Baseball!
Posted: May 20th, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball | 42 Comments »
Here’s what it is to be a sports columnist … at least for me.
I went to the ballpark on Tuesday night to write about Cleveland’s Victor Martinez and his early run at hitting .400. I absolutely LOVE the chase for .400, even if it is only mid-May.
Middle innings, I switched the idea to writing about the little blunders that can cost teams games. In this game, the Royals allowed a runner to score from first on a single, allowed a little dribbler to get through the second baseman AND shortstop, which moved the runner from second to third. They allowed a reasonably high pop-up to drop in foul ground down the first-base line*. They twice got thrown out on the bases. That’s how you end up losing 5-2 going into the ninth.
*Let’s face it: With Billy Butler, Jose Guillen and Alberto Callaspo chasing after … that’s not exactly the Jamaican 4×100 relay team.
And I ended up … writing about an amazing ninth inning comeback off Cleveland’s Kerry Wood. A Mike Jacobs homer. A Mark Teahen homer. A Miguel Olivo walk (maybe the most amazing thing of all — it was his second of the year). A David DeJesus triple into the gap. A sac fly by Willie Bloomquist. The Royals first big-time ninth inning comeback in five years.
Baseball is a great game isn’t it?*
*Exception: It is not a great game if you have the Cleveland Indians bullpen. Yowzah. That bullpen ERA now is 5.91. That bullpen has now allowed 23 home runs. That’s not good.
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Circle me Bert.
Mike Jacobs = Dave Kingman
1st!!!
5 years? really?
Shoot me now.
The Indians, with all due respect to the workmanlike efforts of Aaron Laffey, have exactly One Pitching Asset. How about we bend over backwards to make HIM happy rather than worry about whether Kerry Bloody Wood is upset at missing out on a save opportunity?
Lee was at 102 pitches, IIRC. With Jacobs and Teahen coming up (2nd and 3rd), let him finish the damn game.
Fire me.
It’s great to be on the other end of a bullpen Hostmonster once in a while
Great article in the Kansas City Star, Joe, about last night’s game. Everyone should read it. Here’s the link: I don’t work for Joe or the paper. Just a huge JoePo fan.
http://www.kansascity.com/180/story/1206867.html?storylink=omni_popular
^^^golf claps^^^
Joe, apparently you haven’t noticed the Nationals’ bullpen. It, is, so, awful. I wish it were below 6 like the Indians’.
To #5:
Teahen is actually over .300 lifetime against Lee. After yesterday he is 15/41 = .366 with 2 homers.
And in a much smaller sample size Jacobs is 2 for 6.
Olivo usually crushes lefties, but not Lee, 4 for 25 with 9 Ks.
The decision to go to Wood can be argued against, especially since I KNOW there was no way the Indians lose if he stays in, but it wasn’t really that bad of a decision. Your stud closer should be able to hold a 3 run lead no matter who he is facing.
Wood is a stud closer?
They pay him like he is a stud closer, two years/20 mill.
Sam Mellinger of the Star had the line of the night. With the count 3-1 on Olivo, apparently Miguel actually sat the bat on his shoulder, or as Sam put it, he put his bat in the timeout corner.
I will defer to Keith Law’s judgement and refer to the Cleveland bullpen as “ipecacular”.
Joe-
A few weeks ago you did an interesting analysis on batting averages based off the count. Last night during the telecast Frank White was talking about hitters who were great two strike hitters. My question is as follows: is there such a thing? Is there any statistical proof that there have been hitters who were great hitters with two strikes, or is this just a reputation a hitter gets when in fact there is no data to support the claim? My guess is that a hitter may have a few years where they can be an outlier, but over the course of their career they regress toward the mean.
Aaron #10:
Your points are well-taken, although I hope they did not drive Wedge’s decision in any way.
Simply put, Cliff Lee has been (and was last night) pitching very well. Kerry Wood has not. His quotes after the game about throwing low fastballs to low fastball hitter Mike Jacobs and saying he has no other pitch make me supremely angry.
