Games » Detroit Tigers
Aug30Slow runners make for great plays
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
What’s the first thing you need to turn a great play on the infield? Probably a slow runner. If an infielder makes a diving stop, pops up and throws the runner out at first, the runner isn’t likely to be Jarrod Dyson or anyone else with his kind of speed. Lucky for the Royals, the man coming down the first base line Thursday night was Miguel Cabrera.
Here’s what happened: Jeremy Guthrie threw eight innings, gave up one run and no walks. He worked quickly and kept his pitch count low. The Royals took a 2-1 lead into the ninth. Because Greg Holland wasn’t available — he’d pitched two days in a row — Kelvin Herrera was filling the closer’s role. Kelvin admitted to being over-amped and as a result walked the first hitter, Alex Avila, on four pitches. Next, Austin Jackson hit a line drive into center field, and this time Lorenzo Cain made a diving catch to save a ball game. (Wednesday night it was Dyson.) Andy Dirks hit another single and suddenly the tying run was on second, the winning run was on first and one of the best hitters in the American League, Miguel Cabrera, was at the plate.
Cabrera hit the first pitch he saw — a 101-mph fastball — to second baseman Johnny Giavotella. Gio fed the ball to shortstop Alcides Escobar covering second base for the second out, but Dirks was right on top of Esky. Alcides couldn’t make the throw with Dirks under foot, so he jumped over him, landed on the other side and then made the throw.
On more time; he jumped over a runner, landed on the other side and then completed a game-ending double play!
And the most important guy in that highlight-reel play was Miguel Cabrera. Slow runners make for great plays.
Chris Getz
Chris was in the clubhouse after the game — he’s been coming to all the home games — and we talked about slow runners and great plays. Chris said any time there’s a highlight play on the infield, the runner is probably going to be a DH or corner guy. Chris wasn’t saying great infield plays are never made on fast guys, but most great infield plays require time to develop.
Game notes
In the 4th inning, Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer combined on another highlight reel infield play. The Royals were playing left-handed Brennan Boesch to pull and instead, Boesch hit the ball the other way. Mike was well off the line and had to dive to keep the ball on the infield. Moose fired the ball to Hosmer. A first baseman one inch shorter might not make the play. Eric stretched to his full height and kept the tip of one toe on the bag.
Infielders like to throw to big first baseman. The bigger the target, the easier the throw. Aim the throw at the first baseman’s head, miss by three or four feet and by stretching and footwork the first baseman can still get to the ball. Infielders don’t have to think about putting the throw in the money when they’re throwing the ball to a guy who has as much size and agility as Hosmer.
In the bottom of the fourth Billy Butler pulled a Rick Porcello 83-mph changeup into the crowd down the left field line. Porcello then went hard away. A 93-mph fastball and Billy lined that pitch to right. Ten miles an hour difference, one in, one away and Billy was right on both pitches. That’s hard to do.
Salvador Perez was hit with an E2 when he missed Gerald Laird’s pop up over by the first base dugout. If you’re a regular reader you may already know this, but pop ups curve as they come down and they curve back toward the mound. That’s why they want a corner infielder catching those whenever possible: the ball is curving toward them and away from the catcher.
Mike Moustakas doubled again and is now 5 for 12 since he told me he thought he’d figured out the flaw in his swing.
Jeff Francoeur snapped an 0 for 19 slump with a line drive single up the middle in the 5th inning. The fact that he’s still playing drives some people crazy, but the Royals owe him $6.75 million next year. They’ve said they’re not going to eat his salary or trade him for little in return and that would seem to mean they need Jeff to figure things out and get back to his 2011 approach.
Francoeur was asked if he took a bad route on the Prince Fielder ball that got past him for a double. Jeff said he thought he was where he needed to be and expected the ball to hook toward him. (Line drives hook toward the foul lines and outfielders have to take that into account as they run their routes.) Francoeur said the ball sliced away from him and he’d never seen that happen off a left-hander’s bat.
