Banny Log (Live!)
Posted: May 13th, 2009 | Filed under: Banny Log | 52 Comments »
And it’s time, for Banny Log Live!
First inning: I can remember that one of the first things that Brian Bannister told me — he loves pitching in Oakland. You would think he loves it because Oakland is a great pitcher’s park, you know, with all the foul ground and with the ball often dying in the outfield.
But he said that he likes the way the mound feels under his feet. He said he feels like he’s on top of mountain there on the Oakland mound … which is weird because, as you know, these days they are pretty strict about mound height in baseball these days. But he said that everything about being on the mound in Oakland feels right — he feels like he’s way up above the hitter, he likes the background, he just likes the feel.
First inning, Bannister looked in total control. He almost exclusively threw that cutter/slider/fastball pitch of his (we call it “The Banny!”) that goes between 85-88 mph and really cuts late. He only threw one 4-seam fastball (90 mph, up and away, sort of a purpose pitch) and one or two changeups. Haven’t seen the curve yet … might be saving that for later in the game.
Anyway, Bannister got a grounder to short, a medium fly ball to right-center and Giambi just popped up to third. It looks like a potentially good night, though it could be tough since he is facing a pitcher whose name is Josh Outman. Man, that might take over as the best pitcher name in baseball. Josh Outman. I suspect we’ll have more to say about that as the night goes on.
Second inning: The question of the day on Royals TV is “What is the most important spot in the lineup.” The four choices are the top four spots in the lineup … and as of right now, the leadoff spot is winning. I just heard Frank White say he would choose the leadoff spot.
It is a semi-interesting question, though I’m not entirely sure how you would judge such a thing. I mean, if by “most important,” they are asking what position you should put your best hitter, then I think it’s clear that leadoff is NOT the right choice. It would make little sense for the St. Louis Cardinals to put Albert Pujols in the leadoff spot right?* George Brett hit a bit of leadoff early in his career with the Royals, but he spent many, many more games at the No. 3 spot than any other. And that was exactly where everyone thought he should be.
*If this made ANY sense, then you know Tony La Russa would have tried it already.
But most people are picking leadoff, which means that’s NOT how they’re viewing the question.
Another great inning for Banny. Got Matt Holliday to ground out to first, then struck out Jack Cust on a cutter that looked a bit outside but was perfectly framed by catcher Miguel Olivo. Here’s another thing to think about: Are some catchers better at framing pitches? And if so: Is that something that you would be able to see in the numbers? Do some catchers get more looking strikeouts than others by knowing how to frame a pitch? Anyway, Banny made Cust look bad on a change-up … it will be interesting to watch that battle all game long.
Banny then got Ryan Sweeney to hit an easy grounder to second. Six up, six down, looking really good. Too early, though, to start making any predictions.
Third inning: Josh Outman. What a great pitcher name. There was a pitcher in 1959 and 1960 named Jake Striker, which is a really good. There was a pitcher in 1968 I’d like to know a little bit more about: His name was Darcy Fast. And apparently was fast. He was up in the big leagues at 21. He struck out 10 in his 10 innings pitched (though he walked eight). And he never pitched again in the big leagues.
Well, it turns out that if you are interested in knowing more about Darcy Fast, you can learn just about everything you want right here. It was quite an interesting career, to say the least.
Solid inning for Bannister. He got The Banny pitch up to Adam Kennedy, who served it out to left for a single. I love the verb “serve” for baseball. That really evokes a certain image. He then got a fly ball to center, a grounder to short and a fly ball to left.
Fourth inning: There’s a huge chunk of cherry pie in the fridge down here. I love cherry pie. Love it. There is absolutely no way I should be eating a huge chuck of cherry pie this late at night, especially while I’m doing a live Banny Log. But … yeah, I’m going to eat it. So, this will be a quick inning update: A Banny 1-2-3 inning, finished off by a curveball strikeout of Matt Holliday, who may have hurt his oblique in the process. Royals leading 1-0 through four.
Fifth inning: Oh, I should not have had that pie. It was good. But … I should not have had that pie. My brother Tony won’t be happy.
