Games » Oakland Athletics
Apr9How Josh Reddick changed the game
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
First inning, second batter, fifth pitch — that’s when A’s right fielder Josh Reddick changed the game.
Jason Bourgeois led off the game with a double. With a runner on second and nobody out, most of the time, the batter wants to hit the ball to the right side of the infield. Hitting the ball to the right side allows the runner on second to take off immediately for third base. Hit the ball on the left side and the runner has to hold his ground until he sees if short or third fields the ball. A runner on third with less than two outs can score without benefit of a hit: Move Bourgeois over to third base and the Royals could score a run on a sacrifice fly or a grounder up the middle.
Right-handed Lorenzo Cain, the second batter of the game, was trying to hit the inside half of the ball. To prevent that, the pitcher, Tom Milone, had two choices with a righty at the plate: come inside or throw the Cain something off-speed. Either one (or a combination of both) might make Lorenzo hit the outside half of the ball, putting the ball in play on the left side of the infield and that would freeze Bourgeois on second.
Milone tried to come inside with a fastball. Cain still managed to hit the inside half and drove a fly ball to right field. The ball appeared to be deep enough to move Bourgeois over to third base, so he went back to tag up. The ball was near the right field line and that was another factor in the Royals’ favor; Josh Reddick throws right handed.
The ball would be caught on Reddick’s glove side and that meant he’d have to reposition his feet to make the throw. Repositioning his feet meant a delay and a throw without momentum. Reddick caught the ball … and then changed the game.
He came up with a beautiful throw, nailing Bourgeois as he tried to advance. A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson helped out by blocking third base with his leg. If you’re wondering about obstruction — a fielder can’t impede a runner’s progress without the ball in his possession — that’s pretty much up to the umpire. If the umpire thinks the fielder was in the act of catching the ball, the fielder is allowed to get in the runner’s way. Donaldson did, Bourgeois was out and a run did not score on the grounder Eric Hosmer hit to shortstop in the next at-bat.
The problem with baseball is you never know what the key moments are until the game is over. This game’s key moment came early.
Other stuff
Jason Bourgeois slid into third headfirst. Runners like to do this because it’s faster, but it also allows fielders to block bases. Come in spikes first and fielders aren’t so quick to drop a knee.
It’s unfair to play the game we all like to play — reasoning that if Bourgeois is safe he scores on Eric Hosmer’s grounder. As any fan of “Star Trek” knows, you can’t change one thing in the past without setting off a string of changes. If Bourgeois is safe Milone might pitch Hosmer differently.
In the bottom of the third, Chris Getz did not move Alcides Escobar over to third base after Esky’s leadoff double. Getz needs to get this kind of thing done — it’s one of the reasons he’s on the team.
Same with Tim Collins: he was brought in to face Daric Barton, a lefty. Collins walked him. Left-handed relievers need to throw strikes to left-handed hitters—it’s why they’re on the team.
Apparently, rookie Yoenis Cespedes tried to shake hands with Brayan Pena during the game. Brayan told him they don’t do that in the major leagues. (Although, now that I think about it, how would the broadcast team know that before the game was over?) Anyway, watch a hitter come to the plate for the first time and, if he’s friendly with the catcher, he’ll tap the catrcher’s shin guard with the bat. It’s how major leaguers say hi.
Chris Getz took a chance on a tough grounder, flipping an off-balance throw to Eric Hosmer. The throw was wide, but Hosmer was able to knock it down. This is a good thing: if a first baseman is bad, infielders will not attempt difficult throws—too much chance they wind up in the dugout. If a first baseman is good, infielders feel free to attempt difficult throws which might result in an unexpected out. Hosmer’s good.
Base-running mistakes?
Eris Hosmer was thrown out trying to steal third and Jeff Francoeur was thrown out trying to steal second. These were called “base-running mistakes.” Well, maybe. The Royals use math to steal bases. They know how fast the runners can cover ground so they compare that time to the combined time of a pitcher delivering the ball to the plate and a catcher delivering the ball to a base. If the runner’s number is lower than the pitcher and catcher’s combined time, the runner can go.
But a catcher who throws the ball to second in 2.0 seconds is considered average and a catcher who makes the same throw in 1.9 seconds is considered very quick, so there’s not a lot of room for error. Every tenth of second is worth just over two feet in a runner’s progress. Get a bad jump and you’re out. If the catcher gets a bad grip on the ball, you’re safe.
