Games » Chicago White Sox
May14Lee Judge
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Every silver lining has a cloud. The Royals won this one going away, but if Ned Yost was paying close attention (and I’m sure he was) he saw some of the mistakes that plague this team and prevent it from being as good as it could be.
• Guillen’s mental mistake…or mistakes…
Jose Guillen singles to right field in the 5th. Kotsay juggles the ball like he’s auditioning for Ed Sullivan, which should allow Guillen to take a shot at going to second…or at least think about it…but when the camera shifts back to Jose, he’s barely rounding first, already in shut down mode. Didn’t see it this time, so I can’t say, but I have seen Guillen coast (I’m sure you’re all stunned) into bases, and that might be what happened here.
Good base runners always assume they’re going to the next base. If the defense makes a mistake, they can advance, if not, the runner shuts it down. Assuming there won’t be a defensive mistake prevents the runner from advancing to the next base when there is one. Frank White said that Guillen might’ve attempted second if his legs felt better, but all I’ve heard is Guillen’s finally healthy. (Frank White is way better connected than me, though.)
The Sox are up by one, so Guillen’s run is important. Next: he gets picked off first and then (just to round out the trifecta of base-running errors) makes no attempt to get in a rundown and allows himself to be tagged out without forcing a throw.
• Betancourt’s mental mistake…I think…
One down, Vizquel at first, Pierre bunts to third: Callaspo picks it up and turn to throw to second to get the lead runner. Nobody’s covering. I’m weak on bunt defenses, so I picked up two baseball manuals to find out who had responsibility for second. Every diagram I could find showed shortstop taking the bag, with second going over to take first when the first baseman crashes towards the plate.
That’s where Aviles was headed, so it appeared he was doing the right thing, but Betancourt was running towards third where there wasn’t a play.
This allowed Vizquel to be safe at second and score the game’s first run on Pierzynski’s bloop single. Like I said, bunt defense aren’t my strongest subject, but I’ve never heard of one that encourages you to run away from a base where there will be a play, to cover a base where there isn’t one.
If anyone knows different, let me know and I’ll change the scoring.
• More Betancourt…
Three outstanding defensive plays: Maier’s long run to make a warning-track catch in center, Kendall’s hustle out from behind the plate to get Teahen in the 9th (much harder play than is apparent) and Betancourt going up the middle to get Teahen in the 6th. This game typifies why baseball watchers are divided on Betancourt: earlier he had, at least what appeared to be, a much easier ball that he didn’t get to. It was fielded by Aviles, who was unable to get the runner. The Royals have talked about Betancourt’s routes not being deep enough, and that might’ve been the case here.
He also contributed to Kendall’s throwing error in the 6th. Kotsay was stealing second and Jason’s throw tailed into him (for reasons I wrote about earlier). Yuniseky makes approximately no attempt to knock the ball down, it hits Kotsay, which knocks it off line so Aviles misses it too, and Kotsay is able to get up and take third.
Betancourt’s inconsistency can also be evident at the plate: in the 6th he hits a homer to tie the game up. In the 7th, with the bases loaded, with a 3-1 count (when he should be very selective), he chases a pitch up and pops out to short.
Uneven effort is deadly in a game that rewards consistency.
• Heads-up base running…
DeJesus picked up points for an excellent read on Butler’s flare to right in the 7th. Even though the ball wasn’t hit deeply, David was able to go first to third and eventually scored what proved to be the winning run.
By the way, having a runner on third can be a big deal for less obvious reasons: if the pitcher doesn’t completely trust his catcher’s ability to block, it can take certain pitches out of the equation. Just one more reason Kendall is so valuable behind the plate.
Betancourt
Hughes
Maier
Lee, you need to talk to the Star about making this site stand out more. I thought it was an advertisement for the longest time!
But I started checking it out about a week ago and an now an avid reader. Great insight and opinions about our boys in blue.
Probably coincidental, but I thought last night was their best game of the year. Good starting pitching, very good relief pitchin, timely hitting and a few outstanding defensive plays.