Leadoff hitter seems to be running away with the Royals poll, in case you were wondering.
Mike Aviles looks absolutely helpless at the plate to me. You probably know Aviles’ story: Signed with the Royals for $1,000. HIt well early in his minor league career and was briefly considered a prospect but some … but soon lost that distinction. Was in Class AA for two years and then started there a third season … he looked to be the class Triple A player. Then, the Royals watched Tony Pena Jr. hit something like .150 for a couple of months and, in desperation, they gave Aviles a chance. And he went crazy the rest of the year, hit .325, slugged .480, played a solid shortstop, made a push for rookie of the year at age 27.
The Royals were thrilled but, yeah, skeptical. You never know how a player like that will respond … it’s so unusual. Put it this way, the best OPS+ ever for a first year player who is 27 years or older:
1. Ichiro Suzuki, 126
2. Mike Aviles, 122
3. Don Lenhardt, 118
4. Ed Charles, 114
5. Hideki Matsui, 109
6. Sam Jethroe, 109.
The innings are FLYING by … the Royals just went down in five pitches. So I’ll pick up this discussion in a minute. Good fifth inning for Bannister — left one change-up up to Adam Kennedy who cranked it off the wall. But other than that, struck out Cust on a killer curveball, one of the best I’ve ever seen Bannister throw. Got two other grounders back to the mound.
Sixth inning: Back to the discussion of those first-year players who were more than 27. Well, obviously, Ichiro and Matsui do not fit on this list … they were both big stars in Japan already. Sam Jethroe played in the Negro Leagues, so he’s a different case too.
As for the other three, you know the Aviles story. Lenhardt served in the U.S. Navy, then joined the Browns and despite some good minor league numbers, just didn’t get called to the big leagues until he was 27. Ed Charles — who would make a fascinating book, in my mind — was in the minor leagues for eight years before finally getting his chance with the Kansas City Athletics at 29. During his time in the minors, he wrote poetry about racism in the South … that’s where he spent most of his time. Charles was good his rookie year and good again in 1966. He was a member of the ‘69 Mets later.
Anyway, Aviles is a rare case. He really looked good last year. And this year, he looks totally lost. His head flies all over the place, he seems to step in the bucket on every pitch, he doesn’t appear to follow the ball, he has terrible body language after each at bat. I hope he gets his confidence back because he has worked hard to get here. But right now, he just looks … well, lost is as good a word as any.
Banny ran into the wall in the sixth, and you could see it from the start. First batter, Bobby Crosby, Bannister left a Banny up and out over the plate, and Crosby drove to it deep center field. One thing about Brian … once he starts to get his pitches up, he has a hard time adjusting and a hard time getting back down around the knees, where he needs to be.
He threw a good inside pitch to Orlando Cabrera who yanked it to left for a single. Then Brian got a pitch up to Kurt Suzuki, who ripped a single, and threw another pitch up to Jason Giambi, who crushed it off the wall for a run-scoring double. After a purpose walk to Matt Holliday, Bannister got Jack Cust to hit a medium fly ball to left that might have made for a reasonably close play at the plate with David DeJesus out there. But it was Willie Bloomquist instead, and iIt was not a close play. Suzuki scored, The A’s led 2-1.
And then Bannister was pulled from the game because of some sort of injury that was hard to pick up. It doesn’t seem serious or anything like that, but it was serious enough that Brian basically seemed to agree and left the game. You have to wonder if it was the injury that made Brian look so different in the sixth. Maybe we’ll get an update as the game goes along.
In the meantime, Banny Log figures to slow down for the final three innings. I should not have eaten that pie.
Sporadic thoughts from innings seven through nine.
We often joke in the newspaper business about how you know a trend is over when you actually see it in the paper. Hey, it looks like a lot of people are Twittering! Wow, what’s this American Idol thing about? And so on.
Well, here in the bottom of the seventh, Travis Buck just tried to sacrifice bunt. And my good friends Ryan Lefebvre and Frank White joked about the rarity of such a moment … Ryan compared it to seeing a comet. Ryan and Frank then laughed about how out of sync the A’s looked because, well, they just don’t sacrifice bunt.
