Games: Detroit Tigers, April 16: Judging the Royals with Lee Judge

Games » Detroit Tigers

Apr16

A beast and a half

On his 131st pitch of the evening, Detroit starter Justin Verlander threw his fastball 100 mph — on the black. These days, a dominant baseball player is referred to as a “beast.” Verlander is a beast and a half. The Royals’ Eric Hosmer said that facing Verlander in a fastball count didn’t help all that much. A fastball count is also known as a hitter’s count — a count in which the pitcher pretty much has to throw a strike and a fastball is his best chance of doing so.

But when Verlander got in those counts — 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, 3-1 and 3-2, depending on the situation — his fastball would range from 91 to 99 mph. Hitters still couldn’t time a pitch. Hosmer said Verlander wouldn’t throw his best fastball unless he was in trouble. Then the hitters could see him muscle up a bit physically. But Eric said Verlander does the same thing whenever he throws his curve ball, so even that signal was misleading.

I’m sure someone out there is asking why the Royals didn’t take more pitches. In the fourth inning, Mike Moustakas did, and that led to a strikeout. In the fourth inning, Billy Butler grounded out on his third pitch, Jeff Francoeur flew out on one and Moose didn’t want Verlander to get out of the inning in five pitches, so he took a strike. Verlander knew Moose would take a strike and grooved one. Being up 0-1, Verlander could then move his pitches to the corners, and he finally locked Mike up on a 98 mph fastball on the black.

Here’s the game in a nutshell: Danny Duffy got two pitches up. Justin Verlander didn’t. Tigers win 3-2.

A terrific ballgame

This was a terrific ballgame that the Royals happened to lose. There is going to be a lot of whining about four straight losses at home, but this one was totally different from the preceding three. There were two pitchers, working quick, good defense, with strategy and drama at the end.

If you need a silver lining, try Danny Duffy’s performance. Like I said, he left two pitches up, and they left the park. But he looked like a kid with a lot of talent who is starting to figure it out. There was significant moment in this game that showed what Duffy has learned. Eric Hosmer chased a pop fly toward the stands, had to negotiate around a security guard and whiffed on the catch.

The same thing happened Sunday. Hosmer missed a pop-up, and the inning exploded, perhaps partly because a pitcher did not get an out he expected. On Monday night, after the ball dropped, Danny did an interesting thing. He took a couple of deep breaths, slowed himself down — and threw a 79 mph curve. He didn’t get mad and hump up. He got under control and backed off. The 79 mph curve resulted in a ground out, and the Royals had the third out of the inning.

Another one bites the dust

Jeff Francoeur threw out Tigers base-runner Jhonny Peralta when Peralta tried to go first to third. It may have been Jeff’s best throw since last year, when he threw out Tigers base-runner Jhonny Peralta when Peralta tried to go first to third. The throw Monday night probably saved a run. The next batter grounded out to end the inning. Interesting moment: Alcides Escobar acted as the cutoff man in the infield. Esky’s job is to cut the throw if there’s no chance to get the runner and fake cutting the throw if there is.

Esky’s acting job kept Alex Avila from advancing to second base on the throw.

Win some, lose some

Alcides did not do such a hot job when he was asked to bunt in the fifth inning. Humberto Quintero and Mitch Maier had singled earlier in the inning, and I figured Royals manager Ned Yost would ask Escobar to bunt the tying run into scoring position. The traditional way to bunt a runner to third is force the third baseman to field the ball — although Chris Getz got the job done in the first inning by taking the ball with him down the first base line.

If the third baseman fields the bunted ball, that opens the bag and even a slow runner can go in standing up. But Alcides did not get the ball past the mound. Verlander threw out Quintero, and the Royals had Mitch at second and Alcides at first. That’s still not a bad deal because Verlander took 1.7 seconds to deliver the ball home with a runner on second base. I figured the Royals would double steal, and they did.

If you know the delivery times, the speed of the runner and the situation, you often can predict stolen bases. You might not know which pitch the base runner will run on, but you will know when the situation is right. Here’s a hint you can use in the next two games: Tigers reliever Joaqin Benoit is very fast to the plate. Closer Jose Valverde is very slow. Make a bet with someone who doesn’t read this web site.

Harder than it looks

I was giving Hosmer a hard time about his coverage in The Star. “One day we call you the next George Brett, the next day we show you dropping a pop-up.” It turned out Eric was unaware of either story. Hosmer told me he avoids reading coverage of the Royals unless it is about his family. Eric doesn’t want to climb aboard an emotional roller-coaster, up one day and down the next.

