Saturday, June 11, 2011
About That Offense
As has often been the case, we do not update much on weekends. However, I just wanted to point out that the Bucs offense, which SmizBlog pointed out as #1 in June has scored 4 runs in the last 30 innings.
Friday, June 10, 2011
I've Seen This Fish Before
This is certainly not to say that I expect to see an epic 37-65 collapse a la the 2005 30-30 Bucs. Nope, I just want to know what the Bucs record is in games they can either reach or eclipse .500 beyond April? Like the great Marvin Lee Aday said " Two Out of Three Ain't Bad". That's probably the 8th time I've quoted Meat Loaf during the less than one whole month's existence of The Mutiny, but it still holds true. In pro sports, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, especially when it comes to winning. Ironically, 2/3 will likely get you a failing grade on a majority of exams you take during your life, but I digress.
Last night, the Battlin' Bucs had a chance to propel themselves over .500. They failed to do so. The game was actually quite boring, scoreless heading into the top of the 8th inning. Jeff Karstens, who has had to prove himself time and time again as a MLB starter, pitched 7 scoreless innings for the Bucs, but he exited with the game tied 0-0 as the Bucs had trouble getting a runner past second base, amassing 5 hits, all of which were singles. Actually, they didn't just have trouble getting a single runner past second base, they didn't get one. All night. You won't find that anywhere in the PG write up, just that the Bucs couldn't get o Josh Collmenter but they did manage to chip away at his pitch count. When the part of a game summary article dedicated to your offense talks only about your pitcher's 11 pitch at-bat against his mound opponent, you probably didn't do much.
In the Top of the 8th, All-Star Candidate Chris Resop gave up a 2-run bomb for the only scoring of the game. The Bucs couldn't come back from the dead this time, losing by a final of 2-0 and falling back below .500 to 30-31. Who cares, Jake Taylor isn't concerned with .500 and he hates the fans who are, he is focused on winning a championship! Putting the cart before the horse much?
Player of the Game: Josh Collmenter
HeadScratcher of the Night: I only watched sparingly after 6 innings of 0-0 baseball. But Walker GIDP with Cutch on and nobody out wasn't awesome. It's no secret I am a huge fan of Cutch and Walker, but they both do things that drive me nuts. Cutch's Evelyn Gardner impression ( not hitting the cutoff man) drives me up a wall. So does Walker's penchant for hitting into double plays at a Ripken like pace.
Face Palm of the Night: Not getting a runner past second base all night. WOW.
SmizBlog posted yesterday that the Bucs offense was the best in the NL in June. The Bucs were first in the NL in runs heading into last night's game as well as first in slugging and OPS. They are also first in total hits, but are middle of the pack in extra base hits and 12th out of 16 in home runs. However, they were first in Sac Flies, because that is one of their main sources of runs. These stats also cover the enormous sample size of 7 games, therefore it was easy to deduce the offensive juggernaut Cutch had predicted before the season was finally starting to show up. 3 runs in the last 21 innings should be enough to quell some of those prematurely celebrating, such as the Bucs broadcasting team, who are all ready to place a nice shiny ribbon around this season.
Unfortunately, to determine the quality of a baseball team, 7 games worth of stats isn't very telling. We still sit at 23rd in MLB in runs scored, 25th in batting average, 22nd in OBP, and 26th in slugging. The June stats might be a bit inflated, as well. Since scoring 17 runs combined on June 1st and 2nd, the team has scored 22 runs in the last 6 games, which isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. But 43.5% of the runs scored in June came in the first 2 games, 56.5% in the next 6. Consistency is a major issue for any ballclub trying to maintain long term success and the Bus have been lacking in terms of consistently hitting. That's not to say the June numbers aren't a positive sign, but we should put them in perspective before getting overly excited. SmizBlog also pointed out that the Bucs were 6th in the NL runs per game in May, which is encouraging, but they were 11th in total runs, DEAD LAST in batting average, 9/16 in .OBP, 13/16 in SLG %, 12/16 in OPS, 9/16 in HR, DEAD LAST in total hits, and 14/16 in XBH.