Only … it’s not true anymore. I’ll have a little chat with Ryan. Maybe the Oakland sac bunt thing was true back when Moneyball was first written (though even then, the A’s were not last in sac bunts). But last year, the Oakland A’s sacrifice bunted 30 times, which was just slightly below league average. In fact, if you want to shock your friends at a party, ask them this question:
Which team had fewer sacrifice bunts in 2008, Oakland or Tampa Bay?
You must know, based on the fact that I asked the question, that Tampa Bay had fewer bunts. Yeah — by a LOT. Oakland had 30. The Rays had 23. Oakland had more sac bunts than Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and as many as Detroit. This year, Oakland has six sac bunts, which is almost precisely average. If you want to REALLY talk about a team that doesn’t sacrifice, focus on the Boston Red Sox. This year, the Red Sox have zero sacrifice bunts.
* * *
Word from television: Brian had some right shoulder stiffness which is why he came out of the game.
And with him out of the game, it has gotten out of hand. The A’s have scored five runs in the seventh thanks to walks, an error, an infield single and, finally, a pitch up to Jack Cust. You definitely don’t want to leave a pitch up to Jack Cust. He crushed it into the right-field gap, scoring three, and now the Royals are likely to lose their fifth game in a row. At the moment, they have scored eight runs in those five games … three of those in a 12-3 loss on Tuesday.
* * *
A Royals loss, fifth in a row. You know, Bill James pointed out that last year, the Royals were the streakiest team in baseball. Now that they have won six in a row and, promptly, lot five in a row to follow, I would say that they are continuing the trend. I’m not sure it will be like that all year … it seems that since the Royals have good starting pitching, they should avoid the losing streaks. I mean, in this five-game streak, they got an OK start from Gil Meche, a great start from Zack Greinke, a solid start from Kyle Davies and, until the injury, a good start from Brian Bannister. You shouldn’t lose all those games. But I do believe that the Royals’ lineup with struggle to score runs all year, and that could definitely make this season streaky.
In any case, the Royals are 18-16. Keep up that pace, and they win 86 games this year. Win 86 games this year, the Royals might just win this division.
As for Oakland … I don’t really get what Billy’s trying to do. But that pitching staff sure is young.
Loading ...
“Josh Outman” is the opposite of “Grant Balfour,” the worst name for a pitcher in baseball history.
Any thoughts on Aviles’ at-bat to end the 2nd?
and he’s through 2! go banny!
Better than the first 2 innings last night!
Who would’ve thought, Miguel Olivo is capable of an 8 game hitting streak? Now if Olivo or Aviles can walk 4 games in a row, we’ll know that the bottom of the Royals batting order is no longer where rallies go to die.
“And if so: Is that something that you would be able to see in the numbers?”
Yes, you would apply a similar concept as ERA+ to make Strike+, i.e. how many more strikes than average do you throw for a specific catcher. The big problem with this approach is that pitchers don’t throw to enough catchers to get you good averages.
It seems Olivo put together a 9 game hitting streak in April ‘07. Exactly 1 hit in each game. Remarkable.
“The Banny” is hoppin’ tonight…
Just read Cust blog. Cust is a version of Jacobs that walks!
I vote for Banny’s pitch to be called the “Screw(you) Ball”
We get an interview with Olivo’s family, too!?! It’s not even my birthday!
I just found a 12 game hit streak by Olivo in Aug/Sep ‘05. 3 doubles and 1 walk in that streak.
If anyone deserves an artificially high BABIP, it’s Miguel Olivo.
My Dad always liked Early Wynn as a great pitcher’s name.
OK, this is where you pull Banny. Hillman will wait 3 more batters though because someone has to wake him up and that can take a while.
Early Wynn is a classic pitcher’s name. Nice call, MonkeyHawk.
Are there numbers available to know the result when a pitcher comes into the game in the middle of an at-bat? HoRam got the job done today, but it seems to me most of the time, that batter reaches.
I appreciate the Banny Log’s brutal honesty as it relates to cherry pie. We know our narrator is true.
Cherry Pie >> Any other kind of pie
Felix Pie?