In the 6th inning Alex Gordon homered, Billy Butler doubled and Salvador Perez hit a line drive up the middle. One right after the other. Rick Porcello was also approaching 100 pitches. One of the rules for a pitching change I learned from Clint Hurdle goes like this: three line drives in a row is not an accident, especially after the fifth inning.
Jim Leyland must have the same rule book, because after Sal’s line drive single, the Detroit skipper took his starter out of the game.
Jeremy Guthrie came out to start the 8th inning with the score 2-0, Royals. Guthrie was at 90 pitches and about to face the top of the order for the fourth time. Guthrie got Miguel Cabrera, then gave up singles to Prince Fielder and Delmon Young. Ned Yost said he wasn’t going to let Guthrie lose the game, so when the winning run came to the plate, Ned went to the pen.
In case you were wondering
If you were watching the game on TV Wednesday night you might have seen a shot of the bullpen that showed several Royals relievers with the bottom of the pant legs pulled down over their shoes. Just in case you wondered what the heck that was about: the new look that many players prefer is long pants with loose, floppy bottoms.
The players achieve that look by pulling the bottom of their pants up over their thighs (usually done only in the club house) or pulling the pants down over their shoes. Either one stretches the bottom of the pant leg.
One of the first things I learned from professional ballplayers is the importance of looking good. If you’re in a slump looking good might make someone think you’re about to come out of it.
Speaking of relievers, I stopped by Everett Teaford’s locker to ask how he keeps ready when he hasn’t thrown in a while. (His last appearance was Aug. 25.) If Teaford throws to stay sharp, he’ll throw during the day. If he does it during the game Teaf says he won’t really concentrate, he’ll be distracted by what’s happening on the field.
Everett’s the long reliever, but said he’s been told he might come in to face a lefty if the situation calls for it. I wanted to know how aware he was of what was happening on the field while he was warming up and he said it depends. If he’s starting an inning, bullpen coach Steve Foster will tell him the three batters due up. If he’s being brought in to face a particular batter, he’ll be told to be ready by the time that hitter comes to the plate.
Teaford also said the more information he has about how he will be used, the better. It helps to know how quickly he needs to get hot.
Quality starts
A while back we had the discussion about a rotation of five #3 starters, and what that would mean. True #1s are hard to come by and expensive if you do. I wondered what the Royals record was when they got a quality start (3 earned runs or less in six innings or more) and David Holtzman, Royals Director of Media Relations, came up with the numbers.
Before Thursday night’s game, the 2012 Royals have had 53 quality starts and are 38 and 15 in those games (72%). For comparison Holtzman looked up the White Sox and found they have had 73 quality starts and are 51-22 in those games (70%).
Guthrie
Gordon
Hosmer
Tim Bruggeman
9 months, 3 weeks agoI like the long pants look. Does that make me a non-purist?
The Royals have to finish 22-10 over the last 32 games to finish at .500 for the season. Possible? Yes. Probable? Doubtful.
More likely they play .500 ball over the next 32 games and finish 75-87 for a .463 winnig average.
Not horrible, considering their start.
I’d love to see the Royals play the role of ‘spoiler’ for the rest of the season. Sweeping Detroit is a good start on that front.
Thayne Griffin
9 months, 3 weeks agoCan’t believe a team IBB walks Frenchy. I know it only happened maybe a week ago (twice) as well, but why IBB arguably the worst hitter on a team. Granted, it worked out, but I feel like IBB the worst hitter is a terrible move.
Jeff Frost
9 months, 3 weeks agoInteresting fact! From April through July, Royals starting pitchers had 14 games where they pitched 7+ innings. In all of August they had 13! Pretty simple- good pitching equals victories!
Daniel Wesley
9 months, 3 weeks agoYou would think a businessman like David Glass would understand that sunk costs exist in baseball as well as in retail.