Frenchy’s out might be called a mistake: He broke for second and the left-handed pitcher, Tom Milone, threw to first. Base-running coach Doug Sisson has told me the Royals do not gamble and go on the first movement from a lefty (a common technique). If a base stealer gets thrown out, Doug believes the throw ought to come from the catcher.
The Royals have decided to be aggressive on the bases — that philosophy has already paid off in numerous ways. Nobody wants to see a runner thrown out, but when it happens it’s not always a mistake — it might just be the cost of doing business.
Estimated income
Having done it for over 500 games I can tell you coaching third base is not an easy job. Deciding when to send a runner home on a close play requires a lot of information: What inning are we in? What’s the score? How many outs are there? Who’s the runner? Who’s on deck? Is it possible that the manager will pinch hit for the on-deck hitter? Who is warming up in the other team’s bullpen? How good is the outfielder’s arm? Is he moving laterally or toward home plate? Is the throw coming from right field? Is the throw coming from a lefthander? How well does the catcher block the plate?
If I were smarter I could probably think of more questions, but I assume you get the idea — it’s complicated. But there is one question I’d never thought of until recently: How much money does the runner make?
This comes up because of the base running blunder that had Lorenzo Cain and Billy Butler on third base at the same time in Sunday’s game. Butler was unable to score from second on a base hit to right field. Cain was apparently unaware of Billy’s lack of speed and ran up Bill’s back when he stopped at third. Lots of people had ideas for how this could be avoided in the future — one reader suggested sending Butler home and letting him run over a few catchers.
But Billy might make too much money.
Here’s what I mean: when my friend, Tim Bogar, got promoted to coaching third base for the Boston Red Sox, I asked another friend, Russ Morman, how tough coaching third in Fenway would be. Russ said the Green Monster has lots of funny quirks, and base coaches that make a mistake get roasted by the Boston media. Teams put a lot of responsibility on a third-base coach. Then Russ added, “And they don’t like it when you get a multimillion-dollar player blown up at the plate.”
Risk and reward are a part of baseball: What are you risking and what’s the reward? Risking injury to a key player to score one run might be a bad decision — unless the run is really important. So with all the other things a third base coach has to think about, add estimated income.
Escobar
Hosmer
Betancourt
Larry Tindle
1 year, 2 months agoGreat look at the Butler , Cain thing. I guess when I suggested running over a few catchers I forgot I was doing it for nothing. The guy at the plate was not a professional and could be intimidated. As you pointed out, the third base coach has a lot to process in a very short period of time. Including possible dollar cost to team. When does cost justify the means? Don’t think they pay the third base coach enough.
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoLarry: Thanks. You’re right about third base coaches: they don’t make enough. If the runner’s out everybody slams the coach, if the runner’s safe everybody congratulates the runner. The coach just can’t win.
When Russ said that thing about multi-million dollar players it was eye-opening, but that’s why I talk with the players: every day they tell me something I didn’t know.
Jim Silcott
1 year, 2 months agoLee: Rex Hudler has been getting some negative comments from Royals fans, but last night he commented right away that Getz didn’t get the job done when he didn’t move Escobar. On Sunday, he was calling Ervin Santana pitches before he threw them. His style is different from Frank White and I won’t say that he knows as much as Frank about baseball, but I think he does a pretty good job and people that are fans of your blog (like me) should recognize that. I probably wouldn’t catch some of these things if I didn’t read what you have to say every day. Thanks!
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoJim: I would assume Rex Hudler knows a lot of baseball, he’s a bright guy and played a long time. Getting to know a team doesn’t happen overnight and I think his comments will provide more insight as the season progresses and he becomes more familiar with the Royals.
Hudler and I are in the same business; trying to spot the small things in a game that make a difference and pass that information along to fans.
I’m glad to hear you’ve been enjoying that and thanks for visiting the site.
Sean Fischbach
1 year, 2 months agoThe other “hurt” from those two base running outs was “That all meant Milone worked a scoreless inning while throwing two strikes in 10 pitches.” (KC Star).
OUCH!!!
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoSean: Yeah, when base runners get thrown out it looks bad and shortens the inning for the opposition. But if you’re not a hitting a guy (three hits in an 9 innings) waiting around for more hits isn’t much of a plan either.
Hosmer was trying to get to third with less than two outs so he could score without a hit. (And might have been safe, but didn’t get the call.) Frenchy was trying to get into scoring position with two outs so the Royals wouldn’t have to get two more hits to score him.
Neither plan worked, but I can’t fault them for trying. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other team and I believe this is one of those times.
