Banny log 040808
Posted: April 8th, 2008 | Filed under: Banny Log | 35 Comments »
Today’s Banny log is somewhat marred by American Airlines, which had to ground 500 flights today for inspections of some sort. This would be no big deal except that one of those flights was mine.* This is what they call “How the news affects you.†It affected me right into this hotel in Grapevine, Tex., right across the street from the Grapevine mall which is like every other mall only moreso.
*You know the old Mel Brooks line on the difference between tragedy and comedy. Tragedy is when I cut my finger. That’s a tragedy. It hurts, it’s bleeding, I don’t like it, tragedy. Comedy is you falling in a manhole, what do I care?
Ah, the glories of travel. The great part of having my flight canceled and having to change all my arrangements is that the airline basically told me they could not give me my bag back. I guess they’re keeping the bag as a souvenir of the flight that almost took off. They said that I would get it tomorrow, maybe, though I have absolutely no idea how that’s going to happen since I’m now flying into a different city than originally scheduled, and then I’m driving to Augusta for the Masters. Maybe they will airlift my bag in.
I’m not betting on anything. Like I say, I’m across the street from a mall. I managed to get enough clothes, and I also found an authentic Italian meal. You would not expect there to be a great Italian restaurant inside the Grapevine mall — I was surprised too. I just came upon it, like kismet or something. In case you’re ever in town, the place was called — what’s that name again? It had some really authentic Italian name. What was that? Oh here it is on my receipt — Sbarro’s.* Amazingly, they also had a really authentic Chinese place called something like “Chihuahua Junction†or “Penguin Station†or, no, I’m sorry, it was Panda Express,†I think. Looked scrumptious. They even let me try one of the Orange Chicken pieces.
*This is great practice for Augusta, where pretty much every night I go to the same Carrabba’s Restaurant with Thursday interviewee and author extraordinaire Ian O’Connor. We go there because: 1. You can’t get in any other restaurants; 2. There’s something comforting about knowing that the Chicken Parm will taste just like the Chicken Parm at any other Carrabba’s; 3. Having lived in Augusta for years, I am pretty aware of the late night dining choices in town. And Carrabba’s is better than Friday’s.
* * *
Anyway, to Banny.
Start No. 2: Vs. New York Yankees
Innings: 5 complete.
Earned runs allowed: 2.
Strikeouts: 6
Walks: 4
Decision: Victory (2-0)
Number of pitches: 97
Number of strikes: 58
BABIP: .264 (5 for 19)
OK, we have a little something to work with here. Brian Bannister was so good in his first start, it was hard to even write about. He’s a lot more human in this start. He got the win, and he only allowed two runs against a terrific lineup. But best I could tell on my Sling Box, it was a struggle.
First, his control was shaky. He walked four, but even more than that by my quick count he only threw first pitch strikes to 8 of 23 hitters. That’s low for Banny, low enough that I’m going to guess that he had a purpose behind it. I’m going to guess that he was expecting the Yankees to be first ball swinging, and he tried to get them to chase. Trouble is, this Yankees team does not chase much. They really made him work, and that’s why he had about 100 pitches after only five innings and had to come out of the game.
Still, despite that, Banny also did not give in. We’re always looking to see how Banny does with count control. He started with 2-0 counts to four batters. Banny will tell you if he gets behind 2-0 to hitters, he’s in deep trouble. Last year, the league had a .418 on-base percentage after a 2-0 count against Banny.
At first glance, the four walks seem like a high total for Banny, but if you will look at the batters he fell behind 2-0 you will see there was a method to his wildness. He minimized damage with walks. This is part of his strategy too. Look:
Batters with 2-0 counts:
Johnny Damon: Walked.
Melky Cabrera: Walked.
Damon: Walked (with the bases loaded).
A-Rod: Struck out looking.
See, nobody REALLY hurt him after getting ahead in the count. Banny did not groove any 2-0 or 3-1 fastballs. And though he gave up five hits, they were all singles.
The second thing to notice — six strikeouts in five innings. Banny insists that he knows how to strike people out despite his low strikeout numbers last year. Well, he certainly knows how to strike out Alex Rodriguez — he got A-Rod looking three times. He also struck out Robinson Cano with the bases loaded, a huge K.
Third — stuff. Banny started off, according to pitch effects, with six consecutive 87 mph fastballs, five of them for balls. Of course, you don’t judge Banny’s stuff by the radar gun. He did not throw 90 mph all game, but he did get eight swings and misses in five innings — three of those in a very strong fifth inning. I have not gotten a chance yet ask Banny if he could have gone one more inning — Banny unfortunately was not in the Grapevine mall — but he looked really strong.
