Games » Texas Rangers
Sep4Jeremy Guthrie is good again
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
Jeremy Guthrie threw seven innings, gave up two walks, five hits and two runs. He settled in after the third inning and didn’t give up another hit the rest of the way. Guthrie registered a quality start and a win, his fourth.
When manager Ned Yost was asked what Guthrie had brought to the Royals’ pitching staff, he said “stability.” It still is a small sample size, but Guthrie is becoming a pitcher who makes you believe he will give his team a good start and a chance to win every five days.
I’m already looking forward to Sunday.
Game notes
• According to pitching coach Dave Eiland, one of the reasons Guthrie has been successful in Kansas City is the improved angle on his pitches. As I’ve mentioned before, Guthrie’s inward turn is hiding the ball and allowing him to get it out of the glove sooner. That means his arm has a chance to catch up to his body, release the ball farther out in front and throw downhill.
• Somewhere in that chain reaction, something went wrong in the first inning. Guthrie left a pitch up, and Elvis Andrus, the Rangers’ leadoff hitter, homered.
• In the bottom of the first, Alex Gordon singled with two out. He never advanced beyond first base. Billy Butler grounded out to short, and the inning was over. But Gordon’s hit did something besides pad his stats. It kept Texas’ Matt Harrison on the mound for five more pitches and two pickoff attempts. Guthrie threw 20 pitches in the first inning, and Gordon’s single let him stay in the dugout a few more minutes.
• In the top of the second, the Rangers’ Michael Young hit a ball to Alcides Escobar. Esky short-hopped the throw to first, and Butler couldn’t handle the hop. (Eric Hosmer was sitting out the game against the left-handed Harrison.) Royals fans have gotten so used to seeing Hosmer handle these hops with ease that it was kind of a shock to see one get away.
• Escobar erased the runner with a 6-3 double play. This throw hit Billy in the chest.
• With two outs, Guthrie issued one of his two walks to Geovany Soto. Mitch Moreland doubled and was thrown out trying to advance to third. It was dumb base-running if he wasn’t paying attention to how many outs there were and committed the sin of making the third out at third. It was smart base-running if he wasn’t sure Soto would score and drew the throw away from the plate.
I have never met Mitch, but at this level of baseball, I’d guess it was smart base-running. It put the Rangers up 2-0.
• In the bottom of the second with two runners in scoring position, Johnny Giavotella took a fastball for a called strike. Gio went on to see nine pitches and eventually struck out looking. I’ve already written about Johnny needing to jump on the first hittable pitch he sees, and I wondered whether the first pitch was a pitch he should have hit.
Johnny told me he had never faced Harrison before, and Harrison’s pitching motion had the ball on him before he was ready. As Gio pointed out, it might be a good pitch to hit if you’re looking for it, but if you’re not ready when you get it, it probably is best to let it go.
• In his third at-bat of the game, Johnny homered to the deepest part of the park. I guess he was ready for that pitch.
• In the third inning, the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler doubled, Elvis Andrus bunted him over and Josh Hamilton was at the plate. Yost had the infield in to cut the run off at the plate.
Playing in against Josh Hamilton can’t be too comfortable. Fortunately for the Royals’ infielders, Jeremy Guthrie and everybody else wearing blue, catcher Salvador Perez picked Kinsler off third.
• That allowed the infield to move back and, Hamilton eventually struck out. Once the Rangers lost the runner on third, Hamilton’s AB probably changed. He no longer needed just a fly ball to score a run. With two down and nobody on, a power hitter sometimes will “get big.” He will try to leave the yard or spilt a gap. A single probably means his team needs two more hits to score.
A hitter who tries to drive the ball out of the park usually is trying to hit the ball out in front. A hitter who tries to hit the ball out in front starts his swing sooner and is easier to fool with off-speed stuff.
• Hamilton struck out on a slider.
• The Royals scored two runs in the third. A key play in scoring the second run was Gordon hitting the ball to the right side, which moved Escobar to third and allowed Butler to drive Esky in with a sac fly. No ball to the right side, no run.
• In the fourth inning, Butler just flat missed a throw at first for an E-3.
• Gordon hit a home run on a 2-1 fastball. Any time a hitter is in a 2-0, 2-1, 3-0 or 3-1 count, check the radar reading on the scoreboard after the pitch is thrown. If it is 90 mph or faster, the hitter probably got a fastball and a helluva swing at a pitch he was expecting. (Unless the pitcher mixes it up in those counts. That’s what the good pitchers do.)
• Perez doubled and Butler scored from first. Billy has cost Perez some RBIs with his lack of speed and this time Billy got a run on the board — which is why everyone was giving him a hard time in the dugout afterward.
