases great, can bunt, can beat out the grounder, moves runners, and of course plays great defense. There is so much me to baseball than slugging pct. There is a reason “Yost is just in love with this guy”.
Bob Forer
1 year, 1 month agoQuestion. Just reviewed some of the highlight videos at Royals.com. In Saturday’s game Getz stole third and was able to make it home on the throwing error. Quintero, a right handed batter was at the plate. They say third base is easier to steal with a righty at the plate because the catcher has a more difficult throw. Anyway I noticed that Quintero ducked, which could have mitigated the advantage of having a right handed batter at the plate. Just wondering whether Quintero’s catcher’s instinct got the best of him, or whether he ducked to avoid possible injury. Obviously, as a competitive professional Quintero did not intend to extend a courtesy to the opposing catcher.
Instinct is usually good to have when playing baseball, but perhaps sometimes the mind has to control and override that instinct.
Bob Forer
1 year, 1 month agoHope I am not seen as being overly harsh on Billy’s speed. He’s a big boy, and most guys with similar frames don’t exactly burn up the base paths. Losing weight might help a tad bit, but as Larry aptly points out, you can’t teach speed.
Nonetheless, there is going to be more than a time or two this season when Billy’s scoring or not scoring from second with a two out single might be outcome determinative of the game. Since he doesn’t play much in the field, perhaps he might want to put less work in on fielding practice and more on base running practice, e.g. honing his techniques in getting the best lead possible, getting the best jump possible on the pitch, and running an immaculate route turning the corner at third.
Jason Everett
1 year, 1 month agoThe nice thing about it is, hey, if you keep all your runners in front of Billy, you won’t have to worry about his speed so much, because he’ll knock ‘em in with a double.
Kevin Flanagan
1 year, 1 month agoHere’s another silver lining from the series: Gordon, Cain, and Moustakas went a combined 2 for 35 yet the Royals still won two of three. If and when this team starts hitting on all cylinders its going to be special.
Toten Kopf
1 year, 1 month agoQuestion: Why didn’t Butler take off for home when he realized Cain was in a run-down? Cain might have been able to stay in it long enough for Butler to score before the out. Instead, Butler just stood on the bag watching Cain get nailed.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoEverybody: Sorry for my absence from the comments. I posted the numbers yesterday and then went out for the evening.
By the way, it’s incredibly difficult to post the numbers and incredibly easy to make a mistake while doing so. If anybody ever spots a problem, let me know and I’ll get it corrected.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoBob: Yes, they work on base running as much, if not more, than any other team. Billy’s just slow. If you can’t score from second with two outs it’s a problem: I didn’t see Billy’s jump, but with two down there’s nothing to wait for, so you can leave with the crack of the bat. That’s probably what fooled Cain—he just thought Billy would score in that situation.
The ball was well hit and got to Hunter in a hurry and Torii came up with a good throw.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoGreg: Yes, Billy is supposed to have lost weight, but it’s hard to make yourself faster—a better baserunner, maybe—but faster is tough.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJoel: I score the game and then doublecheck my work against the MLB box score. I almost always have it right in the scorebook, but it’s easy to forget to mark the scoring on the work sheet.
The MLB box score reminds me of things i may have missed.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoKevin: Yeah, Hosmer appears to be the real deal. If he doesn’t get hurt there’s no telling what he can do.
We should enjoy Quintero’s early success, don’t know if it will last, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Same with Getz: hitting the ball with more power isn’t just home runs and extra bases, it’s also getting grounders through the infield, which he did on his single to right. Then he squibs one back to the pitcher and turns it into another single with speed. Things are going well for him right now.
As for that non-steal: If Getz goes, he opens up first and they can work around Hosmer, but then they have to face Billy, so that’s probably not why Getz held his ground.
Getz on first also opens a hole on the right side, but it looked like Santana was trying to get the ball to the plate in a hurry. If he was getting it there in 1.3 seconds or less, that might be part of why Getz held. A fast runner distracting a pitcher helps the man at the plate.
The offense won’t look this good every series, but it’s fun to watch when it’s working.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoLarry: I’m going to start carrying a stopwatch myself, although I suspect being consistent with it is harder than we think.
If I counted it right, Billy was only able to go first to third two times last season. He’s a wizard with the bat, but once he’s on, things slow down.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoDave: Your suggestion to break the season down into series is a good one. It’s something teams already do: 162 games is so overwhelming that players are encouraged to break it down into it’s smallest parts.
Win the series, win the game—some coaches encourage players to win the inning.
When you’re way behind it’s good coaching to say something like “Let’s just cut the lead down to three by the ninth.” Or let’s score a run an inning. Make the goal something that seems possible and get there by increments.
On the other hand, sometimes players are encouraged to take the long view: you’re not 0-4, your 29-106. Whatever helps the players mentally is a good idea.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoDave: Chris Getz is always a controversial topic because baseball people think more highly of him than people into sabermetrics. That starts a lot of arguments.
I’d never argue that you want a team of Chris Getz-like players, but I’d want at least one on my roster because of his versatility.
On-base and slugging percentage or hugely important stats, no doubt, but as Billy and Chris showed the last three days, there’s more to baseball than OPS.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoBob: I’ve had the same thing happen—standing at the plate when the catcher jumps up to make a throw to third. Ducking is a natural reaction when a big guy has every appearance of throwing a punch at you.
But then I’m not a professional ballplayer.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJason: Yup, Billy’s strength is what he does in the batter’s box. You just have to live with what he does outside it.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoToten: You’re right, Billy had nothing to lose by breaking for home while Cain was in a rundown.
Brian Barnett
1 year, 1 month agoI actually have the same question as Toten. When I saw the end of the play and Billy was standing at third the first thing I thought was that he deserves a mental mistake. With 2 outs he ensured that the inning was at an end, not that it probably makes much difference if he takes off for home.
