Games » Seattle Mariners
Jul16A good performance by a left-handed pitcher
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
Here’s the good news: a left-handed Royals pitcher threw five innings while giving up only one run.
Here’s the bad news: it wasn’t Jonathan Sanchez. Fair or not, high draft picks and well-paid ballplayers get every chance to succeed. If Sanchez hasn’t run out of chances, he must be close. Sanchez gave up five runs in this game before he got an out. He walked the leadoff batter and things got worse from there. Ned Yost says Sanchez is healthy and pointed out that his first pitch of the game was a 93 MPH fastball.
It didn’t help.
The hitters were all over him. After the game Ned was asked about Sanchez’s future. The Royals manager pointed out that the game had ended 10 minutes earlier, that he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Dayton Moore yet and that when they did speak it would to figure out how to get through Tuesday’s game. Sanchez’s poor outing made the Royals use their long reliever, Louis Coleman and Tuesday’s starter — the lefty that had a good night — Everett Teaford.
But Yost did not say Sanchez would get another start.
Game notes
First inning: The scoring system we use on this site has a category for giving up more than four earned runs. I’ve come to think of it as the opposite of a quality start. A quality start lets you know when a pitcher has given his team a chance. The “more than four earned runs” stat lets you know when a pitcher has knocked his team out of the game. I’ve never checked off that box on my score sheet before there was an out recorded in a game — until Monday night.
With a five-run lead, Seattle pitcher Jason Vargas should have been aggressive — but he fell behind Alex Gordon and gave up a single, then got a double play ball, then walked Eric Hosmer. Pitchers who walk batters with a five-run lead put managers in early graves.
Third inning: Sanchez gave up another two runs in the second, so Vargas was up 7-0. Salvador Perez led off the inning with a home run. Pay attention to what a pitcher does after he gives up a bomb: does he continue to throw strikes or does he get skittish?
After the Perez home run, Vargas walked Alex Gordon.
He then got Alcides Escobar to ground into a double play. Vargas was up 7-1 with two outs in the inning, but still walked Eric Hosmer. Next, he fell behind Billy Butler and gave the Royals DH a fastball in a fastball count. Billy leaned on it and hit it out of the park. It was 7-3. The Royals weren’t exactly back in the game, but because Vargas was pitching behind in the count, they were getting closer.
Fourth inning: Louis Coleman walked the leadoff batter — you can’t do that if you’re going to make a comeback — and Ichiro Suzuki tripled him home. A fan poll on the TV asked if people thought Ichiro would make it to 3,000 hits. The way things were going, it looked like he might get there before the game was over.
Yuniesky Betancourt led off the bottom of the inning with a double and Salvador Perez failed to move him to third (and I’m not really sure he should be trying). Alex Gordon then flew out to left, so failure to move the runner cost a run. Then the runner cost a runner when Betancourt tried to advance to third on the deep fly ball. Yuni was thrown out trying to advance. It’s generally considered bad base running to get thrown out at third when you’re already in scoring position with two outs.
Sixth inning: Teaford who, along with Coleman, saved the bull pen from being devastated by a starting pitcher going an inning and a third, had two outs, Dustin Ackley at the plate and Ichiro on deck. I was hoping Teaford wouldn’t have to face Ichiro with Ackley on base — he didn’t — Ackley homered, Mariner’s 9-Royals 3.
Seventh inning: Eric Hosmer broke an 0-12 stretch with an RBI single and Billy Butler came to the plate with a runner in scoring position. Butler worked the count to 3-1 and the next pitch was called a strike. Butler could clearly be seen talking, but not looking at the umpire. Hitters — or catchers — can complain about a pitch, but baseball protocol demands that they do it while staring out at the mound.
Turning back toward the umpire lets everyone know there’s a disagreement going on. This is considered “showing up” the umpire and they don’t like it. So Billy followed the unwritten rule, but it didn’t help: the same pitch was called for strike three.
Eighth inning: Jeff Francoeur picked up another outfield assist on a play that — for me — defines him as a player. Michael Saunders was on first when Munenori Kawasaki hit a single to right. Saunders decided to go first to third. Francoeur charged the ball. The Royals rule of thumb for outfielders is they can go for the lead runner if the ball is hit hard and takes them toward the lead base. Both factors applied.
Another Royals rule of thumb is outfield throws should come in on one bounce. That keeps the throw low and allows it to be cutoff. If the cutoff man is in position, he can freeze the trail runner by faking a cut. This keeps the double play in order. Throw over the cutoff man and the ball can’t be cut and the trail runner can advance to second.
