Games » Cleveland Indians
Jul31The Royals win one
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
First inning: Alex Gordon led off with a single, and the scorebook said Alcides Escobar had a sacrifice bunt. After the game, I asked manager Ned Yost if it was a straight sacrifice or Esky was bunting for a hit. Ned said that if we see a bunt in the first inning — unless it’s a playoff game with two aces facing off — we’re seeing a hitter trying to lay one down for a single.
Second inning: When Cleveland’s Johnny Damon hit the ball to Eric Hosmer, Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar made a mental mistake, failing to cover first base. Yost said that was a sign that Luke had too much going on his head. Major-league pitchers should cover first base in their sleep.
With two down in the bottom of the inning, Chris Getz got things started with a single, Jarrod Dyson doubled, and, with first base open, it appeared that Cleveland starter Derek Lowe was trying to get Alex Gordon to chase a bad pitch.
Having first base open allows a pitcher to work around a hitter if he chooses to. The pitcher will throw balls just out of the zone and see whether the hitter chases them in an effort to be a hero. Alex stayed disciplined and wouldn’t chase bad pitches. After Gordon’s walk, Escobar came to the plate and singled in Getz and Dyson. Lowe didn’t have to throw strikes to Alex, but Gordon’s plate discipline forced Lowe to throw a hittable pitch to Escobar.
Third inning: With the score tied at 3, Billy Butler singled, Mike Moustakas fouled out and then Salvador Perez added another single. Hosmer was at the plate, fell behind 1-2 and once again Lowe tried to get a Royals hitter to chase. Eric is hitting in the low .230s, and Lowe wanted him to expand his zone.
Hosmer didn’t, and his walk loaded the bases. Lowe balked (it looked as though he caught a spike on his delivery) and a run was in. Then Getz doubled, Dyson flew out, Gordon doubled, Escobar tripled and the game was pretty much over … but interesting things continued to happen.
*Fourth inning: With a five-run lead, Hochevar walked Cleveland’s Casey Kotchman, who was hitting .226 when the game started. Luke also walked Shin-Soo Choo. At that point, Everett Teaford started throwing in the Royals bullpen. This can be a psychological ploy by the manager. It sends the message to the pitcher on the mound that if he isn’t going to throw strikes, the manager will find someone who will. After the game, I asked Ned whether getting Teaford up was a message to Hochevar. “A little bit,” Ned said.
Hochevar then threw strikes to Asdrubal Cabrera and got a fly ball to end the inning.
Sixth inning: With two outs, Gordon ran a long way for a fly ball in the left-field corner. Alex made the catch and then banged into the wall. Going into the wall, especially with a crowd hanging out overhead, can be incredibly distracting. The outfielder has to put his full concentration on the ball, and, as Gordon said later, “not be afraid of the wall.” Give some thought to the collision that’s about to happen, and you might not make the catch.
Seventh inning: Tim Collins replaced Hochevar and — once again with a five-run lead — walked a batter. Walking a batter when you have a big lead drives managers — and reporters — crazy.
Eighth inning:The inning started with an error by Alcides Escobar. Carlos Santana hit a ground ball to Esky, and Alcides threw it over Hosmer’s head at first base. Santana made a slight move toward second, saw that the ball had caromed right back to Hosmer and tried to walk nonchalantly back to first.
Unfortunately for Santana, Getz was doing his job (backing up first), saw Santana’s move to second and had Hosmer tag the runner for the out.
Ninth inning: Aaron Crow came into finish the game, and with a five-run lead, he walked a hitter,Jack Hannahan, who was hitting .235 when the game began. A couple of strikeouts and a 4-3 ground out later, and the game was over. Royals win 8-3.
What Frenchy is fixing
Jeff Francoeur is taking some time off to make an adjustment. Frenchy has been “wrapping” his bat, and the Royals need to get it unwrapped. Here’s what that means. When a hitter strides, he takes his hands back. It’s the backward motion that precedes many forward motions in sports (pulling the arm back to throw a ball, pulling an arrow back before release, pulling the fist back before a punch). The backward motion stores energy and makes the forward motion more powerful.
When a hitter’s front foot sets down and his hands have been pulled back, he’s in ‘launch position,” ready to strike. The bat’s barrel should be above the hitter’s back shoulder. When Frenchy gets to his launch position, his bat is “wrapped” too far behind his head. The bat’s barrel is pointed almost back at the pitcher.
From that launch position, Jeff’s bat has a long way to travel to get to the ball. If you have a long trip, you tend to start early. Starting early means getting fooled. The hitter is committing to swing before he’s sure where the pitch will wind up.