Bob Forer
1 year, 2 months agoLee, Milone faced 27 batters, giving up 3 walks, 3 hits and ZERO strike outs. That means we went 3 for 24 against him, and with no strike outs, every out was a batted ball in play. So our avg for batted balls in play was 3 for 24 or .125. I think I read somewhere recently where the major league avg for batted balls in play is around .250, and some baseball mavens say that whenever that average deviates by much, the difference is attributable to “luck.”
Before last night, Milone only had 26 major league innings pitched, all with the Nats last year, so its not like this guy is experienced against big league hitters. Hard to tell on the tube, and I realize you don’t normally travel with the team and have the same TV perspective that we have on away games, but am still curious. Do you think Milone was that good last night, and may be another “moneyball” sleeper, or do you think it is attributable to luck and/or the fact that nobody has faced him before, there is no real “book” on him, and once we see him a few more times, we, like other teams will figure him out?
Bob Forer
1 year, 2 months agoP.S. You had a column last year explaining how Frenchy’s fabulous peg to third to nail an advancing runner was extra special because his momentum took him away from third base, making it very difficult to get the throw up quickly with any umph on it. Was a great explanation, and helped me realize how great Reddick’s throw was last night.
Just wanted to give you an “atta boy,” as you columns give us insight that makes watching baseball more enjoyable. Appreciate your efforts.
Jim Silcott
1 year, 2 months agoLee: You and Rex are in the same business and that makes us all appreciate the game a lot more. Nate Bukaty had an excellent point yesterday when he said that adults aren’t the only ones watching the games. I’ll date myself here, but I remember learning quite a bit from Tony Kubek on the game of the week. Maybe Rex goes over something most adults understand, but some kid maybe hearing it for the first time. I’ve encouraged kids on my son’s baseball team to read your column daily. And watch the videos too!
Bob Forer
1 year, 2 months agoJim: Now you are making me feel old. Tony Kubek. Wow. Let’s not forget the soothing voice of his broadcast partner, Curt Gowdy. Back in the day, before cable. If you didn’t watch the Game of the Week, and weren’t fortunate enough to view a game in person, you didn’t see any baseball that week, unless you lived in one of the few big cities that had regular local broadcasts.
My boyhood team was the N.Y. Mets, and since they absolutely stunk until 1969, they probably were featured on Saturday National TV only once or twice a season. That one game was my world series.
Thanks for stirring up some great memories.
Gaines Arnold
1 year, 2 months agoLee, just wanted to ask a Polk points question. Mendoza did not have a great game, but he did have a productive game. If the Royals hitters had not been stymied by the opposing teams pitcher, Mendoza could easily have received 6 more points and 3 additional if he would have stayed in for an additional third of an inning. So, my question is, from the Polk points it seems like the starting pitcher had a hand in the loss (which he did since he gave up the run) to a significant extent. I was just wondering if you knew how Ron Polk would have actually characterized the outing by Mendoza, and how you would characterize it. And, if it was a good outing (as the peripherals suggest), does that reflect a flaw in the system? I also realize that this is probably self-correcting over the entire length of the season, but for this one game type, I found it interesting.
Also, want to say that I’m not trying to be a smartass stathead, I am truly curious.
Jim Silcott
1 year, 2 months agoBob, I can kind of remember Dizzy Dean on the broadcasts at one time too. I must have been really little because the main thing I remember is I thought he had a funny name. Anyway, I remember looking forward to the game of the week on Saturdays and always enjoyed hearing tidbits about the games and players. I think this column is great and the videos are entertaining and educational. I watched the one where Lee shows off his bruise once. I don’t think I can watch again!
Bob Forer
1 year, 2 months agoJim, i still remember a GOTW, perhaps 1967 or ‘68, where Orlando Cepeda lined a rope towards the outfield gap.
Kubek’s call (probably not quite verbatim): Cepeda smashes one…. Cepeda with a single…. the ball gets through the gap…. Cepeda with a double….. Cepeda rounding second ….. Cepeda with a triple!
After the game a few of us met at the park and after maybe twenty attempts with the gang playing, respectively, pitcher, batter, a couple of outfielders, and a 3b man, we were able to passably recreate the play from start to finish, with one of the guys miserably botching Kubek’s call.
What fun we had!!
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoBob: It’s always helpful to talk to the players after a game, so I don’t know what they thought of Milone’s stuff.
They have video and scouting reports, but players will tell you it’s just not the same as seeing a pitcher live. The more he pitches, the more information the hitters will have. I would assume they’ll keep working on finding a weakness in his game and make an adjustment when they face him in the future. So we’ll just have to wait and see if Milone is the real deal.
