Left-Handed Pitchers
LEFTIES
I actually had most of this written to go with the last entry but I thought it made it too long so I left it out. Ironically, it’s now going to make this entry even longer, AND it’s not quite as relevant as it was 2 days ago. But here it is anyway, slightly modified to reflect the last 2 games.
After having played our last 6 games against lefties and dropping the first 4, all at Fenway, a lot is being made about our problems with lefties and how they have to be addressed. I really don’t see what more we can do besides finding a platoon partner for Nixon, which has already been done and maybe didn’t even need to be.
As a team we’re hitting .288 against them. Our other two lefties Damon (.346) and Ortiz (.322) are hitting them extremely well and even if they weren’t, they’re starters who are not going to be platooned. As for the rest of the starting lineup consisting of 4 righties and 2 switch hitters (I’m leaving 2nd base out of this right now as it’s all up in the air over there) it goes like this: Renteria (.353), Varitek (.365), Mueller (.262), Nixon (.255), Millar (.222), and Manny (.202).
As you can see, the only problems we are having are with Nixon, Millar, and Manny. Nixon has been addressed, and since he’s been allowed to face left-handers more since the departure of Payton, he’s actually been hitting them better. This leaves Manny and Millar which is somewhat of an enigma as they are both right-handed hitters who traditionally hit much better against left-handers and Manny has a track record of killing them.
What can we possibly do about that? I don’t really see anything, I think it’s one of those things that needs to work itself out, and after beating up Hendrickson on Wednesday (something we always seem to do to him anyway) and wearing down Buehrle last night, it looks like maybe it’s beginning to turn around.
CRAZY GAME
As I’ve said many times before this is a crazy and unpredictable game, which is one of the things that makes it so great. How else can you explain the Sox winning last night by getting 3 runs as a result of 3 errors made by 2 normally sure-handed fielders?
In the seventh inning, Papi hits what should probably be an inning ending double play ball to Igutchi (5 errors before last night) at second. Instead of getting the double play, it bounces out of his glove for the first error, prompting Damon to head home from third. He then gets a hold of it and fires it home to try to throw out Damon, who slides into Pierzynski as he’s catching the ball, which causes him to drop it and it rolls away from him, resulting in Damon being safe and Renteria moving to 3rd while Ortiz gets to second. A double error, which results in 1 run right there and a second one when Millar gets Renteria home with a sac fly.
Then in the 9th, after Schilling gives up the tying run in the 8th, Manny hits a pop foul to Crede at third. Crede (4 errors before last night) manages to have it bounce out of his glove, setting up the inevitable, which was Manny blasting a shot to left that would have shattered the moon had he been doing a Pepsi commercial, Red 6, White 5, game over.
THE OTHER SOX
A few things that come to mind about these White Sox, they remind me a lot of the Cardinals last year. They do a lot of things good. Good starting pitching, good bullpen, good defense, good base running, a good offense that can beat you different ways, they don’t play small ball quite the same as the Cards did last year, but they have a few players who can steal bases, move runners over, and hit it out of the park.
Also, like the Cards last year, they are running away with their division by taking advantage of a weak schedule both in and out of their division. They have 40 wins against teams that are at or well under 500, including 9 against the pitiful Royals.
You gotta love Ozzie, I do anyway. He makes it sound like everyone is accusing them of playing triple A teams. Of course they’re not triple A teams, but come on Ozzie, even you know you haven’t played many of the better teams in the league yet. They’ve got a big test coming up as they still have 6 games left against us, and a bunch against the Yankees, Orioles, Angels, and Rangers. Plus they still have 13 left against Minnesota, although they are an impressive 4-1 against them so far. They also still get to play a lot of games against the other 3 teams in their division, the Tigers, Indians, and Royals.
I’m not saying they are going to fail this test, I’m just saying it should be interesting to watch as this will give us a much better indication of how good this team is. I personally think that they will continue to follow the path of the ‘04’ Cardinals. That is, they will win the division, and be able to beat any of the weaker teams that might make it into the playoffs, but get taken out by the first juggernaut they go up against. The problem is, unlike the NL playoffs of last year, there might not be any weaker teams in the AL playoffs this year.
It’s quite possible that they could end up being the weakest team in there, despite possibly having the best record. They could find themselves in the first and/or second rounds facing the likes of the Red Sox, Yankees, or Angels all of whom should be better than them come playoff time (not that they can’t beat them). Of course it could also be the Twins (in the second round), A’s, Rangers, or Orioles, since we all know that anything can, and does, happen in this game.
TRADE TALK
With 10 days left to the trading deadline, this is always both a fun and anguishing time of year. We hear every proposal under the sun, from the very mundane to the completely insane. Although most never happen, we usually find out that a lot of them were only rumors while others ended up coming a lot closer to happening than we thought. Many times, trades end up materializing at the last minute, things we never even imagined, such as the one that Theo made last year.
It seems as though the 3 team deal involving Mueller and Millar that would net us Burnett and Romero is pretty much dead, which is fine with me as I didn’t want to lose Mueller anyway. And it looks like Theo is exploring other ways (Arroyo and a prospect?) to get Burnett so that’s even better. Although I would never argue with a trade that brings us a starting pitcher like that, I still think the only thing we REALLY need is another arm out of the bullpen.
