Games: Chicago White Sox, Sept. 20: Judging the Royals with Lee Judge

Games » Chicago White Sox

Sep20

Bottom of the 9th

It was the bottom of the ninth, the game was tied 3-3 and Billy Butler had just come up with another big hit.

Jarrod Dyson came in to pinch run for Billy and everybody in the park knew why: Dyson was there to steal second base. Chicago White Sox reliever Jesse Crain used the entire bag of tricks pitchers have to stop base stealers: Crain threw over to first, held the ball in the stretch position and when he went home, went home quickly.

With nobody out and Salvador Perez at the plate, Crain attempted to pick off Dyson twice. Jarrod just barely got back to first. Crain finally delivered a pitch to the plate and got a called strike. He then attempted two more pickoffs, delivered another pitch to the plate and got another called strike. After the game Jarrod said he wanted to see Crain’s move, but now Dyson couldn’t go — not with an 0-2 count.

Ahead in the count, the White Sox had the luxury of pitching out if they chose to. Even though Dyson can sometimes still steal a base when the opposition pitches out, Crain was so quick to the plate — 1.1 seconds — it made success debatable.

The count moved to 1-2, Crain attempted his fifth pickoff, then delivered the ball home and Dyson took off for second. But Perez flew out to right and Jarrod had to scamper back to first. Then, with Mike Moustakas at the plate, the base-running battle began again. Another pickoff attempt, two balls followed by two strikes, another pickoff attempt and then Dyson took off with the count 2-2.

Moustakas fouled the ball off, Dyson returned to first and Crain once again tried to pick Jarrod off. Mike struck out on the next pitch. There were now two down and Jarrod was still on first base. Dyson was in the game to steal second and so far it hadn’t happened. Crain delivered his first pitch to Jeff Francoeur and Dyson was gone. The play was close at second, but Kansas City now had the winning run in scoring position with one more out to go.

Anytime you open up first base with a steal or a sacrifice bunt, you give the defense an option. With first base open, they can work around a hitter if they choose to. Coming into the series Francoeur was 4 for 9 against Crain. Hosmer — the on-deck hitter — was 1 for 9 against left-handed reliever Matt Thornton. Sox manager Robin Ventura chose to walk Francoeur and bring in Thornton to face Hosmer.

While all this was going on, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer went over Thorton’s pitch arsenal with Hosmer. Eric took a slider for strike one, fouled a fastball back for strike two and then with the game on the line and extra innings looming, took a two-strike approach, shortened up his swing and shot the 0-2 pitch down the left field line for a single. Dyson, who had done all that work to get to in scoring position, scored.

The Royals won 4-3.

Game notes

In the clubhouse after the game, Jeremy Guthrie said he never settled in and each pitch was a struggle. In some ways, that’s impressive. When a pitcher has his best stuff, getting good results is easier. When a pitcher is scuffling, hanging in for six innings and giving up only one earned run is an accomplishment.
In the 1st inning the Royals put on a left-handed pull hitter shift and Adam Dunn hit the ball the other way for a single. You could say Dunn beat the shift, but you could also say the Royals forced a guy with 39 home runs and 90 RBIs to accept a single to left.
In the 2nd Guthrie issued a leadoff walk and then got Alexei Ramirez to hit a weak grounder to third. Mike Moustakas threw wide of first base and Eric Hosmer showed good judgment in leaving the bag to keep the ball on the infield. Unless an infield single will win the game, the ball is always more important than the bag.
With two on and nobody down, the Sox decided to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Since the bunt was in his direction, third baseman Mike Moustakas had to decide whether he needed to come in to field the ball or retreat to third and cover the bag. Mike made the right call, Guthrie got to the ball in time to force the lead runner at third, but bobbled the ball, rushed his throw to first and wound up with an E1.
With Alex Rios on third base in the 3rd inning, Salvador Perez turned what could have been a passed ball into an outstanding play. The ball got past Salvy, but he got a handle on it and shoveled it to Guthrie, who tagged out Rios when he tried to score from third.
Several things came together for Salvador Perez when he picked Alexei Ramirez off third base: there was one down, so the Sox probably had the “contact play” on (the runner on third breaks for home on contact). That meant Ramirez was fighting for a good lead off third. The other thing Salvy had in his favor was the left-handed hitter at the plate. That meant a clear throwing lane to third base.
Runners on third are taught to take their lead in foul territory (that means they won’t be out if hit by a batted ball) and return to the bag in fair territory (that gives them a chance to block a pickoff throw with their body). Runners are taught to run at the fielder’s glove in hopes of having the throw hit them in the back. Ramirez dove back to the bag in foul territory and avoided getting hit by the throw, but paid the price.
Johnny Giavotella had an outstanding defensive play to retire Adam Dunn in the 2nd and also had a triple that drove in two runs. According to Ned Yost, Gio’s hit turned the game around. The Royals couldn’t get anything going against Francisco Liriano and Johnny’s 5th inning drive put them back in the ball game.
With two outs, Gio took a chance going for three bases. If Johnny had been tagged out before Francoeur (running all the way from first base) touched home plate, the run wouldn’t have counted.
The White Sox stacked three lefties at the top of their order (Alejandro De Aza, Dewayne Wise and Adam Dunn) which made the 7th inning a bit easier for left-handed Francisley Bueno. He got through the inning with six pitches and without a ball being hit hard.
When Ned Yost stacks three lefties, he’ll make sure the middle lefthander has a right-handed alternative on the bench. That way the opposition can’t bring in a lefty reliever to get three outs. Either Robin Ventura didn’t set it up that way or he just wasn’t ready to pinch hit for Dewayne Wise in the 7th.
Using closer Greg Holland in a tie game in the top of the ninth bought the Royals two shots at winning the game: either they win it in the bottom of the 9th or — if they fail to score — they get another shot in the bottom of the 10th.
Good thing the Royal won it in the bottom of the 9th because the White Sox had the heart of their order coming up in the 10th.