Eric Akers
9 months, 3 weeks agoIf we plan to move on from Francoeur to Wil Myers, then it would seem to me that having somebody even just picking up his contract would be a benefit. That $6 million could open up more money for a top starting pitcher. So why are the Royals adamant about getting something in return for him? He isn’t cheap and he has had a terrible year. If we could manage to trade him, we can not get anything of value in return unless we basically pay his entire salary.
zack_delmont
9 months, 3 weeks agoEric…I think it would be a poor tactical move for Dayton to diminish any value Frenchy has by saying KC would be willing to eat salary at this point. Dayton may very well be prepared to do so, but why show any cards at this point? Who are we? Phone conversations with other GMs may sound different. If Frenchy is moved, I doubt that Dayton is counting on much in return. Rather, he wants to eat as little salary as possible. This way there is more to spend on pitching. Then again, maybe KC will have Frenchy in RF next year. I am a big fan of him; however, Gordon, Dyson, Cain is (more) palatable, too. When Myers comes up, he has to be READY….and, I mean, Mike Trout ready. Not like Gordon and Butler were (not) ready when they came up.
Terry Payne
9 months, 3 weeks agoAssuming Myers is ready to play regularly next spring (doubtful from what I’m hearing/reading) and nothing significant can be had for Frenchie, Cain, or Dyson, then who makes the best 4th outfielder of those last three?
Luke Healy
9 months, 3 weeks agoI don’t mind Francoeur playing against lefties. Of course Porcello is a righty so that doesn’t explain this game. He has a big salary (which many would say was a mistake in the first place), but it doesn’t make sense for the Royals to call up Myers now. Let Frenchy platoon and if he figures something out and gets back on track then you still may be able to salvage something from that cost. It could be a sunk cost, but at this point the Royals don’t have much to lose by playing him and have a bit to gain.
This was a good win—great defense really picked them up a lot. Still would have liked to see the Royals get more than one run out of having the bases loaded with no outs. I don’t think this is the first time Cain has struck out with someone on third and one out. But he made up for it with his defense this game.
Daniel Wesley
9 months, 3 weeks agoI really like Frenchy as a person. Great personality, appreciates the fans, always gives the impression that he’s trying hard.
However, he’s just not good enough to keep over Wil Myers next year. His 2011 season was only the 3rd time in his 8 year career he was an above average player. He continually demonstrates poor strike zone judgement and he’s lost several steps in the field which nullifies his arm. His contact and power numbers have both significantly dropped this year.
I’m not keen on hoping he can rebound next year.
Terry Payne
9 months, 3 weeks agoA lot of us are assuming Wil Myers will be the Chosen One. He has yet to SEE MLB pitching consistently, yet alone prove he can hit it.
I have a question re: the waiver wire: Is there a limit to the number of your players that you can place on it, and/or the number of their players you can claim?
Brendan Woodbury
9 months, 3 weeks agoTerry -
There’s no limit on waiver wire claims although teams do have to deal with finding space on the 25-man and 40-man rosters if the claim goes through.
Wil Myers doesn’t have to be the chosen one to be a significant upgrade from Francoeur. Mitch Maier would be a significant upgrade at this point.
Brendan Woodbury
9 months, 3 weeks agoMoore made a big mistake in giving Francoeur a multi-year contract and he made a big mistake in giving Francoeur so much money. However, that’s in the past, and there’s nothing that can be done about that now.
Continuing to play Francoeur against RHPs is a new mistake. There is no chance that Francoeur is going to have trade value as anything other than a platoon bat. Putting him in the lineup against righties hurts the Royals’ chances of winning and provides no benefit. It’s just dumb.
Whether it’s Dyson, Falu, Abreu or Hosmer, somebody else should be playing RF when the Royals go against RHPs for the rest of the time Francoeur is on the roster. Anything else is just throwing good money after bad.
Josh Cooper
9 months, 3 weeks agoAnd whose fault is it that Myers hasn’t seen MLB pitching? He should have been up directly after the All-Star game.
Brendan Woodbury
9 months, 3 weeks agoZack -
When you say “Mike Trout ready,” did you mean hitting .220/.281/.390 like Trout did over 40 games last year as a rookie? Or did you mean to set unreasonable expectations for Myers?
Terry Payne
9 months, 3 weeks agoB Dub - thx for the waiver info, and I agree re: Mitch Maier. If only Mitch could have hit more when he DID play.