Fourth, Billy Butler is hitting .414. I realize this has nothing to do with Banny, but I want to repeat that Billy Butler is hitting .414. You know I love Billy Butler. The Tigers pitching coach apparently told Peter Gammons that Billy Butler is the best young hitter in the American League.* Of course, maybe the Tigers’ pitching coach should be working with Jason Grilli, but I do appreciate the opinion.**
*The other thing to note is this little small sample size chart:
Jose Guillen: .138, 0, 3.
Emil Brown: .217, 1, 5.
Yep, it’s a barn burner
**How about the Tigers going 0-7. I mean, at some point, you keep getting shellacked and you can no longer say, “Well, there’s a long season ahead.†What if the Tigers absolutely suck all year? Would this make the single most disappointing team in baseball history? I would say so. I mean, we all know how disappointing THIS TEAM was but they didn’t have a $130 million payroll.
Fifth, how about someone buying THIS BOOK? We may have an offer of someone buying the movie rights option. This sounds more exciting than it is … apparently about 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000007% of all books that are optioned actually become, you know, movies. However, it should also be noted that 0.00% of all books NOT optioned become movies, so hey, we’re moving up in the world.
Sixth, you had to love the ending of that Kansas-Memphis game, no? What a shot. We have decided this: Memphis was probably the only team in the country good enough have Kansas down by nine with two minutes to go. And Memphis was probably the only team in the country that could blow that lead. Bless those kids.*
*And how about Roy Williams wearing a shirt with a Jayhawk logo on it two days after his Heels lost to Kansas? I am a fan of Roy’s — I can’t help it, I like the man. I wish he would have had asked me for advice before he decided to do that. I might have been able to tell him something that could helped. I might have been able to tell him, “NOOOOOOO!!!!â€
Seventh, I saw that Jose Canseco’s new book “Vindicated†is out now — with an Amazon number about 55,000 better than Soul of Baseball. You people. I was thinking, you know, Canseco’s co-author pulled out, what, a few weeks ago? And that book is ALREADY on the shelves? I mean, hey, I feel like I’m a pretty fast writer and I’m amazed. It’s like when you drive by a barren construction site one day, and the next day it’s a Target. I suspect this book is not as good as a Target, though.
Eighth — oh yeah, Banny. He’s now 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA, 10 strikeouts in 12 innings and ESPN is “projecting him†to go 46-0 with a 1.50 ERA, 231 strikeouts, 93 walks, 278 innings and 0 home runs allowed. I may be jumping to conclusions, but I’m betting right now that if he does that he wins the Cy Young.
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You may want to keep your appetite whetted: Augusta Mall has a Sbarro’s.
I bought the Soul of Baseball last week finally. Outstanding work Joe. All of my friends are getting a hearty recommendation on it.
Actually, Bannister would finish second in the Cy Young voting behind Daisuke Matsuzaka, who will finish with five fewer wins, but have a lower ERA (1.47) in many more innings (365) and with many more strikeouts (446).
Joe, you were kidding about taking time off from the blog, right? Because I don’t think I can take it.
Will you at least keep us up to date with Banny logs and the horrors of a being paid to travel around to various glamorous sporting events?
Also, I kind of like Roy Williams wearing the Kansas t-shirt. That takes guts. You’ve gotta respect it.
Don’t be too hard on Banny as far as control goes — methinks the strike zone may have been a little tight today. Phil Phranchise threw 87 pitches in 3 IP for the MFY (he faced two batters in the fourth).
Joe, you missed something important about Banny’s… struggles today. It was cold. And damp. And windy. And the strike zone was the size of a box of Cheez-Its. I’m sure a lot of pitches didn’t go where he wanted them to because he just couldn’t get the grip, and I know for a fact a lot of pitches went exactly where he wanted them to (and for strikes) only to be called balls.
(This isn’t just homerism; Hughes was hard done by as well.)
Yeah, I’ll bet Grapevine was more pleasant weather than KC today. I’m still cold and it’s been hours since I left The K. Jon (comment 4) makes a good point about…everything. The strike zone had to have been pretty small, because both Bannister’s and Hughes’ pitch counts got really high in a hurry. Also the weather was as miserable as it could have been: cold, damp, cloudy with an arctic wind.
I’m a little bit glad the Royals didn’t score more in the 8th, because I really wanted to see Soria, and the 2-minute highlight video on CrownVision that preceded his entrance. The dude is just…you can’t ignore him when he’s out there. He was a fantastic exclamation point today, after all kinds of other awesomeness (namely, A-Rod’s Golden Sombrero).
I appreciate Roy’s Jayhawk sticker, and I’m sure it was sincere, but I don’t think I could blame a North Carolina fan for being pissed off two days after a blowout loss in the Final Four.
