Games » Chicago White Sox
Aug6The eighth inning
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
The eighth inning started off with a Tony Abreu double. Ned Yost had decided that if Abreu singled, Chris Getz would bunt him to second base, but if Abreu doubled, he counted on Getz’s bat-handling skills to move Tony to third without giving up an out. Ned’s gamble paid off; Getz hit the ball to the right side of Abreu, singled up the middle and the Royals were in good shape, first and third, nobody out in a tie game.
Gordon was swinging away, got to two strikes, had to swing at an inside pitch and hit a soft line drive to Alexei Ramirez. One down, the runners held. The White Sox pitcher, Chris Sale, then attempted to pick off Getz at first, but the real point of the pickoff was to see if Alcides Escobar showed bunt. One down and a runner on third, late in a tie game, is a prime squeeze situation and the Sox wanted to know if anything was on.
Esky didn’t give the bunt away, so Sale pitched to Alcides and threw a fastball out of the zone. With the count 1-0, Ned Yost guessed that Sale wouldn’t want to fall further behind. That meant Esky would get a strike, so Ned put on the safety squeeze. Ned guessed right, Alcides got a fastball for a strike, but bunted it to the third-base side.
Paul Konerko was playing back, holding Getz, and Sale falls off toward third base. That meant the right side was wide open. The bunt being on the third base side meant that Sale was pulled to the line to field the ball just as Abreu tried to score. Sale picked up the ball and tagged Abreu. Lorenzo Cain took a hittable fastball on an 0-1 count, and the Royals’ best chance to win the game was over.
Suicide vs. safety
The suicide squeeze is more of a gamble than the safety squeeze: in the suicide, the runner sprints for home when the pitcher’s foot comes down. If the batter does not get the bunt down for any reason, the runner will be out. (Which is why it’s called a suicide.) It’s a bigger gamble to call the suicide, but in some ways it’s easier to execute.
In the safety squeeze, the bunter has to make a better bunt. In the suicide, if the batter gets the bunt down almost anywhere, the runner will be safe. In the safety, the runner has to make a judgment call about breaking for home (and Abreu may have made the wrong one). In the suicide, he just breaks when the pitcher’s foot comes down.
Some of what we’re seeing here is young players making mistakes, but the safety squeeze — even though it doesn’t seem as risky — can be a more difficult play to pull off.
Game notes
Jeff Francoeur lined out in the second inning, and Salvador Perez, on first base, was headed the wrong way. As I’ve written before, the Royals’ policy is for the runner to go back to the bag on a line drive, not freeze. If going back to the bag means the runner only advances one base, so be it — at least you stay out of the double play.
Alexei Ramirez got hit on the hand and spent a lot of time on the ground for a guy who then got up and went to first base. Ballplayers frown on making too much of getting hit unless you’re really hurt. And if you’re really hurt, you generally don’t get up and take your base.
In the third inning Chris Getz made a couple of those plays that make his teammates hold him in high regard. Getz laid out for John Danks’ single to right, but didn’t come up with it. That seems like a nothing play, but teammates appreciate the effort. It did not escape anyone’s notice that Yuniesky Betancourt often didn’t dive on the same type of ball. As Mike Moustakas said, if you don’t dive, you don’t know if you could have made the play.
(I originally gave Yuni the benefit of the doubt on this, but after talking to a few of his teammates, I changed my mind.)
The second play of the inning that Getz made was a 5-4-3 double play. Chris turned the DP by stepping into the runner. Some middle infielders decline to do this, delaying their throw by going sideways or backwards to avoid contact. Stepping into the runner risks injury, and Getz avoided that on this play by getting airborne immediately after the throw. The middle infielder may get flipped, but with no weight on his foot, won’t break a leg or blow out a knee.
In the fourth, Alex Gordon went to the opposite field on Sale (see the preview below), but got a bad jump on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. Alex did not break for second until Sale’s foot was almost all the way down.
Jeff Francoeur hit another opposite field home run, which is usually a good sign: it means the hitter is waiting, staying closed on the front side (shoulder not flying open) and has his weight back and behind the ball. Jeff also hit three more lines drives, one for a single to right. That makes Frenchy 4 for 12 with two home runs and a walk since his time off. Jeff was not happy to be benched, but admitted it may have been beneficial to get time off to work out some problems.
The Royals are last in home runs in the American league, but also last in strikeouts. The two are not unrelated. Hit the ball out in front and you’ll hit more home runs, but you’ll also get fooled more often.
As I mentioned at the beginning, Chris Sale falls off to third base side. Any time you see a pitcher fall off badly to one side or another, it’s an invitation to bunt. Chris Getz accepted that invitation and bunted for a single to the right side in the sixth.