I think the Frenchie contract made sense in 2011, and I was really glad they did it, at that time. Who knew the guy was going to re-tank?
I’m afraid we’re stuck with the French man. If only he wasn’t so dadgum likeable. Unless somebody falls in love with Cain’s upside, Dyson’s speed, or Myers’ power potential, I agree we’re looking at a platoon situation next year. Unless, of course, the Chosen One actually becomes the Chosen One.
Josh Cooper
9 months, 3 weeks agoHe doesn’t need to be the Chosen One. He could be, you know, league average his rookie year, and being a league average RF would smash Frenchy’s numbers.
I get what will probably happen is what you’re saying, Terry. But what SHOULD happen is entirely different.
Terry Payne
9 months, 3 weeks agoJosh - Nothing would make me happier than if the Chosen One actually IS the Chosen One.
But look what happened with Eric Hosmer. He was hyped as the Chosen One, had a vy good rookie year, and then a below average sophomore season. Now some want to ride him out of town.
Baseball IS a game of adjustments, as Lee has enlightened us, so let’s lower our expectations and see what happens, long-term, with Hos, Mous, and Myers.
We unfortunate long-term, and even recent, KC Royals fans are so starved for competitive baseball we are willing to believe the next Second Baseman is really the Second Coming.
The older I get the more I am able to sit back, enjoy the good stuff (recent Tiger series), bitch about the bad stuff, but be grateful for such a satisfying game.
Eric Akers
9 months, 3 weeks agoZack,
I usually take into account GM speak when dealing with trades. But I was thinking that Francoeur should have been put on waivers and allowed to be claimed by the Giants (or whomever). But as far as I can tell, he was never even placed on waivers. I don’t know that he would have been claimed, but give it a shot.
Eric Akers
9 months, 3 weeks agoI can see having Francoeur as the 4th outfielder and Dyson as the backup CF / pinch runner. We carried 5 outfielder this year for a while. The only downside is that Dyson would not get much time to improve his bat.
Or platoon Dyson/Francoeur with Cain shifting to right on Dyson’s days.
Larry Tindle
9 months, 3 weeks agoJust looked at our schedule and we play Chicago and Detroit 10 of our last 16 games. Guess we will have a say in who wins division.
Eric, good chance Frenchie was on waivers and no one claimed him. Not many teams out there that need a 4 outfielder that are in contention.
Josh Cooper
9 months, 3 weeks agoAnyone that wants to run Hosmer out of town is an idiot.
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoPlease, blue guys, do not let down against lesser competition, as is your wont.
Keep up the momentum and pound those Twin City dudes!
Lee Judge
9 months, 2 weeks agoI’ve been out at the stadium since 3PM watching the rain soak the field. The game’s been postponed, two tomorrow. First game at 3:10.
Gaines Arnold
9 months, 2 weeks agoLove double headers. Sorry this one had to rain out though because the odds are against winning two on the same day. And, the last time the Royals played a DH against the Twins they lost them both.
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoI’m so blamed old, I can remember the days when teams actually SCHEDULED double headers.
And I’m so blamed old, I can remember the days when teams could afford to have an extra outfielder who was more valued for his versatility and his defense than how many homers he hit. I’m talking lunchbox guys like Mitch Maier and Jim Wohlford. Nowadays, by gum, every stick coming off the bench had better have hit 20-30 hrs last year for the Yankees or Red Sawx.
I love this post, b/c I can be like Dennis Miller. I rant, therefore I am.
Daniel Wesley
9 months, 2 weeks agoHRs = Runs = Wins
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoDaniel, please explain (slowly) to an old idiot like me, how the Royals teams of the mid-to-late 70’s were so successful despite having little power. I mean, I think their best power season was by Al Cowens, how hit all of 26 homers in, I believe, 1977.
Please, I’m keen to know.
And if Jose Bautista of the B Jays keeps leading the league in HRs, year after year, why is it that his team keeps staying in the slumlord portion of his division.
Enlighten me, please.
Curtis Ruder
9 months, 2 weeks agoThe thing about Myers at this point is that he does not to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid the rule 5 draft. Bringing him up now or at the all-star break would mean creating a roster headache this off-season, for relatively little benefit.