It would be poetic justice if the “Roy left his heart in Lawrence” storyline became as big as the “Roy’s leaving for North Carolina at the first opportunity” story line was.
Bannister did struggle at times but he got the job done. File this game under all’s well that ends well. Had the pen not held the Yankees down I suspect we’d be a little more worried about Brian’s performance but he gave the team enough for today.
Joe,
Bannister impressed me. In fact, I read about him; his interviews, his stats; I studied him, and I like what he’s trying to accomplish, even though I ‘m a Cubs fan.
Heck. I must agree with you that Banny knows where to mix his pitches and limit the damage from this aweful Yank lineup.
I’m still impressed enough to claim him with “the Light of Maddux,” as you can tell from the post I wrote in Taiwan (see site link thru’ my nik).
The Royals is a new team now. Trey Hillman, the Management, and everything. Your time has come.
Joe, By the way, I really need to ask you again (I think my last post relating this question got lsot?). On you frontpage is a photo pic of a city scene. Is it of Kansas City?
You probably knew already. The sign with Chinese characters in your pic is a Taiwan bank.
Editor’s note: I believe the photo is of Chinatown in New York, but I’m not entirely sure. The photo came with this blog template.
First, airlines should be left to go belly up. I don’t care if my life gets really hard, they’re terrible. Let them go bankrupt and suffer.
Second, as much as I don’t like airlines, the good UNC fans that work around me like Roy even less right now. I mean, the guy worked for 15 years at KU; I’d have been shocked if he hadn’t been pulling for KU in the finals.
http://aboverim.blogspot.com/2008/04/roy-wants-to-be-liked-all-but-thats.html
This blog is from the Charolotte Observer. For the most part, the UNC faithful are not handling Stickergate well. My favorite:
I was shocked. It was like seeing Churchill wearing a swastika.
Nice…
And Meche will do a lot better than his last outing against the Twins when he faces them again. I say this as a Minnesotan bred, born, and raised and U of Minn grad. Always kinda tough watching those games, but I still pull a little harder for the Royals to get the win. They got it coming to them and I really like the make up of this team.
Now if Trey will just leave Gathright as lead off and everyday CF I will be a happy man. DeJesus will be a fine 4th outfielder once his owie gets all better.
Joe, I love your work and loved the book. I can’t wait till the BRM book comes out (I am a Cincinnati native).
As a Carolina grad and avid fan, I have no problem with Roy wearing the Kansas shirt. Is the flap he is getting from KU fans? Maybe I’m in the minority, but as a Carolina fan I certainly don’t mind that he is rooting for KU as his second favorite team as long as he keeps coaching us.
Personally, I don’t see why everybody loved the Tigers so much to win this division in the first place.
I mean seriously, they have Brandon Inge playing Center field. Yes, that’s right former CATCHER Brandon Inge is playing Center in one of the biggest ballparks in the majors. Brilliant!
Or how about that lineup, look at the ages of the guys getting at bats:
Gary Sheffield 39
Ivan Rodgriguez 36
Maglio Ordonez 34
Edgar Renteria 32
Placido Polanco 32
Carlos Guillen 32
Jacque Jones 32
Brandon Inge 30
Miguel Cabrera 24
Clete Thomas 24
This would have been a really solid group of position players about 3-5 years ago, but realistically that lineup is OLD. Granted all of them can hit, but how much time will they spend on the DL? This team will be lucky to finish .500.
If we ever find life on another planet, I’ll bet they have at least 3 Sbarro’s.
Living in NC, there are lots of people upset about Roy Williams’ choice of shirt Monday night. Hard to tell if this is a general consensus or more of the ‘lunatic fringe’ of the fanbase.
I’m not a UNC fan so it didn’t bother me one way or the other; although I can see the timing of it being poor. Lots of fans haven’t gotten over the loss and 2 days later he’s wearing their shirt.
I share Craig’s lack of enthusiasm for the Tigers, but for different reasons. I have all the confidence in their lineup, age notwithstanding. I have little confidence, however, in their overall pitching staff. They have some great arms, but they’re still seasoning. Arms gaining maturity are still susceptible to up-and-down seasons. – TL
Dave, Roy is catching plenty of heat from UNC fans over the sticker. It’s divided the fans at insidecarolina.com, who have dubbed it stickergate. I can’t imagine KU fans care about Roy’s sticker, especially after winning the title.
Man, I wish the Mets hadn’t traded Banny. He didn’t really get a shot in NY. It looks especially stupid after they released Gotay, and the Braves picked him up. I think they could use 46-0 and 1.50 about now.
Is Roy Williams supposed to erase those 15 years in Kansas, and pretend they never happened?
Sidebar comment: It was great to see Billy Buck in Fenway throwing out that first pitch yesterday. The guy took way too much flack for 1 play in a 21 year career. People forget that he retired after hitting an inside-the-park homer in his last at-bat. Besides, when Hurst left game 7, the Sawx were ahead.