Gordon Beckham homered on the first pitch in the ninth. Always watch the pitcher for any lack of aggressiveness after giving up home run. Mendoza walked Danks next. Youkilis lined the ball to right and Jeff Francoeur appeared to take a bad route to the ball. The outfielder wants to go to a spot deeper than the ball and come back to it whenever possible, but Frenchy appeared to take too shallow a route and the ball got past, allowing Danks to score.
Salvador Perez, usually so good at blocking pitches in the dirt, appeared to get caught in a bad position on Tim Collins’ wild pitch. On breaking balls, the Royals want their catchers to be very aggressive about moving forward and getting their bodies leaning forward, out over the ball. Breaking balls tend to bounce up, fastballs tend to bounce hard and low. Sal’s body stayed fairly upright and the ball hit him and bounced away.
Mendoza’s glove
When he’s taking signs from the catcher, Luis Mendoza holds his glove up and covers his face. After his last start I asked him if it helped him concentrate on the mound. Some pitchers try to visually block out everything but the catcher. Holding the glove up and wearing the hat low gives them a narrow view of the world — a world that includes the catcher, the catcher’s mitt and not much else. (Luis also thinks it looks cool.)
Chris Sale
(Before his last start in Kansas City, I asked some of the Royals what they thought about the Chicago pitcher.)
Ask hitters about Chris Sale and you hear talk about his arm angle; it gives him lots of movement and that makes it tough. According to Jarrod Dyson and Alex Gordon, lefties need to let the ball travel. That’s the only way to tell the difference between his fastball and slider. Letting the ball travel also means hitting the ball the other way.
Billy Butler suggested getting a fastball early — you don’t want to let Sale get to his off-speed stuff. Sale has lots of moving parts and that can get him into trouble. Guys with a classic, clean windup have an easier time throwing strikes, but may lack movement. Guys who are all over the place during their delivery often have lots of movement, but struggle with control.
Whatever approach hitters take, it must not work — Sale’s 13-3 and has a 2.59 ERA.
It may not mean anything
But here are Jose Mijares numbers for his last four relief appearances:
0.0 innings pitched — 1 earned run
0.0 innings pitched — 1 earned run
0.2 innings pitched — 0 earned runs
0.1 innings pitched — 2 earned runs
That’s a small sample size, but big ERA. After his last appearance, I asked Ned Yost if there was any concern about Mijares and he said a little bit, but that Jose might just be tired this deep into a long season.
Lee Judge and Doug sisson on shifting outfielders for each batter
Lee Judge visits with Royals coach Doug Sisson on how and why the outfielders move depending on the batter. 8/3/12 (Video by John Sleezer)
Mendoza
Francoeur
Abreu
Larry Tindle
10 months, 2 weeks agoMan, looking at that picture of Sales at the top of this page I see why pitchers have elbow trouble. Not sure we are made to twist like that. That’s pretty violent.
Brendan Woodbury
10 months, 2 weeks agoJust checking in from an Olympics-and-vacation hiatus from the Royals.
Glad to see Betancourt and Sisson gone (assuming Sisson was in charge of our historically bad baserunning). Confused to see Mijares gone, especially if we got nothing in return.
I was watching the U.S. Women’s National Team defeat Canada in extra time yesterday, and I was once again impressed with their resilience and determination. I know if must be a grind for the Royals players to suffer through another hopeless season, and I wonder which of them are able to put the setbacks aside and keep working to improve. I know Teaford and Hosmer have been tweeting with the USWNT, and I hope the women can teach them something about putting this season behind them.
Luke Healy
10 months, 2 weeks agothe eighth inning was terrible execution. i know that was a good pitcher up there on the mound but it is just unforgivable to have 1st and 3rd with no outs and not score a run. even a double play still gets you the lead. i think failing to execute there also picks the other team up and lets down your pitcher, making the runs in the bottom of the inning perhaps connected. if the royals are going to turn things around they need to be able to execute the small things—and after 4+ months of working on small ball they still aren’t getting it done. it was the top of the lineup too.
have the royals executed an effective safety squeeze this year? i seem to only recall the few times that it hasn’t worked out. is the coaching trying to tell the guy to bunt to the first base side? it seems like that should be a vitale part of the play if a running is supposed to be coming down the third base line.
Joel Kallem
10 months, 2 weeks agoI’m a big Esky fan, but agree with Luke that the bunt should have been to the right side. Esky seems to have fallen in love with bunting lately, but often does not make the best choices about when and where to put it. This may be a place where Getz can help him develop his game.
Larry Tindle
10 months, 2 weeks agoit is amazing that guys that can bunt for a hit have a terrible time sacrifice bunting. Getz had trouble during the past series. Popped out on Sac bunt. Esky seems pretty good at bunting down the third base line but struggles getting it to the right side. May be a good topic for Lee to explore. This was a safety squeeze. Runner probably should have held up.