• Speaking of which, third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez had to make some close calls Tuesday night. Eddie sent Lorenzo Cain, Escobar and Butler home and got all the calls right.
• Jeff Francoeur had four at bats and hit three line drives. Two went for singles. One was caught by David Murphy.
• Frenchy made a mistake in the ninth. With Hamilton on first, Adrian Beltre singled to right. Hamilton went first to third, and Jeff tried to throw him out. After the game, I asked Francoeur about that, and Jeff admitted the throw needed to go to second to keep the double play in order. He just got excited about throwing out Josh Hamilton. Fortunately, the throw was low and hard enough that Beltre did not try to advance.
• Butler hit a grounder that ate up Beltre and was rewarded with a single. Apparently the clay used in the infield dirt gets hard when the weather gets hot, and right now the infield is hard and fast. Remember that when you think about range. Some infields are slow because the grass is high and the dirt is soft. Other infields are fast because the grass is low and the dirt is hard. Infielders playing on fast infields will get to fewer balls.
Charting pitches
A reader asked whether the next day’s starting pitcher still charts pitches, and the answer is yes. Whoever has the next day’s start fills out a chart and records every pitch: ball or strike, velocity, whether the batter swung and the result of that swing.
I asked Everett Teaford, Wednesday’s starter, about it. Teaford he said that he was charting Guthrie’s game, but in the big leagues it is done in the video room. In the minors, pitchers sit behind home plate and the requests for autographs can interrupt the work.
I also asked Everett if he found charting pitches useful, and he said not so much with Guthrie throwing. Jeremy is right-handed. Teaford throws from the left side. And their repertoires are fairly different. Charting a Bruce Chen start might be more useful, but Teaford still can study stances and hitting mechanics and might find something he can use.
It’s all your fault
First-base coach Rusty Kuntz and I continued our conversation about plays in which your opponent does something wrong and you’re the one who suffers. Rusty said that back in his playing days, he was in the outfield and Rick Dempsey was at the plate. A beach ball came on to the field, and they didn’t have ball girls or boys to come out and handle that.
So Rusty tried to get everyone’s attention, called time and jogged over to pick the ball up off the warning track. Unfortunately — for Rick Dempsey — no one had noticed Rusty had called time, and the pitcher delivered a pitch. Dempsey hit what should have been a two-run double to the gap, but Kuntz was there on the track to deal with a beach ball, looked up and made the catch.
Rusty said that to this day Dempsey will not let it go. Rusty made a mistake. His pitcher made a mistake. And Rick Dempsey suffered.
Grinding it out
It was the morning of a day game, and Alex Gordon and I were talking in the clubhouse. He asked me how I was doing, and I said I’m starting to count the remaining games. People involved in baseball have been at this at least since mid-February, and the finish line is now in sight.
I asked Gordo how hard it was to keep from mailing it in, just going through the motions as the team plays the string out. Alex said you just can’t do that. If you’re in the race, every play of every game is important. You don’t want to miss the playoffs by one game and have to think about the loss your team took back in June because you failed to back up a base.
And if your team is out of the race, every play of every game is still important. Miss hitting .300 by a couple of hits, and the at-bats you gave away back in August will haunt you. And if all you are doing is trying to hang on in the big leagues, every moment on the field counts. Alex, who is known as maybe the most mentally disciplined player on the Royals, said all you need is a good attitude.
Which means I’m screwed.
Royals Kevin Seitzer on walks and plate discipline with Lee Judge
Kansas City Royals hitting coach Kevin Seitzer visits with the Star's Lee Judge on walks and discipline at the plate. September 4, 2012 (Video by John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star
Guthrie
Gordon
Holland
Daniel Wesley
8 months, 2 weeks agoThe Royals have a golden opportunity staring them in the face. Guthrie isn’t anyone’s ace, but he’s an affordable, quality option for 2013 while waiting for Duffy, Paulino, and Co. to recover for the 2014 season.
If the Glass family does not offer Guthrie a fair market-value contract, there will be a very upset cadre of Royals fans, and the Glass family will have demonstrated that winning is not their highest priority.
William Wolfe
8 months, 2 weeks agoI’m not sure it was a shock to see Hos miss the hop…he ruined Guthrie’s no-hitter on an easy one hopper by flailing his glove at the ball a few starts ago. A minor point though.
I’d like to focus on Gio’s two at bats as perfect in-game evidence of why people cannot and should not call him a bust…yet. Folks like Jim F call him a bust every chance they get but he has 300 plate appearances in his career. Today, he wasn’t used to Harrison’s motion and it affected him—can’t we all remember the first time we hit off some weird thrower in little league? Then he got him with the next at bat. Sometimes it just takes time to figure things out, and the Royals have refused to give him enough time. He’s got the track record of hitting in the minors, I see no reason why he shouldn’t be given more of a chance to show what he’s got. Might he bust anyway? Of course he might. But good God, when our options were Yuni and Getz, I can’t believe people just throw Gio into the trashcan with a small sample and irregular playing time. Hell, Yuni and Getz have been below average for years and years and years (and still were this year). And don’t give me the defense argument…his hitting potential outweighs defensive shortcomings, and like Moose, he can learn to get better as well.