A poor student

I asked Bruce Chen if he could teach me to throw a curve. Well, Bruce tried, but he didn’t have much with which to work. Bruce started by trying to teach me an easier version of the curve ball: instead of throwing overhand and pulling down on the front of the ball, I held it off-center and pulled down on the side of the ball. (We have a video coming that shows what I mean.)

I didn’t have much arm speed and I was standing too close to home plate (we were using the indoor hitting facility and space was limited), but even though my expectations were low, the results were disappointing. The ball maybe dipped a bit down and to the left, but when Bruce — who was trying to be encouraging — turned to Mike Jirschele and asked, “That’s curving, right?” Mike seemed unimpressed.

So then we went to the overhand curve and that looked a bit better, it wasn’t sharp, but you could see some movement. Unfortunately — as Bruce pointed out — the bend that was visible to me would also be visible to the hitters. If a pitcher throws everything flat and hard and then a high-arcing rainbow comes out of his hand, hitters will pick it up immediately.

They might lay off it once if they haven’t seen it, but the second time a curve is lollipopped up to the plate, they’ll wait back and pound it. All the pitches need to come out of the hand on the same plane and then move.

Enjoy the video when it comes out; Bruce is informative and interesting and I’m just pathetic. In the meantime, I need to go ice my arm.

Comments

Daniel Wesley
8 months ago

Hosmer gets the game winning hit and the glory, but the Royals would not have won without the defensive prowess of one Salvador Perez. If he can duplicate his 2nd half success over an entire season in 2013, the Royals will have made a gigantic step towards true competitiveness.
Terry Payne
8 months ago

Agree completely with Daniel re: Salvy and Royals chances in ‘13. He completely turned that game around with his pickoff. The team’s 1st stud catcher since Darrell Porter.

SOOOOO glad it was Hos that got the walkoff. He’s had a tough year following all the hype and expectations. This should propel him forward with confidence.

Okay. Even though it ended up well, I think Dyson made a big mistake with his false start, when Salvy had just the 1 strike. I understand Crain was keeping him from getting the start he WANTED, but I think he should have taken off, anyway. Even if he HAD been thrown out, the score still would have been tied and the Royals always had the last at bat. Plus, Salvy and Mous, coming up, were perfectly capable of ending the game with one swing.

As it was, since Dyson did NOT go, Salvy took a 2nd strike, probably having seen Dyson take off. When he aborted, Dyson left his teammate deep in a hole, lessening his chances of success. Ditto when Mous ended up taking 2 strikes, also.

If the Royals had been down a run, then I agree with Dyson’s strategy. Perhaps he lacks confidence in his skills. “That’s what speed do,” but speed gotta know the value of WHEN to do.