So, how about that dropped pop-up in Sunday’s game?

When a player is trying to catch a fly ball near a fence, the rule is: Get to the wall first, then come away and make the catch. Royals coach Doug Sisson calls it, “Ball, wall, ball.” In English, Doug means you look at the ball, find the wall and then look back at the ball. If a player just drifts toward the wall, he won’t be sure of where he is. He will be unsure of himself and may stop short, fearing an imminent collision.

Hosmer was doing the right thing: running to the wall, orienting himself and then making the catch. But when he looked up, the wind had pushed the ball back and to his right. Hosmer said the catch still had to be made. I agree — but it’s worth knowing what goes into making what non-players might consider a “routine” catch. When the wind is howling, there is nothing routine about them.

Comments

Joel Kallem
1 year, 1 month ago

I agree with you that Duffy’s start showed the progress he is making. He really pitched well (except for the two pitches), and seemed to be in control of himself throughout. Three runs, even against the other team’s ace, is not a bad outing and the Royals could have won this game with better execution or a little luck in the fifth or the ninth. The next step for Duffy appears to me to be not being quite as sharp. I noticed a number of times last night that Duffy would quickly get ahead of a hitter and then take 4 or 5 pitches fouled off before he could finish them off. If he can take a little off those foul balls (and put them in the proper position), the result will be weakly hit fair balls that become outs and save him pitches. Any thoughts on this Lee?
Brian Robinson
1 year, 1 month ago

I totally agree that yesterday’s game can’t be compared to previous losses. The Royals came out and played great baseball. They faced last year’s CY Young/MVP for the American League who’s still very much in the prime of his career. I thought they played excellent small ball. One small regret was Alcides Escobar inabilty to push the bunt far enough to force Miguel Cabrera to field the play. Again CY Young/MVP Verlander plays his position like few others and was able to quickly pounce on the bunt and throw to third for the force out.

Regarding Eric Hosmer, I had some questions about his hitting versus lefties and you provided a great stock answer. I understand the normal challenges facing young hitters but I don’t believe Hosmer is average. He proved that to me last night with his plate appearances against Verlander. Hosmer battled every at bat and didn’t get cheated once. As far as Hosmer’s defense, I can’t believe anyone would criticize his play. Just ask Moose, Escobar, Getz, and Bentancourt about Hosmer’s ability in the field. I haven’t seen every throw to first but know of at least a half dozen plays where he saved them from being tagged with throwing errors. The guy’s like a venus flytrap because once the ball gets in his glove it doesn’t come out.
Rob Wilson
1 year, 1 month ago

Nice job by Duffy, he was given the ultimate compliment in the 2nd inning (I think that was the inning) with a runner on 3rd less than 2 outs and the infield was playing in. I noticed this and told Lisa that they weren’t expecting to score many runs on Duffy. They knew they were going to have to take advantage of any mistake Duffy might make and that’s exactly what happened. Brandon Inge just hit his first home run of the year. Ooooops! With some of the best athletes in the world, you cant let up on any hitter in the lineups.

I was wondering early on if Duffy was throwing his best fastball too early and often. I noticed the gun reading 98 plenty of times and thought he would fizzle off if he kept that up. To my surprise, late in the 6th, he was still hitting 97-98 so maybe he was holding back a little. Verlander was around 94-95 pretty consistently until he needed to reach back. This was something Verlander said he learned from last year not to always throw his best fastball but rather use it when needed.

As far as taking pitches from a beast like Verlander wouldn’t be in the teams best interest in my opinion. He doesn’t seem to wear down and can still hit 99 on the gun with his pitch count at 120 pitches. How demoralizing. I’d say with a guy like this, you better jump on the first good pitch you see. This team will be just fine.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month ago

Danny Duffy did what was asked of him, delivered a quality start. Good job, just a couple of bad breaks either way and it’s a win. That’s baseball.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Joel: I think Danny made progress last night regarding pitch count, but you’re right, it could be better.

He threw 106 pitches last night and got through 6 and 2/3s. As I recall, last season he was often approaching 100 pitches around the fifth inning.

Sometimes a pitchers stuff can be too nasty, in the sense that people have a hard time getting it in play, but keep fouling it off. Some guys develop a sinker or some other type of two-seamer that hitters get in play, but can’t square up.