Frenchy launched a rocket over everything on the infield, except Mike Moustakas. Moose acted like nothing was going on until the last second, caught the ball and made the tag on Saunders. If Francoeur had done the conservative thing — throwing the ball to second base to keep the double play in order — it would’ve been first and third, one down. Jeff rolled the dice and it was man on second, two down.
Francoeur drives some fans crazy with his all-or-nothing approach. But the flip side of home run cuts on sliders out of the zone is a throw to cut down a lead runner — the dude likes to gamble.
Fun play, but the Royals still lose, 9-4.
An autopsy of a plate appearance
Last Friday night the Royals lost to the White Sox, 9-8, in 14 innings. The plate appearance that produced the winning run for the Sox, was a 14-pitch marathon — Everett Teaford facing Kevin Youkilis. There was one down, runners on first and third, the score was tied 8-8. Teaford was trying to get Youkilis to pop up on the infield, hit a double play groundball or strike out. Here are the pitches Everett threw:
Curveball, ball; count 1-0
Slider, foul ; count 1-1
Slider, called strike; count 1-2
Fastball, foul; count 1-2
Slider, foul; count 1-2
Fastball, ball; count 2-2
Slider, foul; count 2-2
Slider, foul; count 2-2
Curveball, ball; count 3-2
Slider, foul; count 3-2
Fastball, foul; count 3-2
Slider, foul; count 3-2
Slider, foul; count 3-2
Changeup, in play; F8 sacrifice fly
The first pitch, the curve, was designed to get a groundball. Teaford thought Youkilkis might be looking for a fastball on the first pitch and hoped to get the White Sox third baseman to hit the top half of a breaking pitch and pound it into the ground.
The sliders were designed to get in on Youkilis’ hands and skinny part of the bat. Teaford thought Youikilis was looking to drive the ball the other way and might have trouble with a pitch boring in on him. (Remember, Teaf is left-handed and Youkilis is a righty.)
The fastballs were being thrown at the top of the zone, hoping to get Youkilis to swing and miss or to produce an infield pop fly.
Teaford kept busting Youkilis inside and on the 14th pitch the Royals pitcher decided he had the White Sox third baseman set up for a low and away change. Teaford thought Youkilis would be trying to get the bat head out in front after all the sliders in and would be fooled by something soft and away. He didn’t hit it great, but Youkilis kept his hands back enough to hit a fly ball to the outfield, allowing the runner to tag and score the game-winning run.
I picked this plate appearance to analyze because it was a long one and produced a big run, but this kind of battle is taking place during every plate appearance: the pitcher is throwing the pitches he’s throwing for a reason while the hitter is waiting for a mistake that allows him to carry out his game plan.
(We made a video with Teaford talking about this plate appearance and we’ll post in the next few days.)
Hosmer
Butler
Gordon
Chris Campbell
10 months, 1 week agoThere’s simply no way Dayton Moore and the Royals can justify sending Sanchez out there again. They’ll probably try, but there’s no way you can send him back out there at this point. I will actively start calling for Dayton Moore’s head on a platter if I ever see Jonathan Sanchez on the mound again.
Obviously it was a bad trade. Why (other than money) compound the problem by guaranteeing that the Royals will lose and burn out their bullpen every five days by running Sanchez out there? It’s pretty obvious to everyone but the Royals that he SUCKS. Hell, the Royals have to make roster moves today because they had to burn today’s starter because Sanchez can’t muster more than four lousy outs?
For the love of GOD cut your losses Dayton.
John Wilson
10 months, 1 week agoThe Royals can’t dump Sanchez on the market because nobody will want him at his contract price (even if we say we will pay it) so they are stuck with him for the season. I think the best they will be able to do is dump him in the bullpen and bring him in when there’s a no pressure opportunity to pitch - which lately has been never. The only other option is just pay him his contract and cut him. The Greinke deal worked, the Melky deal didn’t. Such is life.
Jay Hall
10 months, 1 week agoSanchez is a sunk cost at this point. The money is spent whether he pitches or not. But he has pitched so poorly the money is irrelevant at this point.
The Royals still have to cut ties with him. It’s a bad message to a young team when you keep sending him out there and he isn’t even giving you a chance to win most nights. It was 5-0 before an out was even recorded! He’d already walked a guy and allowed two HR’s! That’s on the pitcher. You can’t chalk that up to bad luck or anything other than not executing pitches.
If there is something that could keep free agents away from KC its showing that the franchise isn’t committed to winning, and part of that is continuing to send an ineffective Sanchez to the hill every five days.