I’m not sure anyone who was a baseball fan when Rickie Henderson was at the top of his game cannot be tainted by lead-off being an important slot in the batting order.
Man, I was so disappointed when I first heard the correct pronunciation for Pie’s name. I had been calling him Pieman for 2 years.
Ryan just said Banny came out because of shoulder stiffness… Ah Oh!
And the Royals Implode. Turning off the game and going to bed.
So what’s anyone think about Hochevar last night?
Did he simply blow his debut (was it a debut?) or his big chance to come up from Omaha and stop the losing streak?
Or is there that big a difference between AAA and the Bigs?
He was giving Nebraskan fans their own little Grienke April then he comes up throwing batting practice in Oakland.
Did Luke have his Susan Boyle moment and come out singing off-key with a Gong Show performance? Or is there that big a difference between Triple A hitters and… the Oakland A’s?
I strongly suspect, Joe, that the number of sacrifices the A’s lay down has gone up dramatically since Billy Beane stopped acquiring players who know how to hit. The last two games notwithstanding.
My first thought re: the most important spot in the order was that lead-off has a distinct advantage from a purely mathematical perspective. Productive plate appearances from the lead-off hitter create more run scoring opportunities for the team as a whole–opportunities that may not exist otherwise if the aforementioned productive lead-off batter hit further down in the order.
I could be persuaded otherwise, however. An uber-productive 3rd hitter has an obvious influence on the pitches seen by any hitter near him in the line-up. Presumably this influence would be wasted somewhat by sandwiching the same batter between the #2 and #9 hitters.
Regarding pronunciations –
According to Wikipedia, “Grienke” is pronounced “yrinjki.”
WTF?!
Is this some kind of linguist DaVinci code? Something Will Shortz will insert in a Saturday crossword? How is this information helpful to anyone?
Sorry for the tangent.
I spent too many misspent years of my youth thinking “Nap LaZHWAW” was “Nap La-Joey.”
Why the heck would you pinch-hit with DeJesus in the eighth inning of this game? He has been playing everyday, just give him the night off. Between the night game, the travel, and losing two hours, tomorrow is going to suck enough for the guys. That just seems silly.
And the Orioles have freaking owned us the last several years. This could get nasty.
Or we could beat the crap out of them and right the ship. But I am not feeling good about this next series, even with Meche and Greinke ready to start it out.
Yeah, that was a disappointing end to a promising start, but we got another good game from Jack Cust.
Speaking of pronunciations…Doug Waechter is killing me. Whenever I say his name I always say “Wah-kter”. Of course, as I’m speaking, I am reminded (by my previously uncooperative brain) that his name is pronounced “Weh-kter”. Ultimately his name comes out, “Wah-kter, Weh-kter” and everyone is convinced that I have a speech impediment.
Remembering how to pronounce Doug Waechter’s last name.
Walk-Ter = NO!
Waechter pronounced like Wecter, rhymes with Hannibal Lecter. Hence the nickname of Hannibal for Mr. Waechter.
Always wondered what happened to Ed Charles. My dad took me to a day game once on a weekday, sometime in the ’60s. A’s were playing the Yankees, Mickey Mantle, all very exciting. A’s won in 12 innings, I believe, but what sticks in my mind is that Ed Charles hit 2 or 3 home runs. So he was my favorite player for a week or so.
Michael: ““Grant Balfour,†the worst name for a pitcher in baseball history.”
Surely tied with Bob Walk.
You’ll know I’ve had one too many beers at the Royals game, when I chant, “Fava Beans, Fava Beans, Fava Beans, Chianti!” while Wachther enters the game.
“Grant Balfour,†the worst name for a pitcher in baseball history.â€
“Surely tied with Bob Walk.â€
Homer Bailey says hello.
[...] Here is the original post: Banny Log (Live!) [...]
I’m feeling you, MoneyHawk. I spent years saying, “Hyperbowl” instead of Hyperbole. Egads!