I think he still goes into the 2013 spring training with the right field job his to lose. But at least then we will have had another month of regular season games, and a full spring training to evaluate who has to come off the 40 man roster so as to make a better choice.
I don’t care how good a guy Frenchy is; he simply isn’t good enough at baseball to be an everyday corner outfielder in the major leagues. That being said, he did have a phenomenal at bat last night to set up a potential big inning. So kudos for that.
Daniel Wesley
9 months, 2 weeks agoTerry, I’m surprised you’re forgetting big John Mayberry.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that the best Royals team ever - the 1977 team - had a good power year, ending the season 6th in baseball in Home Runs?
Re: Jose Bautista, the goal isn’t to have the best home run hitter on your team, it’s to be among the best home run hitting teams. The aggregate is all-powerful.
Thayne Griffin
9 months, 2 weeks agoThey are second in home runs with 170 according to espn when I made this post…only 10th in runs..
Daniel Wesley
9 months, 2 weeks agoThayne, the Blue Jays are 6th in runs, not 10th.
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoSeamheads, and rumours of Seamheads . . .
The thing we all tend to gloss over with regard to Frenchy is the role he has played with the young players on this team over the past couple of years. He had a great year last year and was instrumental in developing a camaraderie among the players. This year, he has demonstrated to those same young guys that you don’t have to pout and make excuses when things don’t go well. Even though he is having a bad year (and is completely out of whack at the plate physically and mentally), he keeps smiling and working hard to correct things. That is possibly worth a heck of a lot more over the long-term than had he been having another good year like 2011.
Don DeCelles
9 months, 2 weeks agoLee, I’m not sure why my comment posted anonymously…guess this site has a quirk. Here it is in case the site monitor deletes the original comment.
The thing we all tend to gloss over with regard to Frenchy is the role he has played with the young players on this team over the past couple of years. He had a great year last year and was instrumental in developing a camaraderie among the players. This year, he has demonstrated to those same young guys that you don’t have to pout and make excuses when things don’t go well. Even though he is having a bad year (and is completely out of whack at the plate physically and mentally), he keeps smiling and working hard to correct things. That is possibly worth a heck of a lot more over the long-term than had he been having another good year like 2011.
Daniel Wesley
9 months, 2 weeks agoDon, being a ‘good guy’ in the clubhouse doesn’t matter if you’re hurting the team costing wins with your lack of performance.
Joel Kallem
9 months, 2 weeks agoDaniel, have to disagree with you. Performance and being a good guy are most desirable, but don’t completely dismiss the good guy part. Teams are quirky things (as are people), and it takes all kinds of non-statistical based factors for one to function correctly.
Also, as pointed out by Eric (and Lee many times) earlier, we don’t always know what is going on behind the scenes. People’s assumptions about what the general manager, owner, etc. are doing and saying are not always correct, and often reflect our own biases more than reality.
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoWherever he lands, perhaps the French Heart can return to this city one day and become one of those princes who speaks well of his former realm and who welcomes all from across his past princedom to rejoice with him in this new, glorious, Royals kingdom.
So there.
Lee Judge
9 months, 2 weeks agoToday’s plan: I’ll post something after game one, but with only a brief break I’ll probably wait to talk about what happened during the first game until after the second game’s over. But there will be something new to read after the first game is finished.
And everything is subject to change, depending on the weather. Keep checking in—I can use the page hits—as the day goes along and I’ll post any updates here in the comments section.
P.S. These numbers are from last night, but Toronto is tied for second in the American League home run category and is 12 games under .500. Tampa Bay is 10th in home runs and 11 games over.
Basically, there’s more than one to skin a cat (and whoever thought of that expression needs therapy). Fixating on one statistic and saying that’s the one that matters is usually a bit simplistic.
I’ve been out here for almost three years now hearing stuff I can repeat and a lot of stuff I can’t. Bottom line: everything’s more complicated than we tend to think.