It’s a very common decision, one most managers would make, and quite defensible (Cleveland has no chance to compete unless its closer pitches well, so if he does or doesn’t, you have to bring him in to have any chance). Blowing an 8-7 lead to Tampa Friday and giving up an RBI double to the opposing AL pitcher Sunday (because you are playing the 1B out of position in LF) and blowing that game last night make it hard to think rationally about the team.
http://www.theclevelandfan.com/article_detail.php?blgId=4660
Hey now, we can’t have a terrible bullpen party and leave out my Angels.
They are sandwiched right in between the Tribe and the Nats with a(n?) hearty ERA of 5.99. (It was 6.49 last week.)
They have 10 losses to their name already (all very well-deserved – no Johan losses here) and Scott Shields has a glorious K/BB ratio of .80 (12/10) to accompany his 7.36 ERA in 14.2 IP.
What makes it all the more heartbreaking is that at this time last week, the Angels had the best ERA of any starting rotation in baseball at 3.51 and yet their record was just 18-15.
Of course, then they visited the Texas funhouse and their ERA rocketed up to 4.00, but what can you do?
Joe,
I could not find any other outlet by which to respond to your column regarding Carlos Beltran and what you believe are unfair attacks on him by Steve Phillips. The only problem with your premise is that, unfortunately–Phillips is spot on correct in pointing out Beltran’s inconsistencies. Beltran does fail to deliver in the clutch time and again-this year’s numbers notwithstanding. He plays without any emotion whatsoever-conjuring images of a cigar store indian. Fom Kansas City, your study of his game is lacking. As a devoted Mets fan here in New York, Beltran is readily seen a player with a “low baseball IQ.” He often throws to the wrong base. He’ll often bunt with a runner on second, when the situation calls for his team’s #3 or 4 hitter(him) to swing away and drive the ball to bust open a close game. Historically he has come up small in the clutch with the Mets. Defensively, he is excellent moving from gap to gap. However, only a daily and astute observer of Beltran would know that the man plays the deepest center field of any outfielder in the majors and often does not make the plays in front of him. How many runs do these “non-errors” cost his team? He lacks instinct, passion and is often oddly detached from the game. Phillips’ assessment is on the money.
Oops. Shields’ K/BB is 10/12, not 12/10.
Still .80 and still awful.
Keith at #15:
Depends on how you look at it. I doubt you would find any evidence that anyone is better as a 2 strike hitter than without 2 strikes, but some batters are definitely better 2 strike hitters than other batters are. For instance, Albert Pujols numbers as a 2 strike hitter are OK for a mortal: .269/.336/.481 OPS of .817. Many players would be happy for that hitting line for all occasions. Therefore, you could say he is a good 2 strike hitter, especially comparing him to Jim Thome, for instance: .173/.305/.337, OPS of .642.
In short, you can say some players are good 2 strike hitters, if you mean in comparison to other players, but I doubt you will find anyone who is a good 2 strike hitter in comparison to himself.
Al Sternberg -
Perhaps you are forgetting about all the years Beltran played for the Royals. You know, that little midwest team in that little city you New Yorkers forget about, Kansas City. The K is 410 at center field and has a lot of ground to cover. I would say Poz has a lot of “daily and astute” observations of Beltran.
If you New Yorkers are so sick of him, KC would love to take him back.
Good to know that Steve Phillips has a keyboard and identifies himself as Al Sternberg on the internet.
Al Sternberg (#18),
I’ve been a pssionate Met fan all my life, and I can readily say that you and all of the fans like you, are a bunch of ignoramuses. Philips comment is not “spot on”, it’s idiotic. Would you rather have Brian McRae or one of the other of the parade of awful CF’s Philips provided as GM? The best comparison I can think of to this Mets team is the Expos of the early 80’s, who were consistently competitive and couldn;t win anythign because they had enormous strengths but were undone by huge holes in the team. Beltran, Wright, Reyes and Santana are not the problem, they are the reason the team is competitive. Minaya’s inability to find even moderately adequate SP for the back of the roation (Livan Hernandez, really?), and inability to find a bat for either corner OF position since Moises got old have much more to do with the Mets problems than any perceived inadequacies of Carlos Beltran. You may think he allows balls to fall in front of him, but every legitimate fielding system rates Beltran as good to outstanding. Go back to WFAN and complain to Beningo about this nonsense. This is an enlightened baseball community…
Tampa Mike:
You are kinder than me. I had to delete what I had typed about the Mets fan comments.