Curtis Ruder
10 months, 1 week agoLee, one parenthetical made my head almost explode. In the bottom of the fourth inning, down by four runs, already on your third pitcher, Salvador Perez should be trying to not make an out. Period. We already know we need five more runs to win, and let’s be honest, we were relatively lucky to only need seven more the rest of the night.
There are lots of situations that have layers and layers of nuance. This is not one of them.
Obviously, the question of the day is one that should have been asked a month ago - why is Sanchez still on the team? As Jay says, his salary is a sunk cost. As John said, some trades work, and some don’t. At the time, I thought Melky was surplus to requirements with Cain languishing and Melky unwilling to sign an extension. There were warnings about Sanchez’s health and control, but nobody expected this. That being said, surely there is somebody who could be part of our future who might benefit from some major league innings. It is time for that guy to be in Kansas City.
Joel Kallem
10 months, 1 week agoDitto on Sanchez. We cannot justify sending him out again. Time to get some seasoning for one of our young guys in the minors.
Jeff Circle
10 months, 1 week agoJoel, isn’t that the $64,000 question though? Which young guy in the minors? Montgomery’s going backwards. Dwyer just got to Omaha. Odorizzi is having to work on lasting longer in games. I haven’t heard what move has been made but they were talking Doug Davis (or whatever his name is) to fill the hole, and he’s certainly not a young guy. Do we bring back Will Smith and just live with what we get there? Sorry folks but the pickins are pretty slim aren’t they?
And that isn’t to shoot down anyone who wants to get rid of Sanchez (I’d like to see him trying to toss peanuts in the crowd personally…free peanuts!), just trying to point out that if you dump him you gotta replace him and we don’t have much.
Jeff Frost
10 months, 1 week agoUGH!! Sanchez must go- just for the poor players sake that have to stand out there and watch him pitch and play for him. They KNOW going into his games that they ARE going to lose! Time to cut your losses!
What happen to the days when we DID develop young pitchers and they prospered right away??? In the 1970s Busby, Leonard, and Gale were all under 24 when they were dominant. (OK- a stretch with Rich Gale) In the 1980s, Saberhagen, Gubicza, Danny Jackson, and Appier were dominant before the age of 23. Sabes won a CY YOUNG at 20 years old!!! What is going on? What is different?? This is disparaging!
Jay Hall
10 months, 1 week agoJeff,
I agree that the upgrade won’t be substantial, but at some point you have to respect your other players and your fans and say enough.
Starting Sanchez makes you wonder if the Royals are actually trying to win games. They say they are trying to develop a “winning culture” but sending a guy with an ERA over 7 and a WHIP over 2 (over 2!) back out to the hill this weekend should be a fireable offense. Even if Sanchez is still on the roster, if Teaford doesn’t get the nod to start, that’s an indictment against this team, the management and THE PROCESS.
Mark Harkins
10 months agoI posted before about “pressure” at other positions that keep players performing because there’s competition for PT. The rotation is the most glaring area where that is not yet true. There’s just not enough depth behind him to force him out.
My thought is, put him in the pen, and see what he does when he knows he’s only getting 15 pitches. Grinke learned to let loose his FB that way, and I think that really set him up for his CY year. Maybe the change of pace the Pen provides might help him find something. Like was said, it’s a sunk cost.
The only other thought is to go with a “starterless outing” concept where you plan on multiple guys each throwing 1 or 2 innings. Invention is the mother of necessity, and for the Royals the pen is mightier than the rotation. Why not max out what we’re better at? What is there really to lose at this point?
Matt Ungashick
10 months agoLee, I’ll not pile on the Sanchez portion. It speaks for itself.
Yuni’s attempt take 3rd with 2 outs, down 5 runs is just bad baseball. No offense, it’s not “generally considered bad base running”, it’s always bad. Unless, you’re playing at the Green Monster, where a base hit to left doesn’t score runners from 2B. The only other excuse is that Escobar was coming up next and he is second in the league in infield hits. Still, that is giving this team way too much credit. I believe Yuni, like Dyson, has a low baseball IQ. Just not a good feel for the game. Same reason Dyson got picked off 2B Friday night in extra innings. This team has little room for error. They must do the little things right.
Ben Weddle
10 months agoI haven’t seen a Royals player with a more poisonous on-field body language than Sanchez since either Guillen or the days of Kevin McReynolds. In lieu of his outright release, put him in the pen and let him put the innings from such games as last night on his wholly disinterested arm. He doesn’t need better coaching. He needs a crackerjack realtor and directions out of town.
Lee Judge
10 months agoMatt: I used “generally” in that situation becauss—as you point out—there are exceptions, Fenway being one of them. Also Yankee Stadium with the short porch in right.
