Banny Log (Delayed)
Posted: May 24th, 2008 | Filed under: Banny Log | 12 Comments »
Start No. 10: Vs. Boston Red Sox
Innings: 5 1/3
Earned runs allowed: 7.
Strikeouts: 4
Walks: 1
Homers: 1 (it was a salami)
Decision: Loss (4-6)
Number of pitches: 107
Number of strikes: 72
BABIP: .524 (11 or 21 — holy green monsters, Batman!)
Season BABIP: .286
I didn’t mean to not offer up a full Banny Log the other day … I had to leave for Cooperstown, and just didn’t have time to do one. Would I have found time if Banny had thrown 8 shutouts innings? Only you can decide that.
Banny was obviously not very good. There are no excuses here. He gave up three straight hits* and then the salami to J.D. Drew that pretty much ruined his outing. The Drew homer was an opposite field shot, just over the green monster, and it’s always tempting to blame the park when that happens. But I never like that. At Fenway Park, you know where the monster is at all times. Sometimes the monster will beat you. Sometimes you will get easy outs because people are aiming for it. You take what you get. It’s somewhat of a hidden fact but Fenway Park has turned into one of the toughest home run parks in baseball.
*There is some debate about two of those hits — one was hit up the middle, another was looped into the hole between short and third. The debate: Would shortstop Tony Pena have made either of those plays? I’m in the middle on it. Some people around the team think it’s guaranteed that Pena would have made those plays — I don’t see that. Pena’s a good defensive shorstop, but he’s not Ozzie Smith — I would guess that imaginary Pena makes many more plays than the real Pena.
On the other hand, MannyBeingManny hit the grounder up the middle, and we all know that he doesn’t exactly Pete Rose it to first base. And the grounder in the hole was hit by Mike Lowell, who doesn’t own any land speed records either. So I’d probably give Pena a 30-40 percent chance of getting Manny, maybe a 25 percent chance of getting Lowell. Either way, it doesn’t fundamentally change what happened — I think the reason it stuck out is because shortstop Alberto Callaspo did not get within walkie-talkie distance of either of those grounders.
Anyway, after that inning Banny sort of limited the damage. He gave up a lot of hits, but he was back to pitching his Banny style and in the fifth he got MannyBeingManny, Lowell and the Greek God in order, so he had given up five runs in five innings, a struggle but hey, the Red Sox are really good, and it was Fenway (which may not be a homer park, but is still the best hitting park in the AL) and that should have been Banny’s day.
Instead, he came out for the sixth. And I turned to our intrepid baseball writer Bob Dutton and said, “Um, this isn’t good. Banny’s toast.†And it wasn’t good. Banny was toast. You know, if Skipper Trey Hillman wants to just call me to ask if Banny has anything left, I would certainly be happy to offer advice. Banny gave up two hits, a long fly ball, finally got pulled, and then Jimmy Gobble came in and after plotzing around in all sorts of infuriating ways, he gave up a salami to Mike Lowell. And that closed out the scoring for the Banny Log.
Before we go, though we have to ask some questions about the Jimmy Gobble situation because … it’s startling. Banny was taken out, and Jacoby Ellsbury — a lefty hitter — was coming up. So Gobble was brought into the game. Got it. After that, though, we have lotsa lotsa questions:
1. When Gobble walked Jacoby Ellsbury, why exactly did he stay in the game to face Dustin Pedroia, who massacres lefties?
2. After Pedroia hit the inevitable run-scoring double, Gobble stayed in to face Papi — I get that part. Lefty-lefty. Fine. Gobble gets the out. Now, you have three righties in a row — you’re taking Gobble out right? You know there’s a big wall in left field, right?