To further undermine his comments, Beltran’s career “clutch” stats are in line with his stats overall, as are his Mets’ “clutch” stats in line with his Mets stats overall. There is no proof that he comes up small in the clutch, even under the “bright lights” in NY.
And, as any Astros (or Cardinals for that matter) fan will tell you, he has a pretty darned good postseason record, which further undermines the idea that he doesn’t have clutchiness.
He is a glider, just like the Royals CF of my youth (A.O.), sometimes they don’t look like they care like the guys who are always going full bore (think Lenny Dykstra), but Beltran’s fielding numbers are pretty good. All of his fielding numbers on baseballreference.com show that he has above average range for a CF. I suppose he could be letting singles drop in front of him, but he must be making more plays in the gaps or over his head, because he is making more plays than the average CF is, according to all the fielding information out there. (and I guess I would rather singles be falling in front of my CF than doubles and triples over his head and past him in the gaps)
Yeah, I would trade back for Carlos. We will give the Mets Joe Foy for him straight up.
This bullpen makes me very sad.
Very sad.
My father has already given up and won’t watch them anymore.
Joe, off subject but I thought you might want to read what Phillips said in his chat today about Beltran on ESPN:
Steve Phillips: (1:28 PM ET ) If the Mets don’t make the playoffs, I firmly believe they need to reconfigure the core of this team. While Beltran does have talent, I just don’t see him as a winning player. Even after my comments on Sunday night, Beltran let a fly ball drop in between himself and Angel Pagan in the Dodger game. I see him putting up numbers but not making plays to win games. I would take Torii Hunter, Grady Sizemore, Curtis Granderson, and Nate McLouth over Beltran, and use the financial difference to improve the team in other ways. Beltran isn’t a $17 million dollar a year player. He just doesn’t have the kind of impact for that kind of money.
Steve Phillips: (1:30 PM ET ) Many people think that Alex Rodriguez is the best player in the game, but he’s never won anything. I look at Beltran in a similar fashion as Rodriguez–a great talent that just doesn’t seem to have what it takes to win championships. Maybe the Mets can keep him and add pieces to the core around him and still win. But when you’re dealing with a budget and the screams of immediacy in New York, I’m not sure the Mets can wait to piece it together around him. I know there are a lot of people who disagree with me, but it’s just the way I see it. Beltran is a very good person and a solid citizen, in addition to being a guy who puts up numbers. I like him, I just don’t think they can win with him.
Al Sternberg- Send Carlos back to KC if you no likey!
To any mets fan who wants to complain about their cf playing too deep and coming up small, come talk to this Giants fan. I’ll set ya straight.
“I would take Torii Hunter, Grady Sizemore, Curtis Granderson, and Nate McLouth over Beltran”
O.M.G.
“I would take Torii Hunter, Grady Sizemore, Curtis Granderson, and Nate McLouth over Beltran”
Is it possible that Jon Miller makes people stupid?
Al Sternberg your analysis is totally HostMonster.
For example
“He’ll often bunt with a runner on second, when the situation calls for his team’s #3 or 4 hitter(him) to swing away and drive the ball to bust open a close game”
Surely he is being given the signal to bunt by the manager in this situation? What happens when he moves the runner over who then scores on a sac fly? Can you tell me where I can get my baseball IQ tested? Will you convinve Omar Minaya to trade Carlos Beltran for Aaron Rowand please?
Siberian (#29), why are you surprised that Philips “would take Torii Hunter, Grady Sizemore, Curtis Granderson, and Nate McLouth over Beltran”? I bet the four of them combined could cover more ground than Beltran.