But if a guy has a long career as an effective pitcher and never strikes out a lot of people, it’s hard to imagine that as luck. There are pitchers who are geniuses at making hitters mishit the ball.
And, yeah, that was some throw by Reddick. Base runners pay attention to what hand an outfielder throws with and will be more or less aggressive based on which way the fielder is moving. Reddick going to his left was another reason for Bourgeois to tag up.
Appreciating little moments like that make the game so much more interesting. I’m happy to pass along the information the players have given to me.
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoJim: I agree, sometimes you go over something because you can’t assume everyone knows what you’re talking about.
This morning I figured most of the fans that come to this site (who tend to be very knowledgeable) knew that Cain was trying to move the runner over last night, but there might be some who have never thought about the mechanics required to make that happen.
I’ll try to always have something new each day, but it never hurts to go over the basics.
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoGaines: I can’t speak for Ron Polk, but I think any manager would be fairly happy with Mendoza’s outing.
But he walked four and that hurt him in at least three ways: 1.) Mendoza’s pitch count got up so he wasn’t able to stay long enough to get points for a quality start 2.) One of his walks was standing on third when Yost brought in Collins to face a lefty—the Royals couldn’t afford another run and Ned needed to shut the A’s down immediately and 3.)The run that did score was partly due to a walk: in the second inning Luis had one out and a runner on first when he walked Suzuki. When Barton hit the ball to Hosmer, Eric went to second—runners were at first and third. Without the walk, Hosmer would have cut down the lead runner and Donaldson single wouldn’t have driven in a run.
Even so, I can’t imagine any manager who wouldn’t take his starter giving up one run in 5 2/3s.
So, I think you’re right, there are flaws in Ron Polk’s system—and asking about them doesn’t make you a smartass—it just makes you smart.
To some degree almost all stats are flawed and don’t tell the whole story. If you look at Jemile Weeks batting average from last night it was .250, but Weeks smoked three line drives to centerfield. Even a stat as simple as batting average can be misleading.
That’s why I don’t believe in looking at one number and thinking you know the story—even the numbers provided on this site. They’re just one more bit of information to add to the pile.
Sean Fischbach
1 year, 2 months agoI saw last night when Pena got hit in the hand by pitch, the ump walked slowly out towards the mound, threw the ball the Mendoza, slowly walked back to the plate, brushed off the plate (even though it was clean) THEN got back and made sure everyone was ready to play. Really took his time.
He gave Bryan a minute to get himself together after getting his hand stung. You pointed this out last season when something similar happened to Matt Treanor. See, we are paying attention!
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoSean: Heck, you’re paying better attention than I am. I missed that moment. The players are making us all more knowledgeable fans. The more they tell us the more we notice.
When people say baseball’s boring I tell them there are so many things happening on the field I don’t know where to look.
Did the pitcher slide step, did the outfield shift when the count went to two strikes, is the batter in the same spot in the box he was for his first two at-bats? The list goes on.
The moment you spotted is part of one of my favorite things about baseball: the rituals and customs of the game.
Devan Shopinski
1 year, 2 months agoLee
The only word I can use to describe last night’s game is “sloppy”. They were probably lucky to be down by only 1 run late…but it was obvious they weren’t getting good swings on Milone. Which leads to a question…a lot of the guys, especially Butler seem to be swinging at the first pitch and making an out. Milone didn’t throw that many pitches compared to Mendoza. I know you might only see one fat pitch during an at bat to drive somewhere, but they really weren’t making him work.
Devan
Lee Judge
1 year, 2 months agoDevan: The first time through the order Milone threw a first-pitch fastball for a strike to six batters. He threw a first-pitch fastball for a ball to two batters and a first-pitch changeup for a ball to one batter.
When a guy does that—throws fastballs for strikes to start an at-bat—he forces the hitters to come to the plate hacking. They don’t want to fall behind and have to hit breaking stuff.
Of course I could throw first-pitch fastballs for a strike and the hitters would just whack them off or over the wall. So to get away with it, a pitcher has to have a pretty good fastball or put it in a pretty good spot.
And Milone was hitting spots.
The second time through the order Milone started mixing in change-ups and curves, but he’d put the Royals in swing mode by then.
Throwing quality strikes makes things tough on hitters: they don’t want to fall behind so they have to hack and if that doesn’t work, you get a game like last night’s.
Yet again a time I’d like to talk with the players to see what they have to say.