Larry Tindle
8 months, 2 weeks agoWilliam, just one point. Billy missed the hop, not Hozmer, last night.
Thayne Griffin
8 months, 2 weeks agoGio homers and Billy scores from first on a double. Are we sure we’re not dreaming? ;)
Daniel, agreed. HAVE to resign Guthrie. I wonder if we would consider putting Luke/Chen on waivers once the AAA playoffs are over and moving Odorizzi to the 40 man roster to get his feet wet.
Terry Payne
8 months, 2 weeks agoThayne - good point re one of the older vet pitchers go, and my preference would actually be Luke, due to his maddening inconsistency.
But don’t look for that to happen, b/c: a) They’ll take the off-season at this point to see if they could get anything in a trade; b) My understanding is Jake does not need to be added to the 40-man roster until next year.
Tim Bruggeman
8 months, 2 weeks agoAnd another thing every play of every game, even if you are out of the race, is you might be able to throw a wrench into the post-season plans of one of your rivals.
Toten Kopf
8 months, 2 weeks agoWilliam: Not going to disagree with you entirely about Gio…but Kila Ka’aihue had 283 ABs before we let him go, and he showed pretty quickly that even though he could rake in the minors he was - and still is - lost at the ML level.
Aaron Reese
8 months, 2 weeks agoLee, I listened to the game last night and Steve Physioc and Denny Matthews were prompted by Matt Harrison’s delivery to discuss how sped up deliveries were this year and it seemed that everyone was pitching quicker. As it related to your conversation with Sisson, I thought you’d want to know that someone else noticed too.
Also, did you ever speak to Eiland about Hochevar’s changeup?
Blair Bieser
8 months, 2 weeks agoThayne- In Monday’s game, Billy had an infield hit and he went first-to-third on a single. That’s what speed do!
Jeff Frost
8 months, 2 weeks agoMessage to Dayton Moore- please sign Jeremy Guthrie to a four-year $10 million contract. Thank you!
David Shaw
8 months, 2 weeks ago@ Toten, Kila was given up on so quickly because Hosmer was killing the ball in AAA and forced the Royals hand. Gio doesn’t really have anyone behind him (maybe Abreau). I’ve wanted Gio up all year. Maybe he’ll hit; maybe he won’t. But it sure would have been nice to figure out what we had well before 2013. I’m afraid spring training will start next year and 2B will still be a big question mark.
Tony Helfrich
8 months, 2 weeks agoToo many fans discount Hochevar’s value to the Royals—I’m referencing the comment that hopes he is put on waivers (and I’m sure there is a lot of that sentiment out there). At this point, the Royals are not overloaded with major-league ready starters—our season has made that obvious. There is enough sample size to suggest that Hochevar will never be the #1 or #2 that most fans hoped for. But, he stays off the disabled list and has a better record than the overall record for the team, which suggests that he more often than not allows the team to be successful. Yes, he gets blown up more than we would like to see and I believe that contributes to his ugly stat line, which gives the stat-heads a field day. But, if you look at the big picture, I see a pitcher that will deliver enough quality starts to merit being seen as a decent #3. And, his changed approach (trying to use less pitches) seems to have paid off in consistency—no pitcher is going to avoid being blown up some (see Verlander last week). The Royals are not in a position to let that go.
And, I agree I hope we sign Guthrie. His track record…and ability to stay off the disabled list…suggests that would be money well spent.
As to Gio, it feels like he is ready now. No cover for Yuni…will just leave it at that…but I think Getz has been overly disparaged by many fans. Getz was major league average—I think there was a poster many weeks ago that made a great argument for that and was not necessarily a Getz fan. That, at 2nd base, will not keep you from competing for a championship. Gio had every chance to win the job…and he didn’t. That wasn’t Getz’ fault—it was Gio’s. Frankly, he may have been better off being at AAA getting his game major league ready for his next chance…which is now. If Gio wins the job, Getz will be a very serviceable 2b for another team since he doesn’t work as a utility player.
Good and great teams have a few average players at some positions. We have the position players to be competitive. We need Hosmer to rebound and figure out RF. After that, it really just comes down to starting pitching. It doesn’t have to be loaded with #1s or #2s. We just need pitchers who can keep us in the game and not break the bank so we can’t keep this team together.
Daniel Wesley
8 months, 2 weeks agoTony, how can you think Hochever is a good pitcher when many metrics says otherwise?