Don DeCelles
9 months, 2 weeks agoI understand your point Daniel, but what I am saying is we should not forget that this year has been a developmental year and Frenchy has had a nice hand in helping to develop these talented, but still fragile young psyche’s. Also, anyone that has followed this team closely (as most that visit this column are) hitting and defense have not been the issue this year even though both Hosmer and Frenchy have been sitting in Clint’s chair all year. Pitching has failed us again. In fact, I think this team’s record would have been just about the same as it is now even if Frenchy had hit the way he did in 2011.
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoWe are all (OK, most of us) brokenhearted that the French person has not had the same season last year, this year. I sez, cut a deal with him to be one-day ambassador-broadcaster, in exchange for setting him adrift, now.
Lee Judge
9 months, 2 weeks agoThey just announced a 3:30 start for game one. The plan is to have a 30 minute break between the two games.
Jim Wilson
9 months, 2 weeks agoLee, you’re mixing apples and strawberries. You are attempting to show that home runs don’t correlate to wins. And you are correct — there are three phases to the game (pitching, defense and offense) and you have left out two of them. The correlation, if any, is home runs to total runs scored. A team can hit a lot of home runs, have aweful pitching and not win much or vis-versa. Your statement regarding having a pitching rotation of five #3 starters and the number of quality starts (and win percentage) of the Royals and White Sox also made no sense. The stuff you write is great! Please stick to that!
Jim Wilson
9 months, 2 weeks agoAnd Frenchy should not be developing our young players. He has incredibly poor plate discipline, does not appear to be very coachable, is abysmal on the bases and presses when the team is losing or he’s struggling. I do not want our young players picking up any habits from Frenchy (other than being a nice guy).
Thayne Griffin
9 months, 2 weeks agoDaniel, I take into account both leagues….they are now 11th in runs.
I agree with Jim W. Gotta have more than one phase to win a game.
Jim W., I think Lee’s comment was aimed at Daniel’s “HRs = Runs = Wins”
Lee Judge
9 months, 2 weeks agoJim: The home run comment was aimed at a previous post (“Homeruns = runs = wins”) in the comment thread. I’m actually making the same point you are: there’s more to the game than home runs.
The post about quality starts points out when the Royals even get decent pitching they have a winning record.(One of the criticisms of that stat is a pitcher can have a 4.50 ERA for the day and still be credited with a “quality start”).
To me that indicates the team isn’t that far away from being decent and you can do it with pitchers who aren’t true number ones, but pitch well enough to keep you in ballgames.
Although, everyone I’ve talked to who thinks a staff of number threes might possibly get you to the playoffs, also think a staff of number threes won’t get you very deep in the playoffs.
Gotta go, they’re playing baseball.
Josh Cooper
9 months, 2 weeks agoThere are more ways to win than the HR. Yes, we can all agree on that, but we can also agree that the HR is a great tool to have. It’s like saying:
Good pitching = Less runs for the opponent = wins
That’s true, too, but you can argue that there are other ways to win like outscoring your opponent with big hits. It’s weird that people are saying we don’t need HR’s to win because sure, we don’t, but it sure would help out a lot. Same with good pitching.
Thayne Griffin
9 months, 2 weeks agoI think the point was it takes more than one phase to win a game..
For me, I realize there isn’t too much power on our team so we have to find other ways to win right now. But yes, it would be helpful if we could hit more HRs.
I didn’t see anyone say we don’t need HRs to win. I was just stating that it’s not the end all be all like it seemed Daniel had implied with his statement (using Toronto as an example).
Terry Payne
9 months, 2 weeks agoYou have to play with the tools the baseball gawds have given you. For whatever reasons (go ahead seamheads, list them), they have decided not to bless the Royals with power. Personally, and oldsoully, I have grown accustomed to it. I always thought baseball was meant to be played on airport runways, rather than airport locker rooms.
Don DeCelles
9 months, 2 weeks agoTerry, this team is comprised of a bunch of young 22-25 year old kids that will eventually hit more than their share of homeruns. George Brett did not hit a lot of homeruns when he was the age of the nucleus of this team. It would not surprise me to see several the current roster players being 20-25 homerun guys in the next couple of years.