WRT Carlos Beltran: the Dodgers beat the Mets Monday night in large part because Carlos Beltran, the center fielder, who says he called for an easy fly ball six times, still backed away from the left fielder at the last moment, turning an easy first out of the bottom of the 11th inning into a two base error. Now yes, the Mets did a lot of highly questionable things as well as that one (missing third base, failing to throw to the catcher from 50 feet away with a force and the runner barely halfway home, not to mention three errors earlier in the game) but if Beltran is really that good, he’s going to knock down the left fielder. He’ll only have to do it once. Now forevermore there will be doubt in the Mets outfield, and motivation for opposing fans to yell so loudly that calls for the ball won’t be heard.
But what’s worse to me is that Beltran then hung his left fielder out to dry. “I called for it like six times,” he said, if I recall correctly. A team player does not do that. A team player tells the manager what happened, let the manager ream out the left fielder, and publicly says, “Obviously we didn’t communicate well enough out there. Next game we’ll get it right.” Beltran showed negative leadership Monday night. I’m sorry, but that one game is enough for me to move him behind Pujols (and probably several middle infielders) as the best player in baseball).
There were whispers of criticism regarding AO’s lack of “aggressiveness” too. He and Beltran don’t run the bases like Hal McRae and Darryl Porter or play defense like Tom Poquette, but they are better at both than any of those mentioned. Some players’ best efforts come from brute force and others succeed through grace, trickery and deceit. There is room in baseball for both kinds. I always thought Otis was more fun to watch than George Brett, but that’s just a matter of taste. I never saw him crash into the fence even once, but he was AWFULLY good in CF and he knew what to do with the ball after he caught it.
A real leader would have run into his left fielder, causing concussions, broken bones, and a really popular youtube video. Shame on Beltran for not causing a collision that would waste the rest of his exorbitant salary while he’s on the DL!
Richard Aronson,
Way to discredit the abilities and talents of a consistently good to excellent veteran baseball player over one play of one game. Sure, that’s totally reasonable. So if he wants to be considered good, next time he should just bowl over a fielder or two and conduct a post game interview more to your liking.
Al Sternberg (#18),
I need not type a thing. TampaMike (#21), Adam (#22), JeffSol (#23), and Brent (#24) rhetorically sodomized and dispatched of your illogical slop. In the words of JeffSol, “Go back to WFAN and complain to Beningo about this nonsense. This is an enlightened baseball community…” Uh-huh… That is timeless.
At this point, I’d take Grady Sizemore over Beltran. But, is Nate McLouth making plays to win games? Don’t the Pirates stink?
Mike, I saw AO crash into the centerfield fence in a 1971 game at old municipal stadium against the Orioles. My little league team was in the bleachers. If you were ever at the stadium, you’ll remember how dead center field had a rectangular area where the fence line was probably thirty feet beyond regular. AO hit the fence in almost a dead run. He had to be carried off the field on a stretcher.
ON a positive note, Terry Crowley hit his first career grand slam. I got the ball!
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Al Sternberg,
Excellent post.
For years I’ve made the point that A-Rod is a selfish player who feasts on mediocre pitching (or a pitcher having the worst game of his career) and struggles against quality pitching. Finally the rest of the world is seeing him for the fraud he truly is. The more important the situation, the worse his play. Who has more 6-RBI games in blowouts than A-Rod? Nobody in the history of the game, that’s who. Beltran isn’t as lame as A-Rod, but he comes close. Ship him back to Kansas City so he can lead the Royals back to last (or 4th) place, which is where they were with him weaving his magic there. Give me a group of team players like Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill and Scotty Brosius — guys whose stat lines looked ordinary but whose performance on the field won games. Keep your primadonnas like A-Rod, Beltran, Bonds and Griffey Jr.. They always remind me of Ralph Kiner and the story ol’ Ralph used to tell about how he asked for a raise after leading the league in home runs and the owner said, “You aren’t getting a raise. We would have come in last place with or without your home runs.” Let us admire how Carlos Beltran hit 8 home runs in the post season in ‘04 when it was time for a new contract. He did more in 2 weeks for Houston than he’d done in 7 years for Kansas City. Ka-ching! Tampa Mike wants him back. Why?