According to Kevin Seitzer, the Royals’ hitting coach, Francoeur has had this problem throughout his career. He made some adjustments last season, but the problem is back. The Royals need to get this fixed. Before the game, Ned Yost said part of what’s gone wrong this season is that the team is not getting the power production it anticipated from Francoeur and Eric Hosmer. When Jeff is back in the lineup, check the bat position when his front foot hits down, and you’ll know how the fix is going.
Fraternizing on the bases
On the Royals’ last road trip, Alcides Escobar was caught on camera laughing with an opposing base-runner. That bugs old-school ballplayers. Nobody questions Escobar’s work ethic, and Ned Yost said it’s understandable that Latin players far from home, would want to visit. (Like Escobar, the base-runner was from Latin America.)
But, as Yost pointed out, there’s plenty of time to visit before and after games. Fans can see ballplayers subtly say “hello” to a friend on another team by tapping the other player with a bat or glove. It’s the baseball equivalent of “Hello, how are you?” and it looks better than hugging at second. Ned didn’t seem to think it was big deal, but he said the problem had been addressed.
If fans want to read fascinating account of baseball cultures clashing, try Warren Cromartie’s, “Slugging It Out in Japan.”
Gordon
Hochevar
Getz
Jim Fetterolf
9 months, 3 weeks agoA quality start and some timely hitting is a good combination.
Joel Kallem
9 months, 3 weeks agoRoyal hitters looked much more disciplined at the plate tonight than they have been this year, and good things happened. Especially nice to see it from Hos who has struggled with this all year. Now if we can just keep it up so we can chalk up one more item accomplished in the learning process for a young team.
Matthew Tiemeyer
9 months, 3 weeks agoHmm. I think we should define what “disciplined” means so that we’re talking about the same thing. Hosmer’s walk rate is up significantly from last year.
Lee, I’m glad that we’re recognizing the ways in which walks kill us. I wonder what your sense is about why the Royals are again last in the league in drawing walks on the offensive side (Hosmer’s improvement plus the efforts of Butler and Gordon notwithstanding). I know it’s not because the hitting coach doesn’t value plate discipline, because Seitzer was excellent.
Ed Connealy
9 months, 3 weeks agoNever seen an organization crush like the royals have for Frenchie…I know he’s got a 7.5M contract next year….but cmon! I’m sure once he stops wrapping his batt, he’ll stop being a below average player and we will forget all about Wil Meyers. I am sure he will start running up higher pitch counts, not get caught stealing bases, and improve his league worst fielding range as well.
Terry Payne
9 months, 3 weeks agoGlad to see Broxton go, really. He did save most of the games he appeared in, but he also gave me indigestion and stress.
Glad to see Holland get the closer job. His stuff is sometimes mindboggling good. Still hoping Soria comes back next year, though. We can use all the bullpen arms we can get, seeing how thin our starting pitching is, and probably will continue to be.
Thayne Griffin
9 months, 3 weeks agoOh. My. God. SMH. http://deadspin.com/5930727/?utmcampaign=socialflowdeadspintwitter&utmsource=deadspintwitter&utmmedium=socialflow
David Shaw
9 months, 3 weeks agoWhy does Escobar only attempt a bunt for a hit in the first inning after Gordon has either walked or singled?
Jim Wilson
9 months, 3 weeks agoGood question, David. When he does it so often it’s not much of a surprise.
Thayne, that’s an interesting article but clearly sensationalism abounds. Payroll taxes are payroll expense not really taxes. It takes people to do things and they won’t do them unless they get paid. Now what those people were doing is a good question.
Brian Grant
9 months, 3 weeks ago18,000 people went out and watched this team play last night?
Wow…..guess Royals fans do still have some heart.
(Sorry Lee, couldn’t resist :)
The Olympics are offering me a nice 2 week break from the Royals. I still read the box scores the next day, but I’m spared the agony of watching the games live for a fortnight.
Sean Fischbach
9 months, 3 weeks agoWow Lee you sure created some hate for yourself with that “heart” comment yesterday!
Brian Grant
9 months, 3 weeks agoI was only kidding.
I’m not one of the haters.
Joel Kallem
9 months, 3 weeks agoMatthew, by plate discipline I am referring to more than the number of walks drawn although that is one factor. It also includes laying off pitchers’ pitches early in the count where we end up hitting weak balls for outs and swinging at pitches clearly out of the strike zone. A good example of this not happening last night was Cain’s second at bat where he struck out swinging at three pitches that clearly weren’t close to the strike zone.
Blair Bieser
9 months, 3 weeks agoAny thoughts on Rodriguez not sending Dyson home on Gordon’s double in the bottom of the 8th? Dyson was running on the pitch, and it looked like he would have scored easily. I know conventional wisdom says hold the runner at third when there are none out, but the Indians pitcher Smith is a right-hander who throws side-arm and is really tough on right-handed batters, like the three we had coming up (Escobar, Cain, and Butler). As it turned out, Escobar grounded to third, Cain struck out, and Butler grounded to short, so Dyson was left at third.