Mike Joshi
10 months, 2 weeks agoI question why you are playing for one run when the Sox have two more at bats. This strategy makes sense if you are going for an insurance run but otherwise I don’t like it. Plus game was lost in bottom of inning not top. Curious Lee what you thought about bringing Mendoza out for 8th inning? In 7th he gave up home run to Konerko and pitched behind the count to every batter. Looked like he was finished and the way the 8th went he was.
Karen Kay Sisson
10 months, 2 weeks agoThanks for posting Doug’s last video!
Roger Gumerman
10 months, 2 weeks agoTough game but three observations :
Chris Getz is possibly the most underappreciated player on the team. The guy is a ballplayer, and reminds me of David Eckstein, in that he does more with less because he’s smart and can execute in the situation. Critical piece to a small ball team.
For all the “hopeless” season comments, this blog has made me stop using that term. The players are engaged, competing, and working on better execution.
Thanks to Doug Sisson. Obviously we’re not aware of the behind the scenes decisions, but for the purposes of the blog, I learned SO MUCH as a fan because of his videos. Changed the way I see the game and follow the Royals. Well done & good luck at your future team.
Jim Fetterolf
10 months, 2 weeks agoPlaying for one run made sense after the Royals’ best hitter limply lined out and before the #3 hitter K’ed on three pitches. Third base is where Royals’ rallies go to die. The call was good enough, the execution failed.
On Luis, I thought he would be done after the 7th, but his pitch count was still low, so he went back out. Just the breaks.
Aaron Cooper
10 months, 2 weeks agoBoy I sure am glad we had to wait until Yuni was cut and Yost/DM gave permission to criticize him before we get to hear a criticism of Yuni that many of us have been yelling about since his first day in a Royals uniform (the first time).
Maybe if we start listening to those who question such moves when they are made, instead of just telling them they aren’t “close enough to the dirt,” maybe we can actually start to hold this organization accountable for once in the past two decades.
Lee Judge
10 months, 2 weeks agoLuke: I watched the Royals work on the safety squeeze in spring training. There may be a situation where the bunt goes to the third base side, but what I saw was them working on going to the first base side and taking the pitcher away from the runner.
This is a young team and they make mistakes. But they need to learn from them and get better.
Mike: I didn’t have a huge problem with sending Mendoza back out. He gave up the homer in the seventh, but then went 1-2-3. His pitch count was low and he’d handled Viciedo and Beckham (combined 0-4 with two strikeouts) up to that point. I figured Collins would come in against Danks or Youkilis.
I also didn’t have a problem with playing for one in a tie game with six outs to go. Grab a lead and use whoever you have to out of the pen to get the final six outs.
The other option is only playing for one in the ninth, but if you like you’re pen, you can do it earlier and try to make it stand up.
Karen: No problem. I agree with Roger, Doug taught me a lot of baseball and allowed me to pass that knowledge on to fans.
Aaron: I didn’t say anything today that I haven’t said months, if not years ago. I wrote about Bentancourt not diving for ground balls weeks ago. In 2010 I talked about Yuni’s difficulties going to his left and why that was happening.
I also talked about lapses in concentration back then, but, despite talking about the flaws in his game, never thought Betancourt was as bad as many fans did.
Every player has pluses and minuses. I don’t find thinking about them in black and white terms to be especially useful.
Larry Tindle
10 months, 2 weeks agoThere was a lot of talk that we should have pursued Oswalt. Well on Sunday he was such a team player that he refused to pitch a third inning and even left the ball park before the game was over. I was wondering at the time why they didn’t bring him out for another inning, the way he had mowed us down. Lot of talk on xm radio today about it.
Karen: thanks for sharing Doug with us.
Jim Fetterolf
10 months, 2 weeks agoYeah, Larry, guess we should have listened to the people who wanted Oswalt and said Melky would regress to the mean. Turns out that for all the numbers on one hand and all the experience on the other, it’s just a coin flip when dealing with people.
Jim Fetterolf
10 months, 2 weeks agoNice piece on Oswalt and others. I guess we are not alone with under achievers and the occasional bad attitude:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/roy-oswalt-texas-rangers-bullpen-ron-washington-unhappy-situation-focus-on-big-problems-080612
Thayne Griffin
10 months, 2 weeks agoAbreu’s promotion sent Colon up to AAA. Probably the reason it wasn’t Falu or Gio.
Jim Fetterolf
10 months, 2 weeks agoThe team has a pretty good idea of what they have in Falu and Gio can’t play SS or 3rd.
Dan Holmes
10 months, 2 weeks agoWith Moustakas still recovering from injury and still not playing every day, they need somebody who can play 3rd. That’s not Johnny G, and having Getz as your backup 3B is not ideal.