B-Log: Pitches, Walks, 4-Run Leads
Posted: June 13th, 2008 | Filed under: Banny Log | 24 Comments »
Banny Log
Start No. 13: Vs. Texas Rangers
Innings: 7
Earned runs allowed: 4.
Strikeouts: 4
Walks: 0
Homers: 2
Decision: ND (5-6)
Number of pitches: 127 (!)
Number of strikes: 78
BABIP: .272 (6 for 22)
Season BABIP: .291
Well, that was certainly a gutty outing about our guy Brian Bannister, wasn’t it? He came out Thursday against a good offensive club, and he pretty much had nothing. Funny thing, his fastball was really popping on the radar gun — he actually hit 92 mph early in the game, which is three or four mph faster than normal — but maybe that’s the danger of relying on the radar gun*. I suspect that Banny’s fastballs flatten out somewhat at that speed, they lose some of their movement, and his 91-mph fastball to German Duran in the second inning was straighter than a Kansas highway. No, it was straighter than a Southern Baptist minister. No, it was straighter than a Fred Funk drive. No, it was straighter than a trip to the outhouse. No … let’s just say it was straight, and Duran homered.
Next batter, Ian Kinsler, got a 90-mph fastball up, heart of the plate, straighter than … OK, it was straight too. He homered. That made it 4-0, and it was clear that Banny did not have his stuff.
*I just had a long and fascinating conversation about this with everyone’s favorite pitch doctor, Mike Marshall, and maybe we’ll do a post on that.
Only from that point on, Banny got bold …he held the Rangers scoreless for the next five innings, and he did not walk anybody, and he threw those 127 pitches. I was utterly skeptical when Royals skipper Trey Hillman sent Banny out for the seventh after he had thrown 108 pitches … not so much because of pitch count but more because Banny’s style and movement tends to fool ‘em for only so long. But he was terrific in the seventh, battling his way to to strikeouts and an easy fly out. Seriously, how can you not love Banny?
Walk Update
Result: Beat Texas 6-5.
Royals Walks: 0 … 20th consecutive gave with 3 or fewer walks.
Rangers Walks: 1.
20-Game Streak total: Opponents 80 walks, Royals 20 walks.
Record during streak: 5-15.
It is almost impossible to believe that the Royals could face 22-year-old Eric Hurley in his first Major League start at Kauffman Stadium and not draw a single walk. But for the last month or so, this team has proven capable of doing amazing tricks when it comes to not-walking. Seriously, it now appears the Royals are trying to keep this streak going. Seriously, look at this:
Jose Guillen: 111 consecutive plate appearances without a walk.
Ross Gload: 79 consecutive plate appearances without a walk.
Mark Grudzielanek: 57 consecutive plate appearances without a walk.
Tony Pena Jr: 48 consecutive plate appearances without a walk (though this is nothing for TJ).
Miguel Olivo: One walk in his last 85 plate appearances.
Mike Aviles: One walk in his Major League career, and it was intentional. Welcome to the club!
Alex Gordon: Has walked twice in the last three games, but he went 70 plate appearances without a walk too.
I know it’s trendy to blame the Skipper for this sort of free-swinging hackery, especially when the Skipper made a big point about talking on-base percentage when he got the job. I agree with this to some point — if he really CARES about OBP and patient at-bats his vision is not getting through — but honestly, I’m not sure what he can do here. This is just a hacktastic team. I suppose you could fine people for swinging at the first pitch like a prospective owner of the Royals wanted to do, or you could make them do Lou Brown pushups for every ball out of the strike zone they swing at … but, bottom line, the Royals are just addicted to swing, and it’s going to take more than encouragement and dugout wisdom to fix that.
Four-Run Pain
Brilliant reader Erik suggests the Royals have been historically bad with a four-run lead this year. I have to admit, I had not noticed this. Hell, the Royals don’t SCORE four runs very often. But I thought, sure, it’s worth checking out.
April 2nd: Royals build 4-0 lead against Detroit and win 4-0.
April 9th: Royals build 4-0 lead against the Yankees and win 4-0.
April 13th: Royals build 5-1 lead against Twins and win 5-1.
April 14th: Royals build 5-1 lead against Seattle and win 5-1.
April 19th: Uh oh. Here’s the first. Royals build 4-0 lead in first two innings against Oakland and lose 6-5. So, that’s one. I remember this one … bad, bad loss.
April 25th: Royals score six in the bottom of the eighth to take an 8-4 lead over the Blue Jays, and they hold it.
April 29th: Royals build a 5-0 lead against Texas and hold on for the 9-5 victory. So far, this doesn’t look too bad. But the Royals were a very, very different team in April.
May 7th: Royals build a 9-1 lead over the California Angels and win 9-5.
May 11th: Royals build a 4-0 lead over the Orioles and hold on to that score.
May 15th: Royals build a 7-1 lead over Detroit and win the game 8-4.
May 16th: Royals build a 6-2 lead over Florida, and barely hold on, 7-6.
May 18th: Royals roll up a 5-2 lead over Florida and win 9-3. So, they are, what, 11-1 in games they led by four runs. Up to this point, the Royals don’t seem to have a problem blowing leads. But things are about to change.