Joel Kallem
9 months, 3 weeks agoJudgement call. If the game was tight, he might have made a different decision but given the score and the point it was in the game cannot blame him for playing “safe”. You can imagine the howls if he had sent him home and made the first out at home.
Matthew Sanders
9 months, 3 weeks agoDavid, I think Escobar bunts with Gordon on thinking “If I do this right, we have two on, if the bunt isn’t great, the runner still moves over”
The chances of a decent outcome are better than swinging away and it takes the double play out of the equation. To me, it’s the type of thought I want from my number 2 hitter.
Lee Judge
9 months, 3 weeks agoCouple things: Bunting for hit (on the left side) is going to be dictated by the third baseman’s position. If he’s back behind the bag and the man at the plate can run and get a bunt down, he can still do it even if the bunt isn’t a surprise.
I think Matthew’s got it right in terms of what Escobar was thinking.
I also think Joel is right on Eddie’s decision: two outs and Dyson doesn’t have to hold up and see if the ball drops and sending him home is a no-brainer.
But Blair’s point is worth considering: as we’ve talked about many times, “one size does not fit all.” Each night is different and the pitcher, runner and man on deck change the odds.
I didn’t think Eddie made a bad decision, but thought Ecobar may have: with Dyson on third, Esky went after a sinker down and in first pitch. He hit the ball to third which is just where that pitch is designed to be hit. Dyson held and Cain struck out.
Would’ve been nice to see Escobar wait for something out over the plate he could hit to the outfield. Of course, easy for me to say, I was sitting in the press box eating a soft pretzel at the time. Game looks pretty easy from up here.
John Miller
9 months, 3 weeks agoJim, going to have to disagree w/you a bit on the payroll taxes/expenses stuff. I’m no accountant (thank God for that), but if I’m right, payroll taxes are actually taxes paid to the government on employees’ salary. Unless you’re self-employed, the taxes taken from your check are not the sum total of the tax paid to the government on your salary. So if your gross salary is $50k/year, your employer actually pays some money on top of that to the gov’t. $50k/year self-employed can end up being less than $50k/year from an employer. Learned this one the hard way when working in a grant-funded position for a non-profit.
Allen Pippin
9 months, 3 weeks agohttp://network.yardbarker.com/mlb/articleexternal/reportroyalsusedtaxpayermoneyearmarkedforstadiumrepairstopayforotherteam_expenses/11345965
Jeff Frost
9 months, 3 weeks agoI hope I never get to see Seitzer’s work with Frenchy! His swing is long and he is NOT productive. We are better without him in there. I’d rather see Dyson up there making contact and see this lineup scoring than have Frenchy in there. Yes, he is a good guy, but this is MLB. I think it is time for the Royals to look to the future. Let’s get Myers up here and have Gordon, Cain, and Myers in the OF. Also, and I know you LOVE Getz, but let’s get Gio up here and give him a legit chance since we are out of it. Gio will never be a Gold Glove second basemen, of course we heard the same thing about Moose, but he can HIT! Dirtbag needs to be up here and given a chance. I think for the rest of the year we need to go 1. Gordon-LF, 2. Escobar-2B, 3. Cain-CF, 4. Butler-DH, 5. Moustakas- 3B, 6. Perez-C, 7. Myers-RF, 8. Hosmer-1B, 9. Giovatella-2B
I also still think that Frenchy, Yuni, and possibly Chen will be waiver trades, with the Royals eating half of Franceours’ salary.
2013 won’t be our year, but 2014 will, that is why we need to get Myers, Gio, Jeffress- finally!, and Odorizzi up here. Zimmer up here in 2013, along with Duffy and Paulino, along with Jack, worked back slowly next year.
Just my thoughts!
Curtis Ruder
9 months, 3 weeks agoI guess this is just further proof that old school guys are simply curmudgeons and should get over themselves.
I remember Reggie Jackson standing on third base playing for the Angels, and he and George Brett laughing their butts off during a pitching change. Nobody competed harder than Brett, and I always thought Jackson sucked, but he sucked his way to the Hall of Fame.
Old guys saying it was never like that when I was a kid are just too old to remember being a kid. As long as his head is in the game while the ball is in play, he can joke with whomever he wants.
Jim Wilson
9 months, 3 weeks agoThe snow was deeper, the hill was steeper, the rain was wetter and all of the players did things the “right way.” However, you’re never too old to remember being a kid. You have a choice. I’m getting old but not only do I remember being a kid, I still am a kid!