3. Oh, I see, you’re NOT taking Gobble out. What you’re doing is — you intentionally walk Manny Ramirez. With two outs. Have I mentioned how much I hate non-strategic intentional walks? Yes? Well, let me mention it again. Sure, I realize that first base was open, but that’s irrelevant with two outs. You’re not trying to get a force out at any base. This ain’t tee ball. You’re walking Manny because you’re scared of Manny — in the sixth inning, of a day game that you are trailing 7-3. Gotta love that attitude. Hey, maybe next time you can send your pitcher to the mound with a white flag to wave or, better yet, a yellow vest to wear like quarterbacks do in those non-hitting drills. It’s not possible for me to hate this move more.
4. Well, wait, unless it’s this move. So let’s see here — you obviously believe that you’re still in the game … why else would you intentionally walk Manny Ramirez? You have to believe you’re in the game — and I can understand that reasoning at least, get an out here, you’re only down four runs, it’s Fenway Park, baseballs are flying out (or at least THEIR baseballs are flying out), you’ve lost three straight to these guys, you’re grinding as a manager, making every move you can to keep the game close and tight …
… and then you leave lefty Jimmy Gobble in the game to face right Mike Lowell with the bases loaded at Fenway Park.
Do I need to repeat that in all capital letters? AND THEN YOU LEAVE JIMMY GOBBLE IN TO FACE MIKE LOWELL.
This, um, no, I don’t have an explanation. We try with this blog to always understand the other side’s point of view, even if the other side’s point of view seems shaky. But there’s no other side here. Skipper Trey left Jimmy Gobble in the game to face Mike Lowell. I want to show you Jimmy Gobble’s righty/lefty splits … and I want you to keep in mind that this is a VERY small sample size, so you cannot take these numbers all that seriously. But I want to show them to you anyway.
Left-handed batters vs. Jimmy Gobble: .083/.154/.167.
Right-handed batters vs. Jimmy Gobble: .391/.464/.696.
I want you to look at that. Marvel at it. Take it in the way you might take in Mount Rushmore. You can also have Jimmy’s numbers from last year if you want — a little bit larger sample size.
Left-handed batters vs. Jimmy Gobble (2007): .241/.325/.398.
Right-handed batters vs. Jimmy Gobble (2008): .319/.377/.532.
Now, I want you to think about this again. Think about it. I am. There has to be some logic here. There has to be. Jimmy Gobble is in the big leagues to get lefties out. He’s good at this. But, like other LOOGYs, he has a pretty proven track record of not being able to get righties out. It’s pretty elemental. So why would Trey Hillman, um, maybe, no, um, there has to be something I’m missing here. I could spend weeks on this thing. This is like the math question in Good Will Hunting.
So, OF COURSE Lowell hit the grand slam — I mean, what choice did he have? And so this means that in four games in Boston, the Kansas City Royals (A) Got swept; (B) Got no-hit; (C) Gave up two salamis in a single game and (D) Did all that even though MannyBeingMani and Big Papi really didn’t do anything much. That’s a pretty bad series.
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I feel your pain Joaldo. Without legitimate contending talent, Hillman’s bonehead moves seem merely puzzling. If the Royals had a contender the fans would be coming for him with picks and torches. I think what you say about walking Manny is the crux of the matter here… That move wreaks of fear and a losers attitude. At a minimum I thought Hillman would bring competitive fire not a duffel bag full of white flags. Awful, awful series for KC.
But did you at least get good Italian food? Your readership (especially those of us who lauded the North End) are dying to know.
I, too, have been wondering about Hillman’s strategic mind. I try to temper my opinions with the facts that I’m not in the dugout, don’t talk with the GM or McClure very often and haven’t had lots of conversations with Trey, either. …But, Trey was billed as a manager with a sabermetric mind who loved fundamentals and gritty play and so far I don’t think that’s come thru.
I decided to stopped listening to the games after the no-hitter, just taking a little break, so maybe there’s a few details I’m missing, but…
Why in the wouldn’t you leave Grud in the game if you saw a no-no developing? I know he made an error, but he’s not going to be (as?) shaken by a no-no and he does have the best chance of anyone on the team (and AL) of breaking up a no hitter.