I actually had most of this written to go with the last entry but I thought it made it too long so I left it out. Ironically, it’s now going to make this entry even longer, AND it’s not quite as relevant as it was 2 days ago. But here it is anyway, slightly modified to reflect the last 2 games.
After having played our last 6 games against lefties and dropping the first 4, all at Fenway, a lot is being made about our problems with lefties and how they have to be addressed. I really don’t see what more we can do besides finding a platoon partner for Nixon, which has already been done and maybe didn’t even need to be.
As a team we’re hitting .288 against them. Our other two lefties Damon (.346) and Ortiz (.322) are hitting them extremely well and even if they weren’t, they’re starters who are not going to be platooned. As for the rest of the starting lineup consisting of 4 righties and 2 switch hitters (I’m leaving 2nd base out of this right now as it’s all up in the air over there) it goes like this: Renteria (.353), Varitek (.365), Mueller (.262), Nixon (.255), Millar (.222), and Manny (.202).
As you can see, the only problems we are having are with Nixon, Millar, and Manny. Nixon has been addressed, and since he’s been allowed to face left-handers more since the departure of Payton, he’s actually been hitting them better. This leaves Manny and Millar which is somewhat of an enigma as they are both right-handed hitters who traditionally hit much better against left-handers and Manny has a track record of killing them.
What can we possibly do about that? I don’t really see anything, I think it’s one of those things that needs to work itself out, and after beating up Hendrickson on Wednesday (something we always seem to do to him anyway) and wearing down Buehrle last night, it looks like maybe it’s beginning to turn around.
CRAZY GAME
As I’ve said many times before this is a crazy and unpredictable game, which is one of the things that makes it so great. How else can you explain the Sox winning last night by getting 3 runs as a result of 3 errors made by 2 normally sure-handed fielders?
In the seventh inning, Papi hits what should probably be an inning ending double play ball to Igutchi (5 errors before last night) at second. Instead of getting the double play, it bounces out of his glove for the first error, prompting Damon to head home from third. He then gets a hold of it and fires it home to try to throw out Damon, who slides into Pierzynski as he’s catching the ball, which causes him to drop it and it rolls away from him, resulting in Damon being safe and Renteria moving to 3rd while Ortiz gets to second. A double error, which results in 1 run right there and a second one when Millar gets Renteria home with a sac fly.
Then in the 9th, after Schilling gives up the tying run in the 8th, Manny hits a pop foul to Crede at third. Crede (4 errors before last night) manages to have it bounce out of his glove, setting up the inevitable, which was Manny blasting a shot to left that would have shattered the moon had he been doing a Pepsi commercial, Red 6, White 5, game over.
THE OTHER SOX
A few things that come to mind about these White Sox, they remind me a lot of the Cardinals last year. They do a lot of things good. Good starting pitching, good bullpen, good defense, good base running, a good offense that can beat you different ways, they don’t play small ball quite the same as the Cards did last year, but they have a few players who can steal bases, move runners over, and hit it out of the park.
Also, like the Cards last year, they are running away with their division by taking advantage of a weak schedule both in and out of their division. They have 40 wins against teams that are at or well under 500, including 9 against the pitiful Royals.
You gotta love Ozzie, I do anyway. He makes it sound like everyone is accusing them of playing triple A teams. Of course they’re not triple A teams, but come on Ozzie, even you know you haven’t played many of the better teams in the league yet. They’ve got a big test coming up as they still have 6 games left against us, and a bunch against the Yankees, Orioles, Angels, and Rangers. Plus they still have 13 left against Minnesota, although they are an impressive 4-1 against them so far. They also still get to play a lot of games against the other 3 teams in their division, the Tigers, Indians, and Royals.
I’m not saying they are going to fail this test, I’m just saying it should be interesting to watch as this will give us a much better indication of how good this team is. I personally think that they will continue to follow the path of the ‘04’ Cardinals. That is, they will win the division, and be able to beat any of the weaker teams that might make it into the playoffs, but get taken out by the first juggernaut they go up against. The problem is, unlike the NL playoffs of last year, there might not be any weaker teams in the AL playoffs this year.
It’s quite possible that they could end up being the weakest team in there, despite possibly having the best record. They could find themselves in the first and/or second rounds facing the likes of the Red Sox, Yankees, or Angels all of whom should be better than them come playoff time (not that they can’t beat them). Of course it could also be the Twins (in the second round), A’s, Rangers, or Orioles, since we all know that anything can, and does, happen in this game.
TRADE TALK
With 10 days left to the trading deadline, this is always both a fun and anguishing time of year. We hear every proposal under the sun, from the very mundane to the completely insane. Although most never happen, we usually find out that a lot of them were only rumors while others ended up coming a lot closer to happening than we thought. Many times, trades end up materializing at the last minute, things we never even imagined, such as the one that Theo made last year.
It seems as though the 3 team deal involving Mueller and Millar that would net us Burnett and Romero is pretty much dead, which is fine with me as I didn’t want to lose Mueller anyway. And it looks like Theo is exploring other ways (Arroyo and a prospect?) to get Burnett so that’s even better. Although I would never argue with a trade that brings us a starting pitcher like that, I still think the only thing we REALLY need is another arm out of the bullpen.
posted by Bob at 7/22/2005 10:03:00 AM
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