If Danny can do that, he can get some quick outs.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Brian: Because of the situation, Escobar’s failure to get the bunt down did not hurt last night, but you’re right, it’s a fundamental failure that could hurt in the future.

Some people have hard time understanding why Chris Getz is held in such high regard by the team, but when he had to lay down a bunt, he made it look easy. When Getz was bunting, there was just no doubt he’d get the job done, with Esky, you hoped.

You’re also right about Hosmer, people who have been around a while think he’s pretty special. Last season he saved the infield a ton of errors with his ability to scoop the ball. He’s agile and as Mike Moustakas pointed out before the game, Hos has got the wing-span of a condor.

One thing Hosmer may have to watch: he tries to get his mitt on the same line as ball that’s going to short hop him and move his mitt through the catch. In some people’s opinion he can get a little too big with that sweep and knock the ball away from himself. A smaller, more subtle approach might get better results.

But still, his teammates love having Eric over there; he saves them errors and gives them the opportunity to try throws they might have to eat with another first baseman.

(BTW we have video of him demonstrating skills around first base on the site that’s well worth watching.)
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Rob: Good eyes, you’re right—infield in early says we don’t expect to score a lot tonight.

It’ll be interesting to talk to Danny today. As you can imagine, after games starting pitchers have a cluster of media around them and the pitchers are often still emotional about their performance. Danny knew he pitched well, but his basic attitude was, not well enough. Two mistakes meant two home runs.

I often like to talk to the starter the next day, after he’s had time to think about what happened. I wonder what Danny thinks about Verlander varying fastballs from 91 to 100, depending on the situation and whether that’s something he’ll emulate.

And I agree with you about a dominate pitcher: if he’s shown he can go deep in games, all you do by taking pitches is make sure you’re going to have a bad at-bat. Let him get up in the count and now you get to see the change, slider and curve as well.

If you haven’t been up there, you don’t understand how Alex Gordon could take strike three to end the game, but 100, 100, 100, 88, 100—on the black—will lock up an awful lot of good hitters.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Jim: Good point, Duffy kept them out of the pen for 6 2/3s. They needed that. When both pitchers started dealing, I thought, “If you don’t like this, you don’t like baseball.”

At that point I didn’t know how the game would end, but I knew I was watching great baseball.

I think that’s why I feel calm about this team: if they play that well on a consistent basis, they’ll win a lot of games.
Kurt Vancil
1 year, 1 month ago

Very impressed by Duffy last night. Not only to pitch that well but against one of the best lineups and with Verlander on the mound against him. I think Duffy is the most important pitcher to watch on this staff because he will be here for the foreseeable future. I didn’t expect us to win the division this year but to contend next year. Duffy will be a big part of that becoming reality.

Also - with regard to “Our Time” - having a slogan like this isn’t necessarily bad but if we continue to lose it becomes somewhat demoralizing. I live in the Seattle area and a couple years ago the Mariners slogan was “Believe Big” after they got Cliff Lee. The M’s then had the worst offensive production in the AL in years. In August hearing an M’s commercial asking the fans to “Believe Big” became comical and to some of my friends quite upsetting. I think the PR director that year is working somewhere else now. I’m hoping the Royals can turn the ship around so the same doesn’t happen in KC.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Kurt: OK, for starters I’m jealous that you live in Seattle and it doesn’t help that you seem to have a hot significant other in your Facebook photo. Dude, you’re on Easy Street.

And you’re also right about Danny. In the third inning he struck out Brennan Boesch and the way he walked off the mound had me saying, “He’s feeling it.”

Yost said the same thing, Duffy found it in the third. After that, he was pitching like a number one or two guy in the rotation. Last night was a glimpse of what he can be on a regular basis.

And the first time I heard an “Our Time” commercial, I winced. Man, who needs that hanging around your neck?

I was there when the players got their scripts for those commercials and there were lines they were reluctant to say—luckily the worst got taken out, but still “Our Time” may have sounded good in some advertising agent’s office—actually, I don’t know who came up with it—but as is often the case, they should’ve asked a ballplayer.
Sean Fischbach
1 year, 1 month ago

It was probably the same poeple who came up with the new “Sporting KC” name to replace the Wizards…..uggg.
Jeffry L Jack
1 year, 1 month ago

Lee, my wife calls me an eternal optimist. Every year, I anticipate Opening Day with the heartfelt belief that this year, my Royals are going to return to the glory of my youth, when summer nights were spent listening to Denny and Fred on the radio as the Royals were locked in another division race. And, every year for the past 20 years, she has seen me maintain that optimism throughout the summer,regardless of the effort or lack of effort from the management or the team on the field, until the next Spring, when again I am convinced that “this is the year”. She, being a Braves fan, doesn’t understand what I go through, and she equates my behavior with that of a spouse who believes the promises that “this time, it will be different” and takes back the wandering philanderer or substance abuser time after time in spite of the history or the evidence.