May 28th: Yep, here’s the worst loss of the year. The took an 8-3 lead into the ninth and quite spectacularly blew the game and lost 9-8 to the Twins.
BONUS on May 30th: Did not have a four-run lead, but they did blow a three-run lead to the Indians.
June 7th: Make the record 11-3. Another worst loss of the year, the Royals had TWO DIFFERENT four run leads. They led the Yankees 5-1 and again 10-6, but blew the game anyway.
June 10th: Make the record 11-4. The Royals led this one 5-1 and, as seen on this blog, blew the game to the Rangers in the eighth and ninth.
June 11th: Yep. It happened again. Erik is right. The Royals led the Rangers 5-1 again, but unlike the previous night, they did not even put up a fight and lost 11-5 — which is also the Royals record in games they have led by four runs. That ain’t too good is it? Especially when you consider that they have now lost their last four games they led by four runs or more. And they blew a three-run lead in there too. Depressing. Very depressing.
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I was watching the Cardinals v. Reds on Tuesday.* The starter for the Cardinals was none other than the incomperable Mitchell Boggs. He was making his second Major League appearance, and his first Major League start. He was noticably nervous on the mound in the first inning. He got Jay Bruce to ground out, but promptly walked Paul Janish (I don’t know either) and Junior Griffey on four pitches each. He was noticably rattled, having first Pujols, and than Yaddi come to the mound to calm him down.
(* Comment Pozsteisk!! I live in Des Moines, IA. Can somebody answer me why, in a city in which six teams have a legitimate claim on being the team here [Cubs, Twins, Royals, Brewers, Sox and Cardinals], I’m stuck with watching every single Cards game on FSN, while the Cubs are blacked out whenever they play on ESPN?? Is this supposed to make me drive 5 1/2 hours to watch the game at Wrigley?? Somebody needs to get Passan on this ASAP.)
So, now there’s two on, one out, and a rookie taking a bath on the mound. Up to the plate comes the incomperable Brandon Phillips. He takes the first pitch for a ball. Now you have, again, a rook on the mound who’se thrown NINE STRAIGHT BALLS. So what does Phillips do?? He swings at the next pitch (out of the zone low and inside, BTW) and harmlessly flies out opposite field. Wow. I think Adam Dunn tried to get Phillips’ head to explode with his thoughts.
Anyways, Boggs gets out of the inning without futher damage, settles down, pitches 5 strong and gets the W. Still, the entire time, the only thing I’m thinking is: which Royals player is masquerading as Brandon Phillips? That is the exact kind of brain-dead, hack-first, no-regard-for-the-situation-type at bat that Royals players take all the time.
I guess I’m just glad that they only broadcast about one Royals game a month up here. I’m sure his wife loves him, but I don’t really like the prospect of looking like Adam Dunn.
Yeah, I’ve been loosely paying attention to all the blown leads the Royals have had the last 8 years or so. I seem to remember that it’s very very rare for a team to blow more saves in a season than it converts. And I seem to remember that the Royals have done it three times in recent years? No time to check on that right now, but it won’t stop me from posting this. Thanks for doing the 4-run research for me, Joe!
I think the day I went sour on Buddy Bell was the day he defended Angel Berroa for his hackery — “I don’t want to squash his enthusiasm,” or some such. Hillman hasn’t said that (yet), so he has that going for him. But I think he could impart some patience if he wanted. I mean, couldn’t you make it a clubhouse theme? “Alright guys, June is going to be ‘on base month.’” You could sell t-shirts. “Come out for on-base night!” You get a key chain with a little plastic base dangling from it. They could have a “get to first base cam,” which would be the equivalent of the Mets’ ‘kiss-cam,’ which pans around the stadium showing people make out. Flash Buddha on the big screen saying “patience is a virtue…”
Hey, Joe. As the Fonz of sportswriters, can’t you do something about your less inspired colleagues returning to the word “lowly” every time to describe the Royals? It’s not that I disagree with the adjective, but damn. Don’t they have a thesaurus in their newsrooms? Can we in some way help them come up with a new word and teach them how to use it? In my newsroom, all the sports guys have been warned: use “lowly” in relation to the Royals — hell, to anyone — and I’ll let the air out of their tires in the parking lot.
The Royals clearly are not walking much. Taking that as an obvious given, is that a function of not working the pitcher-lack of patience and swinging at balls outside the strike zone? Or is simply the Royals can’t hit — and they have little power — and thus pitchers, even those with less than stellar control, have less fear putting the ball over the plate and less need to nibble on the corners? How does the number of pitches per plate appearance for some of the Royals hitters that are not walking compare with the average in the league? Just wondering.