Thanks, Mike. Yeah, we're doing all we can to promote it and the site is evolving as we go along. It started as charting balls in play, evolved into using Coach Polk's system and the game notes were just an add-on to explain some of the system scoring.
I'm still figuring out what I should be writing about and don't want to duplicate what you can get from a game story.
I'm hearing a lot of comments about the explanatory stuff (not sure if explanatory is a word, but it ought to be) and I'm thinking maybe that's the most valuable thing I can do: point out to readers what has been pointed out to me.
Let me know what you think.
p.s. I agree that last night was one of their better efforts, but as I pointed out, there were warning signs that everything's not ok.
I hope I'm wrong about that, it would be a lot more fun to do this if they went on a winning streak.
Just wanted to say that I'm loving the info on the "game-within-the-game" stuff. I didn't play baseball past the age of 12, and I never picked up on the more intricate details! Thanks for all your work!
Thanks, Matt. The best thing good players did for me is teach me how to watch the game. The more you know about what's going on the more enjoyable it is.
By the way, is you guys like the site, send out links. The more people come to it, the better the chances it will survive.
I'm glad to see that you're able to receive reader comments and (so far) they're actually relevant (unlike some sites) and that you respond with additional insight/info. Go Royals.
I'm hoping this can be a forum for baseball fans who want to learn more about the game and have a better understanding of what they're watching on the field.
That certainly includes me. Hearing Tim Bogar talk about playing the wall at Fenway or Frank White discuss the doubleplay opens up the game. It enables me to see things I couldn't recognize before.
I hope I can bring some of that to site visitors. It should be a two-way street though. If readers have insight they want to share, this is a place to do it.
This project is evolving and I'm thinking maybe the best thing we can do is pick a couple of relevant things from each game and talk about them in detail.
The Polk system is a good starting place. It breaks the game down into its smaller parts and makes you think about the ingredients that go into a win.
Thnaks for taking the time to comment.
"but all I’ve heard is Guillen’s finally healthy." That is all I've been hearing too... I was at the game and it appeared to me he was having a rough time rounding the bases when he scored. Keep up the good work...Enjoy the site.
I agree with Matt's comment above... particlarly I liked when you wrote the other day that Grienke starts with his change-up grip so he doesn't tip his "toughest grip" to the hitter.
Lee, are you on twitter? If so, what's your name? If not, you should! There are plenty of Royals followers there.
I'm not on twitter and, to be honest, don't know where I'd find the time. Between doing 6 cartoons a week and this website, I'm pretty jammed up.
Although...
One reader said it would be cool if, right after an interesting play happened, you could read instant analysis.
So maybe if we make what we're doing work, that's something we could add.
Now back to Guillen,I think his running ability is nonexistent,first of all if he doesn't think its a hit he doesn't try to run,& thats got us in trouble more than once,& getting picked off first,when you can't run is a crime,if you happen to get on base,you have to at least pay attention.As far as I'm concerned he's just keeping someone else,that could be great from playing. PS Guillen needs to take a seat or a Bus or a airplane some place else.
Sam Mellinger was on the radio this morning and made a pretty lucid argument for bringing up Ka'aihue and giving him Guillen's at bats.
He believes the Royals need to find out if Kila is the real deal and prepare for the future.
I don't think I'm breaking any new ground when I say Guillen appears to be a very emotional player who lets how he feels affect how he plays.
The best guys are bullet-proof, have an intelligent game plan and stick with it.
The one summer Russ Morman played on my team he went over the top about playing hard. I asked why, since it was just a senior league team, and he said anytime he stepped between the white lanes he played hard wherever he was.
He said if you have an 'A' game and a 'B' game sooner or later you get caught playing the 'B' when you needed the'A'.
Howdy, turns out we've had a glitch posting comments. We were unaware of that until recently, but it's been fixed. So if you've tried to post a comment and failed, try again. It should be OK now.
I'm hoping this can become a place for Royals fans to comment after each game. It would be nice to be part of an ongoing discussion about the Royals 2010 season.
If you have a play you want to discuss or a question to ask, I'll do my best to respond. If I don't know the answer or can't think of a good lie, I'll try to talk to someone who has more information than me and get an answer that makes sense.
Thanks for your patience.