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/4/5/389840/framing-the-debate
Dan Turkenkopf studied this and found a very very large effect. Follow-ups:
http://www.beyondth eboxscore. com/2008/ 4/24/459913/a-strike- is-a-strike-right
http://www.beyondth eboxscore. com/2008/ 5/12/506919/a-nibble- here-a-nibble-the
Seitzer needs to put a shock collar on some of these guys to get them to quit swinging at every first pitch and pitches WAY out of the zone. I am disgusted with how many 5-7 pitch innings the Royals have had this road trip. I have to believe that lead to Bannister losing control. 5 pitches isn’t long enough to rest. The hitter have got to quit hacking away.
Twins had a pitching prospect (I know, there’s no such thing….) by the name of Steve Gasser. Made 6 starts at AAA Portland in 1987, 1-4, 8.27, strikeouts not recorded, but he 20 2/3 IP he walked 37(!). Maybe he did throw that hard, I can’t remember. Have to admit, it is a pretty good name.
I’m still waiting on the (Norm) Cash for (Don) Money from the 70s.
When someone wants to trade cash for money who can refuse?
At this stage of the game, Nap LaZHWAW†will remain “Nap La-Joeyâ€, or in my case, “Nap LaHoy.”
Grant Balfour is a superior (or, if you prefer, inferior) name for a pitcher than either Bob Walk or Homer Bailey because Balfour has both names going for him — not only the disastrous last name, but the first name, a verb that also modifies Balfour.
To match him, Outman would have to change his first name to Huck or something.
re: worst picther’s names…don’t forget Eric Plunk. Or Al Nipper (OK, his is not quite as bad).
MonkeyHawk sez: “Regarding pronunciations – according to Wikipedia, “Grienke†is pronounced “yrinjki.†WTF?! Is this some kind of linguist DaVinci code? Something Will Shortz will insert in a Saturday crossword? How is this information helpful to anyone?”
Wikipedia uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) for pronunciations. It’s a standard tool reference works like dictionaries use as a key to pronouncing words, because it is not tied to any one language’s sounds.
Honus Wagner as #33??? Maybe as a coach, but I pretty sure he never wore a number on his back as a player. Was that a red herring to see how many people would vote for a baseball player they have never seen play (you would have to be born before WWI to have seen him as an active player) over two of the greatest NBA stars ever?
Grant Balfour would actually be a better name for an umpire.
Win Remmerswaal was a pitcher for the Red Sox who usually didn’t live up to his first name.
When I was a kid in Portland, we had a shortstop one year named Rac Slider – that hit me back then as just a very cool baseball name.
Typo alert. From the end of the article: A Royals loss, fifth in a row. You know, Bill James pointed out that last year, the Royals were the streakiest team in baseball. Now that they have won six in a row and, promptly, lot five in a row to follow. Lost is missing its “s”.
Shame Banny hit the wall. Seems to happen so often in the sixth inning. Maybe there’s a good reason why the quality start is that long. Lets all hope that he’s not badly hurt.
Joe:
Beane seems to be under “win now” orders, but, not having the “right” background, doesn’t understand how Kyle Farnsworth and are more essential to that process than Russ Springer and Jason Giambi.
“Kyle Farnsworth and Mike Jacobs”
D’oh.
How about a battery of Bill Hands and Barry Foote (with Rollie Fingers in relief)?
MonkeyHawk #11 — Early Wynn was at the very end of his career when I started to pay real attention to baseball. It was several years before I could be convinced that that was NOT a made-up name.
I would have to say my favorite sports name is Bart Crashley — can you guess he was a hockey player? Seriously — with a name like that, what else could he possibly do?
Well, if we want to go off on tangents; Crash Davis is a great baseball name, albeit made up. You gotta believe, even though we never saw it, that he would lay another catcher out if it meant scoring. Also, he would do his best to slide into the second baseman, to ensure that the double play didn’t happen.
If you like made-up names, “Losing Pitcher Mulcahey” was excellent and appropriate. He reportedly earned that name by being the best pitcher the Phillies had at the time. For position players, I always liked George “Great” Scott, but I never heard him called that after he left the Red Sox.
Tiago Splitter, the Brazilian basketball player, has the best sports name out there… too bad he plays basketball instead of baseball, though.