Players who aren’t a lock to score from second on a base hit with two outs—and Yuni may be one of them—should look to advance to third whenever possible, but they better be sure they make it.
Yuni didn’t, so in my opinion, bad base running.
Jeff Circle
10 months agoI like your point Mark, that being in the pen could make a difference when you know you’re only getting one batter or one inning. What do we have to lose?
Jeff Circle
10 months agoSanchez DFA (designated for assignment)…
Larry Tindle
10 months agoLee, I have not had a chance to rewatch the game but I think I saw Teaford go side arm once last night.
Chuck Smith
10 months agoLee, I’ve been trying to watch pitch location on Hosmer and Francoeur, not to mention our pitching staff. I generally go to CBS for how it shows the pitch location “real time”, but the real time doesn’t even match their game charting tab while the game is going on. I’ve been trying to see how the focus for laying off the inside pitch has been going and little things like that. Is There a better place to watch pitch location, especially for the accuracy of it? Because looking back at Chen’s last stat, they don’t have him being squeezed at all. He just wasn’t in the strike zone. That would be another question, how much of the “box” that these sites show as a strike zone, should be considered true umpire representitives?
Jim Fetterolf
10 months agoHere’s the strike zones for that game from Brooks Baseball:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/szoneCDB.php?pitchSel=all&game=gid20120713chamlbkcamlb1/&innings=yyyyyyyyy&stype=&sptype=1&hsize=700&vsize=500&reParsed=0&extraStr=|07/13/2012|Chicago%20White%20Sox%20@%20Kansas%20City%20Royals
Larry Tindle
10 months agoLee, just watched the game on MLB. Teaford in the 6th inning was pitching to Kawasaki. On the second pitch he went side arm. Ask him if this is a secret weapon of his.
Chuck, those strike boxes are not always real accurate or do not jive with what the umpire is calling. I’ve noticed it a lot on Gameday.
Joel Kallem
10 months agoNeed to try to develop one of the young pitchers like Will or Jake at the major league level like we did with Duffy - what do we have to lose at this point. He can’t do worse than Sanchez and may become an asset for next year where Sanchez won’t be one.
Jim Fetterolf
10 months agoWill Smith has been pitching quite well the last month or so, is already on the roster, and has three games of major league experience. Kid reminds me a little of Paul Splittorff.
Jim Wilson
10 months agoSanchex is moot point now.
Thayne Griffin
10 months agoGlad to see Verdugo finally get a chance. Who knows, maybe he will make the melky trade look better than it does now (it can’t get much worse). Bourgeios served his purpose in a platoon until Cain returned. Hopefully Verdugo has a good outing tonight. Lord knows we need it.
Lee Judge
10 months agoLarry: Teaford got that from Bruce Chen during spring training. He drops down once in a while to throw batters off.
Lee Judge
10 months agoChuck: We have Foxtrax we can watch in the press box and I watch the pitches on MLB.com, but even those two don’t line up exactly. I think it can give you a general idea, but borderline stuff might not be completely accurate.
I also know the pitch descriptions aren’t always accurate. They thought Mitch Maier was throwing changeups and knucklballs.
Speaking of which, does anyone know how Mitch did last night? Omaha got a call that things were blowing up in KC and the Royals were going to need a couple of pitchers, so to fill in the gap, Mitch went out and pitched for the Storm Chasers.
Derek Taylor
10 months agoHe pitched the last inning, two hits, one walk, one strikeout. Two unearned runs - that 0.00 ERA is still intact.
Jim Fetterolf
10 months agoMaybe they’ll convert Mitch to pitch. He has a big arm, what I hear, close to Frenchy speed.
Omaha got kinda blown up last night, also, Chris Dwyer didn’t have a good first start in AAA, which is why Mitch was needed for the last inning. Nate Adcock had a bad one the night before, as I recall.
Lee Judge
10 months agoDerek: Thanks for the information, that’s awesome. Wish I’d been there to see it.
John Miller
10 months agoJim, thanks for the Brooks Baseball link—I’d never heard of that site before, and it’s a wealth of information. Plus they’re doing their sabermetrics seminar down the street from me. Sounds like fun!
Jim Fetterolf
10 months agoBrooks has some good stuff. You can search any pitcher, then pick any game he’s started. The page I linked was for the umpire’s strike zone, quick way to check whether tight, loose, or how consistent. Tell Dan I said “Hey”. I sponsored the Luis Mendoza page.
Chuck Smith
10 months agoJust getting home from watching the Avengers with the kids. Thanks for the sites Jim and Lee.