Craig:
Remember that Curtis Granderson is their normal CF, and an outstanding (and young) one at that. That whole lineup looks a lot better with Granderson getting on base in front of Sheffield/Ordonez/Cabrera. They are getting old, but there is a window of opportunity of a couple of years for this team to win a World Series. Their real problem is that with Rodney and Zumaya hurt, their bullpen is terrible.
One word Joe…audiobook. I have three kids under six. So work is the only time I get to read anything. I can play it on my IPhone at work if you would just read it to me.
Wow, I want to read “Why the Whole World (Except New York) Loves to Hate the Mets” from that issue of Sports Illustrated. I’m going to have to go to the library. What fun.
Sure Granderson is an excellent center fielder but I expect he’ll miss another week or two with that broken bone in his hand and I expect it could hamper his offensive performance much longer than that. On the plus side he should be a huge upgrade defensively over Inge in center.
I expect that while the Tigers aren’t going to all lose their ability to hit at the same time, but defensively they have a lot of people playing out of position and others that aren’t that good at playing their natural position.
Carlos Guillen has played 51 games at first in his career. From what I’ve read, he’s at risk of getting hurt with his footwork around the bag.
As a 3rd baseman, Miguel Cabrera makes a pretty good Designated Hitter. Inge is a far superior defender at 3rd, but of course he’s playing Center for now. He’ll probably end up being a Tony Phillips type super sub. When Gary Sheffield makes his annual visit to the DL, I guess they can move Cabrera to DH and let Inge play 3rd.
Ivan Rodriguez is probably pretty close to being done. He’s a 36 year old catcher who had his worst year throwing out basestealers last year (although it wasn’t horrible, just horrible for him).
Ponder these two catchers:
Catcher A hit : .222/.308/.429
Catcher B hit: .281/.294/.420
Catcher A is John Buck, Catcher B is Irod. Looks like his batting average is hiding the fact that his offensive skills are slipping badly.
How about Morgan Freeman as Buck…
Thanks to this blog (and Banny being Banny), I am pulling big-time for the Royals this year (with the exceptions of May 19-22 and August 4-6). Too bad Bob Hamelin isn’t around.
Also, Joe, it may not hurt to put up some PayPal link for donations to the Poz Cause.
Wow, Cy. That is pretty harsh. As Poz would likely agree, Roy’s love for KU is, to me, a positive. He is sincere for the love of his players. I am sure Dean was rooting for KU, too, after all. . .
If they Carolina fans keep crying and whining, everyone’s going to confuse them with Duke fans.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Joe, here’s a note from the NYTimes coverage of the Yankees at the Royals that you might appreciate:
“HAWKINS VISITS MUSEUM Reliever LaTroy Hawkins took his mother and his nephew to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City before Wednesday’s game. Hawkins said he was especially interested in exhibits honoring Buck O’Neil, the baseball icon who died in 2006. Hawkins attended O’Neil’s funeral and said he enjoyed seeing O’Neil, who lived in Kansas City, whenever he came to town as a member of the Minnesota Twins. ‘He was a beautiful man,’ Hawkins said.”
John Peterson, while I don’t wish to discourage you from going to the library, all of Sports Illustrated’s articles are online at http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
Also, as a Duke fan, I’m torn over Roy. I respected him at Kansas, but I couldn’t openly root for him to win a title in ‘03 when I knew he was coming to Chapel Hill the next week. Maybe someday he’ll win a title with his own players, and not Matt Doherty’s.
Man… suddenly everybody’s an expert on the Tigers. It’ll be funny re-reading these comments in September when KC is eliminated from contention (but probably finishing ahead of the Twins) and the Tigers are prepping for October.
Love the blog…the book was a one-night , couldn’t-put-it-down experience. feel free to put that on the next printing.
That’s funny…..”authenthic Italian and Chinese”…..Sbarro’s and Panda Express? Sbarro’s is in the turnpike rest areas back East like a Roy Roger’s and Popeye’s. Panda Express is the Mall Chinese Chain.
[...] of them have been putting up some numbers to start the season, Blackburn has 11K in 12IP, while Bannister picked up 10K in 12IP. In Bannister’s last start he faced another rookie, Phil Hughes, but [...]
Jake,
You’re right, it WAS funny to come back and re-read these comments.
In case you missed it, the Tigers have been officially eliminated from contention.
As I said in my original post, “The Tigers will be lucky to finish .500″. At this point, I’d say they’d have to be REAL lucky considering they’d have to go 11-2 to finish .500.
I guess when you said they’d be “prepping for October”, you meant they’d be prepping to go home and go fishing.