Chris Campbell
1 year, 1 month agoThe, “I’ll be repeating myself; get used to it.” part of your post made me laugh.
The, “I’ll be repeating myself; get used to it.” part of your post made me laugh.
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month agoMy only thought on the Cain rundown was Cain had a better chance of getting out of a rundown than Billy would. If Billy broke for home he was dead meat.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoChris: Hey, I run a full-service web site: baseball and jokes. Glad you enjoyed it.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoLarry: Fair point about Billy and his chances vs. Cain, but it’s not the first time he’s hung a teammate out to dry.
I think it was 2010, but Billy dropped a pop fly on a very windy night. The next day, still windy, Jason Kendall was chasing a pop fly over by the Royals dugout.
Kendall was in the first baseman’s pop-fly responsibility territory (they have a chart), but Billy just stood and watched Jason struggle—and Jason missed that pop up, too.
There are players—and I’m not saying Billy’s one…way too little evidence—that would rather leave a tough play up to a teammate.
But you’re right, Billy would’ve been dead meat, but once it was clear they were just going to chase Lorenzo to third and tag both of them, there was nothing to lose.
Tracy Anderson May
1 year, 1 month agoLee - check your cellphone to see if it has a stopwatch feature. Even my dumb phone has a very good one. Thanks for your insights!
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoTracy: Yes, my cellphone (which is almost as dumb as me) has a stopwatch feature, but it looks so much cooler to pull out a real stopwatch.
It’s like carrying a clipboard—you look like you know what you’re doing.
Jon Higgins
1 year, 1 month agoGoing first to third on a single is something that can be taught. Take Albert Pujols. He is a very good base runner despite having similar size as Billy. I saw a stat a while back about Pujols being able to go first to third on a single. I can’t find it now, but it is an obscenely high percentage. If Butler could run that route half as well as Pujols, I would be elated.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJohn: You can certainly get better at going first to third and they consistently work on it. I watched them do the drills several times down in Surprise. We’ll see if it helps Billy’s game in 2012.
Ben Weddle
1 year, 1 month agoLee, great breakdown of the series, as usual, and your audience seems quite “baseball knowledgeable”as well. I see an exciting fruition of a lot of hard work by Dayton Moore and the rest of the staff.
The one “fly in the ointment” (you knew there had to be one) was the broadcast team. Good Lord, a colonoscopy would be preferable to listening to Rex Hudler, at least it might provide some insight. Hudler and Co. have no feel for this team and it shows in the inane baseball homilies they offer up in lieu of any shrewd story lines or intimate knowledge of the game. I found myself watching the game with the sound off.
I know there is too much bad blood between Frank and the organization for that to be a solution but Denny Matthews, where are you when we need ya?
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month agoLee: For some reason the internet ate my last post. I said at first I thought the Billy, Cain situation was Cain’s fault. However as usual once you think something over you see moer possiblities. First of if my memory serves me well(and usually it lets me down) this was the first time Cain batted behind Billy and this is the first year they have played together. All of us knew Billy was not going to score on a ball hit to Hunter. Also I don’t think Billy stopped on his own. Not seeing it in person I can’t say for sure but think Eddie stopped him. When I played our first base coach always reminded the trailing runner not to run over the slow guy.
I’m sure this was all discussed after the game and will be used as a learning point.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoBen: Yeah, Sam Mellinger’s got a story this morning about Hudler’s debut. Apparently, the change hasn’t gone done well with many fans, but I think some of that is to be expected. Frank was popular, knew the team and was not a rah-rah guy—and that’s part of why he’s gone.
I met Rex in Surprise and I think the guy’s in a tough spot. He knows he’s replacing someone popular, a hometown favorite and it’s going to be an uphill climb. Sounds like he’s already been told to tone it down a bit, but that style is part of what they wanted in the first place.
I assume once he gets to know the team a little better his commentary will provide more substance.
I was a big fan of Frank’s, I learned a lot of baseball listening to him, but I’m willing to give Hudler a chance. It just goes to show how much work it is to really know a team—you can’t just walk in and provide meaningful insight right away.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoLarry: As always, talking with the players and coaches would help, but I think you’re probably right.
Having watched Billy for years I had my doubts that he’d score on that ball when it came off the bat; hit too hard and it didn’t make Torii Hunter move laterally. Most people should be able to score on almost any ball with two outs, but Billy isn’t most people.
Cain might have been the only guy in blue who assumed Billy would score.
And you’re right; that play was probably talked about in the dugout immediately afterwards. They can’t have the same mistake in a one-run ballgame.
Curtis Ruder
1 year, 1 month agoHudler is what he is. He brings enthusiasm for the game, the players, and the team. He is the ultimate team guy. It seems crazy to me to get worked up when a guy is exactly what he has always been. If there is blame, it is with the front office.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoCurtis: Good point—Hudler’s been the same guy forever. The front office knew what they were getting.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoAs usual with these West Coast night games, I’ll post in the morning.
Bob Forer
1 year, 1 month agoMonday’s loss is not on Yost’s decision to sit Moose and Gordon. If Gordon plays, no Bourgeois. If Moose plays, maybe Yuni sits and Getz plays second given his 3 hits in 4 abs in the two games prior.
Bourg and Yuni had two of our three hits, and they were both doubles. And when Gordon was brought it as a pinch hitter to face the righty in the ninth, he whiffed.
Nope. Chalk up this loss to the Ohfers. Frenchy, Butler, Hoz, Cain, Pena and Getz—not a hit among them.
We are not going to get a lot of one run performances out of our pitching staff. We need to win these, especially when the opposing starter has only 26 innings of major league pitching experience.