Wouldn’t you see Banny’s tired and not let him pitch the sixth. I know he put up a couple of zeros in the fourth and fifth, but if he’s already over 100 pitches (I’m not a huge pitch count fan, FYI) and our brilliant leader can tell from the stands he’s pooped, why would the manager send him back out?
Why, why don’t they tell Tony not to swing at the first pitch? I know that he doesn’t always, but there are several that stick out in my mind where he hacks at the first one. There was an interview a while back where he said he doesn’t really look at stats. IMHO, management should tell him that they are, so he needs to try walking more or at least look at more than two pitches before getting himself out.
I also wonder if Teahen’s not hitting well because he’s being pressured out of his game. Let the man get on base and hit doubles. He’s never been a masher, so just let him do what he’s good at.
Again, I have absolutely no personal contact with anyone on the Royals, so maybe some of this is unjustified, but on the other hand, if I can see it over the radio, should management notice it as well?
Another thing that was weird about the IBB to Manny is that he’s not being Manny right now. He’s been hitting like complete crap ever since they put that “497″ sign up on top of the wall. He’s got 2 home runs since April 19th, and none at Fenway Park. Even without the righty/lefty matchup stuff, you have to figure that Manny, right then, at that moment, was an easier out than Lowell.
Justin makes a good point, and I’d like to suggest another way that Manny isn’t being Manny lately:
He’s running out grounders!
I’m serious. I’ve got MLB.tv now and have watched more Sox games than ever before, and every time that Manny has bounced out, he comes into the screen hustling down the line (OK, not Pedroia hustling but not Manny loafing either).
Its simple. Trey Hillman is a terrible manager and needs to go. He doesn’t have what it takes to manage in the big leagues. He should have never been hired, and he’s in danger of going down in history as the “next Tony Muser”.
And that’s not a compliment.
A couple of responses:
1- I felt like your capital letters did not do justice to your message, Joe. Please lean on your friend Pat Jordan and include some swear words and your rant will ring a little truer.
2- The Sox are on some kind of roll, huh? World Series titles, no-nos, etc. The margin of error playing there is getting much smaller, especially for a team like the Royals.
3- We are just about a third of the way through the season and a number of questions have been answered about the Royals new manager. Will let the young pitchers do their thing, even if they fail? Yup. Does he know his players? Nope. Can the Royals lineup function as the manager has designed thus far? eh?!?
4- There are a few players on the team now that could stand a little patience at the plate, a few that could stand to be more aggressive and at least two that could use a ride to the minors.
Ron,
I think it’s a little premature to jump on the “the next Tony Muser” train.
I’m with Paul White. Did you experience the North End, Joe?
Where’s Tom Seaver on the poll?
I’m told that the math problem in Good Will Hunting is actually pretty elementary. Of course, since being told this I’ve never had the opportunity to see what’s written on the blackboard.*
*It seems to me that the first fifteen minutes of movies in the basic cable rotation have to be the most under-viewed relative to their parent movie. I mean, you would never actually *rent* Good Will Hunting — two or three stations might start playing it in the time it takes to drive to the store. But that in turn means that when you do see the movie, you’re likely to catch it halfway through. Thus, it may take a long time before I actually see that blackboard scene.
I will admit that I can’t get past Pena’s offensive issues to view his defense objectively. However, regardless of whether he gets to the ground balls in Fenway, you never hear anybody talk about the plays he does NOT make.
In Toronto, he could have kept us in the game by taking a catcher’s throw and tagging out a runner. I’ll bet Callaspo would have made that play and it would have kept us from being down 4-0.
He had the sliding grab and throw out from his knees to “save” a game at the K against Toronto. However, he dropped a double play ball earlier in the game that allowed a run to score. So, at best his +/- on the day was zero.
He has peeled off on numerous pop ups this year in which he did not get charged an error. He is the shortstop and is supposed to take charge on those.
His defense is overrated.