Sports Illustrated in the current issue has an excellent article about the resurgence of speed on the basepaths, both in steals and aggressive baserunning. Highly recommend the read, and I for one, am glad to see speed coming back into the game.
Blair Bieser
8 months ago

First, I’m really curious what Rodriguez’s thought process was for sending Gordon home on Butler’s one-out double. Rodriguez usually holds the runner at third when there are less than two out. Second, I was surprised Butler took third on Perez’s sharp grounder to short. Was this heads up baserunning or a mistake? With one out, a slow runner on second, and a hard-hit ground ball to the left side of the infield, I wouldn’t think you’d want the runner to try to advance.
Joel Kallem
8 months ago

Terry, have to disagree with you about Dyson. His job is to safely get to second base where he will be in scoring position. While ideally he gets a chance to run early in the count, he cannot go when he “knows” he has little chance of making it. Even though the hitter may in the hole with two strikes, he is still alive and can deliver a hit to get him to second or third with less than two outs.
Joel Kallem
8 months ago

On another topic, it was nice to see the Royals fight back against a good team. The way the game started for them, it would have been easy for them to “mail” this one in. We are seeing the beginning of the Royals “believing” they can win any game. This attitude will go a long way next year to their becoming a winning team. Looking at their second half production, it looks like we are finally turning the corner and with the addition of a couple of starters we could move into contention in a relatively weak division.
Terry Payne
8 months ago

Joel - I politely disagree with you on this point re: Dyson, sir. I think he waited way too long, and, in the process of hesitating, cost his team 2 outs. If possible, go back and look at Dyson’s reaction after his aborted attempt and he realized Salvy was now in a deep hole. The way I read it was that Dyson was mad at himself for aborting.

Anyway, I agree 1000% with you re: “Believing.” Did you see the way Hos and Mous were acting in the aftermath? It looked to me like 2 guys who had just realized they now had #1 in the bag, and the future was now going to belong to them.
Larry Tindle
8 months ago

Looking at the replay of Gio’s triple, you can see Moose standing at home yelling and motioning at Frenchie to hurry up.
Jim Fetterolf
8 months ago

I thought that the Hot’Rod did a good job in a difficult situation: everyone between the mountains knew he was going to steal, the pitcher seemed to have a good move, and the pitcher was getting home in 1.1, fast no matter who the runner is.
Larry Tindle
8 months ago

Terry - I politely disagree with you on Dyson. If our hitters can’t hit with 2 strikes on them, it’s not the runners fault. I agree it is more difficult when you are in the hole with the pitcher but for Dyson to just run so that it doesn’t happen is not wise in my opinion.
Terry Payne
8 months ago

Larry, et al - I would agree with all of you HAD the team been down a run. As it was, the game was TIED and no matter what happens, you will always have the last at bat. Therefore, you have the luxury of taking a bigger risk. You’ve got your fastest baserunner on base with NONE out.

Notice I did not say your BEST baserunner. I think Esky would have taken that risk.

Also, that’s Pierczinski behind the plate, not Salvy, not Yadier, not I-Rod, not Johnny Bench.

Love the polite discussion and love this site for all the various point of view.

Peace. Out.
Jim Fetterolf
8 months ago

Nice piece from Rany today on Wil Myers and the business side:

http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/

I would note that our own Brendon has been making a similar case for a couple of months. I would also note my own position, that Wil still has some challenges and three other young studs have battled the last year or so after taking the step up to KC.
Gaines Arnold
8 months ago

I love the fact that Ventura keeps intentionally walking one of the worst hitters in baseball. This shows the completely skewed logic behind the move. 9 ABs is a ridiculous sample size to base a decision on, and the result shows that. The fact that Hosmer was only 1 for 9 against Thornton should have shown Ventura that Hosmer was “due” (to use another ridiculous baseball term).
Jim Fetterolf
8 months ago

Nine ABs is small but precise and Hosmer hit a ball low and away that he has had trouble with all year. Yet another case of if the ball was hit a foot farther right, Ventura would have been a genius and Hosmer 1-10 against that pitcher.

Stats are historical but not particularly predictive. If Hosmer had grounded out, someone would be ranting about Yost not sending Pena up to bat for a guy who was 1-9 against the new pitcher.
Larry Tindle
8 months ago

Just goes to show that managers make moves and players must execute.
Brendan Woodbury
8 months ago

“Small but precise sample” is a funny concept.

As long as we’re destined for another losing season, I don’t want to see Yost pulling Hosmer or Mous or Escobar or Lough or Dyson or Gia for pinch hitters. Let the young guys get some experience.
Terry Payne
8 months ago

B Dub, As I understand it, Ned plans to go full-tilt boogie against the Sox and Tigers, and do his “experimenting” against fellow also-rans Indians and Twinkies.

Judging the Royals