Thursday, August 05, 2004

Random notes from a Pirates loss

I caught most of the Pirates 2-1 loss to the Dodgers last night. Just a few random thoughts:

Josh Fogg bears a slight resemblance to Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Fogg pitches on the razors edge. Even on his best day, you get the feeling that Fogg is just on the verge of giving up home runs to the next 5 hitters in the lineup. No doubt he is a smart pitcher, but guys like Fogg don't age very well. I think there is a great chance that he is out of baseball in 3 years.

Jose Lima is a maniac. I wouldn't be able to tolerate him as a teammate.

Lima bears a slight resemblance to Gastone Moschin, the actor who played the Don of old town New York (Don Fanucci) from the Godfather II.

Big Mac looks like he's getting a lazy eye. Maybe he's always had it and I never noticed.

Jason Kendall gets more 'flare' hits to RF than anybody in the league.

The Dodger trade with the Marlins is remarkable in that the Sabermetric community uniformly believes the Dodgers did great, but the traditional media uniformly thinks the Marlins were the big winners. This is one case where I am squarely in agreement with the Sabermetric guys. Encarnacion is worthless. LoDuca is a nice durable, league average catcher. Don't feed me the BS that his leadership will be missed. Leadership never drove in a run. Mota is a valuable bullpen arm, but the Dodgers got Penny in return. Give me a good starter over a great reliever any day. Choi is already twice the player Encarnacion is, is cheaper, and has alot of room for development. Plus the Dodgers got a decent AA SP prospect, which they immediately flipped to the Diamondbacks in a package to get Steve Finley. Sound like the Dodgers
are big winners here.

Announcers are idiots, part one: Between innings I flipped to the Phillies - Padres game on ESPN. Jim Thome was at the plate in the top of the 3rd inning. There was a man on second, nobody out. The previous 4 batter had all reached base, started by the pitcher who received a lead-off walk from Adam Eaton. Jim Thome proceeds to hit a weak grounder to second base for the first out, moving the man on second base over to third. The ESPN color commentator, don't know who he was, proceeded to explain how it was important that Thome moved the runner over. Hmmm. Let reassess this
situation. You've got a young pitcher on the ropes early in the game. You've got the league leader in home runs, your highest paid player, at the plate with a man in scoring position. If I was managing the Phillies and I found out that Thome intentionally gave up an out in order to move the runner over in this situation, I'd fine him a game's pay. If I need to explain why, then you'll never understand anyway.

Announcers are idiots part two: It amazes me that year after year after year, the Pirates STILL do not know how to run the bases. In fact, terrible baserunning cost them this game, yet Greg Brown and Steve Blass couldn't even be bothered to point it out. Actually, they made excuses for it. Bobby Hill is on second base with 1 out. Jason Kendall hits a flare to shallow centerfield that lands about 30 feet in front of Steve Finley. Hill freezes at second until he is certain the ball will drop, then has to stay at third. I have no idea how Hill thought Finley might even have a shot at this ball. He should have scored walking. Steve Blass makes the excuse that Finley made a 'veteran' play and pretended like he was going to catch the ball. They
immediately showed the replay and you could see that Finley did no such thing. Hill simply either didn't know how deeply Finley was playing, or grossly misjudged the ball. No excuse.

Earlier in the inning, the Pirates had Hill at first, Wigginton at third, and Fogg at the plate with 0 outs. As you would expect, Fogg squares to sacrifice. My jaw dropped when I saw what happened as Fogg took the first pitch. The Dodgers chose to have Beltre and Choi charge, leaving Cora to cover first, and Hernandez to cover second. This strategy left third base unguarded. In this situation, the runner on third should be coached to follow closely behind the third baseman as he charges. There is no risk in doing so as long as nobody is left to cover third. If the third baseman charges too far, you can simply walk home as the throw is made to first on
the sacrifice, otherwise you force them to run you back to third and the bunter is safe at first. Instead, with Beltre almost 60 feet from third base, Wigginton was about 10 feet off the bag. Simply inexcusable, and not even noticed by the announcers.

posted by bkopec @ 1:28 PM   4 comments