This year, though, things really were going to be different. We had the youngest team in baseball, with legitimate stars in the making, and a manager that seemed to understand how to handle young talent. For the first time in a long time, I had not only optimism, but legitimate expectations.

Two nights ago, after watching my team give up a seven run inning and a five run inning the two previous outings, I turned the television off during the game, just after two runs scored (I believe both had walked to reach base), and said that was it, I was done until the team showed me they could actually win. I felt like the season was unravelling, and I just couldn’t stand the heartache that comes with real belief.

That is, until yesterday, when I turned to your blog, including the comments. You and your readers reminded me why I follow baseball, why I play baseball, why I live and die with my team. It is a beautiful game, nuanced and subtle and intelligent, and full of wonderful moments regardless of the outcome of a particular game or even series of games. The “games within the game” as you call it.

Because of your blog, I relented and watched the game last night, and was rewarded with a beauty. The Royals were facing a championship caliber team, and they answered the bell. Even though they lost, they played well, and I enjoyed watching them do so many of the little things right that you and your commenters notice and appreciate. Hell, I even enjoyed watching Verlander pitch; a true master at the height of his powers.

Anyway, that is a waaaay too long way of saying thanks for doing what you do and giving me baseball back when I felt like losing hope in this team. Sooner or later they will be good, and in the meantime, I am going to enjoy each and every little moment that gets them to that point. It may or may not be Our Time, but it will definitely be a good summer.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Jeffry: That may be the nicest compliment I’ve ever received, thank you.
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month ago

Jeffry: I know exactly what you are talking about. Since following this site I enjoy any baseball game. I can take joy out of other teams making the right play and playing the game right. If my team wins, that’s a bonus. It’s fun taking the things I have learned here and applying them to any baseball game.

Lee: Looks like they will have to put a bigger door to the press box if you get many more compliments like Jeffry’s. As I recall you head is big enough already even if your wife does try to keep you humble..
Kurt Vancil
1 year, 1 month ago

Jeffry: It is interesting how expectations can change the way you see your team. Whenever somebody asks me what it is like to be a Royals fan I say pretty easy because my expectations usually aren’t to high (they have never made the playoffs in my lifetime).

I say for Yankees fans if they go to a game and the Yankees win the reaction is “ho-hum, we won again like we are supposed to, thats baseball”, but if they lose its “sell the team! and fire the manager!”

For the Royals it is the opposite. The Royals lose and it is “ho-hum, we lost, thats baseball”, but we win its “get out the champagne!”

It is tempting to turn off the tv until they prove to win but I’d rather be able to say I was watching when they turned the ship around.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month ago

I watch the games to see the plays. The perfection of Frenchy gunning down Peralta doesn’t show in a box score, nor does Verlander painting a corner with his last fastball against a very good hitter. If all I cared about was wins and losses to reinforce my opinions of what the team will do, I can just check the results the next morning and have three extra hours to watch Biggest Loser or take a nap.

Win or lose, the game is made up of plays, many good, many bad, many looking routine because of the preparation these kids put into their craft. If I watch a theatrical production of Romeo and Juliet, I already know that the young lovers will die, it is the performances on the way to the finale that really matter to me.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Jim said it: it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
Alice Sky
1 year, 1 month ago

You think there was whining after four home losses, wait’ll you hear the whining tonight. I was at the K Monday, and loved Frenchy’s throw and Gordon’s face-plant catch. Ouch!

The Royals are better than their record shows so far.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Alice: I agree.
Terry Payne
1 year, 1 month ago

Hi Lee. To me, it’s obvious that the kids, Mous and Hos are trying too hard. They’re trying to hit 6-run homers and be “the” guy. I think they’ll eventually settle and learn to stay within themselves. However, I am becoming concerned about Alex. He seems to be as lost up their at the plate as he was before his great 2011 season. I hope he counts to listen to Seitz and not put too much pressure on himself.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month ago

Terry: I think you’re right, I think they’re all putting too much pressure on themselves. More about that shortly.

Judging the Royals