If Luke were a salesman and his sales reports indicated he was selling poorly, would it be prudent for his employer to retain him and pay his expenses simply because he never called in sick, or because he was a nice guy who got along with everyone?
Terry Payne
8 months, 2 weeks agoI just wish Getzie could stay healthy enough for everyone to see his true value to the club, especially in moving baserunners and playing solid, heads up defense. Despite Gia’s homer last night, I don’t think he’s proved he can play defense well enough, or hit well enough to justify giving him the position. I say let them duke it out in the spring, let Gia have the spot the rest of this season. That should be enough of a sample to see who’s the best.
I’ve posted b/4 that we may be stuck with Hoch if we can’t pull a trade or develop any other starters. That doesn’t make him any less maddening.
Daniel Wesley
8 months, 2 weeks agoI don’t think we’re stuck with Luke. If Glass and Moore can follow through on their pledge to upgrade the rotation and get at least one new starting pitcher that leaves us with a potential rotation of:
(New Guy) Guthrie Chen Mendoza
… and let Teaford, Smith, Verdugo, and maybe Chris Dwyer battle for the 5th spot next spring.
Aaron Reese
8 months, 2 weeks agoHochevar is good enough to be a fifth starter on just about any team. Just don’t expect anything more from him. He will cost less than finding another pitcher on the free-agency market and it won’t deplete the Royals’ starting depth, which spelled doom for them this year.
Terry Payne
8 months, 2 weeks agoI don’t think the lack of starting depth doomed them this year. It seems to me that when Duffy and Paulino went down, they were replaced by Mendoza and SMith, who weren’t all that bad. The two bad stretches, April and July, were caused by a combination of poor starts from Hoch and Chen, and mediocre starts from Mendoza and Smith, plus a season long lack of productivity from Hosmer and Francouer. Not to mention in April being without a true #1 catcher.
Aaron Reese
8 months, 2 weeks agoMendoza has been pretty decent for the second half of the year; no argument here. He’s now a good 4th starter. But Will Smith has a higher ERA and lower gamescore average than Hochevar. Still, I think he’ll be a good fifth starter/spot-starter. Chen is a fifth starter. Mazzaro is a long-reliever at best. Teaford is a long-reliever. Adcock is a long-reliever. Jonathan Sanchez is the worst starting pitcher in the history of mankind. The Royals only had bottom of the rotation or out-of-the rotation guys to rely on after Duffy and Paulino were injured(both #3-upside guys). That’s the problem. without two starters, the Royals had basically no one that could carry them through. They’re ALL fine for the fifth spot (except Sanchez). That’s not something you want your team to have.
I don’t want to discount the shortcomings of Frenchy and Hos, or for that matter, the offense, but lack of depth for starting pitching was the primary contributor to the Royals being SO bad this year. Maybe our perspectives or expectations vary.
Joel Kallem
8 months, 2 weeks agoJeff, I agree we need to sign Guthrie, but I’ll be shocked if he only gets 10 million for four years. Think the Royals are looking at 20-30 million for four years at a minimum, and that’s if nobody else makes a strong play for him.
Terry Payne
8 months, 2 weeks agoMy point is that starting pitching overall has seemed like it’s been in a state of decline for years now (steroids or no steroids) and that EVERY team had rotation problems that drag it down. Even the Giants (Lincecum has suddenly become mediocre, at best, and Barry Zito has been, well Barry Zito).
So I think we should not expect our starting pitching to improve THAT much in the near future. Thankfully, the bullpen has been, by and large, outstanding.
The offense is going to have to improve if the team is expecting to improve. To me, that means fewer strikeout, more walks. I don’t see Moose doing anything but getting better, offensively (defense is superior), Alex has clearly established himself as a fine hitter (and should improve), Hosmer WILL bust out, and Myers may prove himself worthy of all the attention he’s been getting.
Esky is a very fine 2-hitter. Billy will, as Ned puts it, hit in his sleep. Salvy will be a very good hitter, with power to all fields.
I think offensively, the big questions will be, other than Myers, who will claim CF and bat leadoff, and what will happen to Francouer.
Don’t expect too much from the rotation, and you won’t be disappointed.
Thayne Griffin
8 months, 2 weeks agoLee, great video. It has to be extremely hard to do the opposite of what you’ve been told - meaning swinging and missing on purpose instead of making contact.
Lee Judge
8 months, 2 weeks agoThayne: Thanks. I thought the videos with Seitzer were really interesting, which is why I’ve been encouraging people to watch them.
Jeff Frost
8 months, 2 weeks agoJoel- I was talking $10 million per year, or a $40 million contract. Probably the going rate for a pitcher of his caliber. I knew there is no way that he would sign for $2.5 million!