Mark LaFlamme:
My thesaurus offers the following alternatives to “lowly” (note: as a life long Royals fan, I share your pain):
wretched, atrocious, awful, execrable, lousy, punk, rotten, terrible, bad, deficient, inferior, off, poor, substandard, unsatisfactory, wanting, contemptible, miserable, shameful, defective, faulty, flawed, low-grade, mediocre, reprehensible, second-rate, bum, useless, valueless, worthless, inadequate, insufficient, lacking, abominable, odious, vile and won’t-walky…
Joe,
As a baseball and Dodger fan, I’ve read a few things about Mike Marshal’s pitching camp. Please do a post on this! I, for one, am very interested to hear Mike’s thoughts on helping pitchers throw more without pain and would love to hear your thoughts as well.
One other thought as a Dodger fan… can I expect Angel Berroa to help us at all filling in for Furcal? The team is also thinking about moving Nomar back to short for a while, which should be good. You know, from a comedy standpoint.
Guillen still has a long way to go before he can match Mark Quinn’s 199 PAs in a row without a walk (or Quinn’s 243ish PAs in a row without an unintentional walk)
Other walk notes
- Teams have intentionally walked Tony Pena Jr twice this year, and both times it backfired. One team actually intentionally walked Penita in order to face David DeJesus. Which is stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid.
- Penita had 65 games in a row without a walk in 2007. Olivo had 41 games in a row without a walk in 2007. Berroa had 37 games in a row without a walk in 2006. Guillen’s streak is at 27 in a row.
- In July 2006, the Twins intentionally walked Angel Berroa to face John Buck. Then a passed ball occurred to knock in a run and Buck knocked in two more runs. Berroa was also intentionally walked in July 2005 in another example of the IBB backfiring.
- Ozzie Guillen had a 63 game streak without a walk in 1989.
Can I just say that, for a guy who HAS to live by his pinpoint control and being in command of his rather marginal “stuff”, there are an AWFUL lot of b-logs that feature the words “It was clear that Banny didn’t have his stuff?”
We hear it said about Banny that he is (or has to be) Greg Maddux like with his control. How many times have we ever said “He doesn’t have his stuff” about Greg Maddux?
I don’t mean to be unfair. It’s crazy to compare Brian Bannister to Greg Maddux. The latter is probably the best pitcher in the modern era, certainly the best right handed pitcher, if we ignore the big steroid elephant called Roger Clemens in the room for now.
But everyone who’s a fan of Banny keeps talking about how great he is with the limited stuff that he has. And yet, then I see plenty of “He didn’t have his stuff today.”
That can happen once or twice. But every other game? I’m beginning to think that maybe Banny just doesn’t really have that much control with his “stuff” to begin with?
“but, bottom line, the Royals are just addicted to swing, and it’s going to take more than encouragement and dugout wisdom to fix that.”
How about telling them that unless they start being more patient at the plate, they can start being more patient on the bench? What is this, a democracy? Trey is letting these guys walk all over him.
How many plain simple statistical pieces of evidence does he need to see before he realizes that Walks -> Runs -> Wins?
This team is RIPE for Dusty Baker.
I think Jackie Ballgame is on to something, with a lot of fun promotional ideas for on-base month. Sounds like fun to me.
Joe, great stuff. I understand you’re not a beat writer and aren’t travelling with the team for some reason (I forget – what is it you’re up to these days?). But have you made inquiries (other than ragging on them on your blog) of the players or coaching staff about the lack of walking? If so, what do they say? Is this conscious? I just can’t see such a trend not jumping out at players and coaches alike and them doing something about it. Anyhow.
As for Bannister and his stuff (re Creston). I think you underestimate how common it is for pitchers to have that much command of their stuff. If a pitcher lives or dies with it, he’s going to have as many days without it as with it. It’s why a guy who lives and dies with his command isn’t going to challenge for Cy Young awards.
Creston,
I believe you meant to say:
“Trey is letting these guys hack all over him…”
Sure would love to see that Marshall post happen.
Meanwhile, Butler is only hitting .377/.441/.679 (with three homers and six walks) in the 14 games since he’s been sent back. I can see why the Royals would much rather have Ross Gload up there.
I think your Royals’ walk streak will be ending tonight. Doug Davis has already walked 2 and it’s only the third inning…
Streak over!
Nice game tonight — 0-0 through 7, combined 19 LOB for KC and AZ.
The game is in extra innings now. If the game goes 12 innings and the Royals only walk four times, is the streak still alive? In other words, for each game, is the streak still alive if they fail to average at least one walk for every three innings of play?
Guh. The above is incorrect. The streak should still be alive if they fail to average -more- than one walk for every three innings of play for the entire game.
4 walks in 11 innings. Streak over.
4 walks in 12 innings. Streak continues.
Just a suggestion.
Well, shoot, I was too busy writing to notice Chad Tracy homered in the bottom of the 10th.
I presume the streak is over, but the Royals were outwalked 8 to 4. That’s just sad, people.
i think it’s particularly funny that in the game they ended the streak they finished with exactly 0 runs.
And finally, I don’t think a game against Doug Davis should count. It’s like Brad Radke coming in and ruining a fine homer-less streak.
Alex Gordon, runners at 1st & 3rd, one out, 3-0 count, swings at next pitch, double play.
LAME
And it’s certainly sad when, as I’m sure is the same with most of you when that situation was going down, I didn’t expect we’d score a run.