This is why pointing to a single stat for proof of anything regarding a team's overall performance is virtually pointless. But nothing surprises me anymore. I saw a guy on SmizBlog yesterday suggest that we could get a good return for Xavier Paul because he could lead off for a lot of teams! They suggested this 2011 30-30 squad won't collapse like the 2005 squad simply because the 2005 squad had McClatchy at the helm. Smiz loved that, noting it as a compliment to Big Bob! In reality, that 2005 team had the SAME CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD BOB NUTTING, but we will ignore those facts. Facts, after all, are a stubborn thing.
Someone also patted Opie on the back for bringing in Tabata, Karstens,Correia, Morton, Overbay, Resop, Hanrahan, and Cedeno. Morton is money this year but he was 2-12 with 7+ ERA last season, Overpaid has been marginal at best, and I don't see how Cedeno is considered to be very good or at the least consistent. Correia has been excellent thus far but his career numbers show that he is prone to tailing off big time between June and August. Last season, he had a strong July between a dismal June and August. But that strong july was 5 starts against 4 teams with losing records, the Bucs being one, and in that one start against a team with a winning record he gave up 5ER in 5IP. Tabata, Resop, Karstens, and Hanrahan have all been good pickups by Opie. BUT, let's not forget Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Dana Eveland, Jeff Clement, Tim Alderson, Aki Iwamura, Latings Milledge, Raul Chavez, Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby, Kevin Hart, etc., etc. etc. Neal has made some good deals, he's made some bad deals, he's done NOTHING to prove he is any type of genius. After all, Cutch and Walker are our 2 best offensive players. They were drafted by Littlefield, who was AWFUL. Someone pointed out that while Littlefield drafted them, Opie should get credit for their performance because he brought them up. Right, he brought them up? Didn't he basically refuse to bring up Walker at one point?
Anyways, obviously, this was supposed to be a recap of last night's game, but when you lose 2-0, there isn't much to talk about. I figured, after being shut out and scoring 3 runs in the last 21 innings, it was a good time to point out that using numbers from 7 games of a 162 game season pretty much don't tell the entire story and stats can't always be taken at face value.SmizBlog chalked up last night's loss to the Bucs not being able to catch a break. You have to create a chance to catch a break in the first place, right?
Bottom line is this: Bucs are 5-3 so far in June. Those are some pretty awesome numbers for them and they are also 12-8 since The Mutiny launched! Therefore, Pucks_and_Pols and myself deserve all of the credit for the recent up turn in performance! The Mets are hobbling into town and they are just not a very good baseball team despite taking 2 of 3 from the Braves and Brew Crew espectively. Winning 2/3 from them should be doable. That would pit the Bucs at 32-32 halfway through June. Luckily, the manager isn't concerned with playing .500 baseball.
Last night, the Battlin' Bucs had a chance to propel themselves over .500. They failed to do so. The game was actually quite boring, scoreless heading into the top of the 8th inning. Jeff Karstens, who has had to prove himself time and time again as a MLB starter, pitched 7 scoreless innings for the Bucs, but he exited with the game tied 0-0 as the Bucs had trouble getting a runner past second base, amassing 5 hits, all of which were singles. Actually, they didn't just have trouble getting a single runner past second base, they didn't get one. All night. You won't find that anywhere in the PG write up, just that the Bucs couldn't get o Josh Collmenter but they did manage to chip away at his pitch count. When the part of a game summary article dedicated to your offense talks only about your pitcher's 11 pitch at-bat against his mound opponent, you probably didn't do much.
In the Top of the 8th, All-Star Candidate Chris Resop gave up a 2-run bomb for the only scoring of the game. The Bucs couldn't come back from the dead this time, losing by a final of 2-0 and falling back below .500 to 30-31. Who cares, Jake Taylor isn't concerned with .500 and he hates the fans who are, he is focused on winning a championship! Putting the cart before the horse much?
Player of the Game: Josh Collmenter
HeadScratcher of the Night: I only watched sparingly after 6 innings of 0-0 baseball. But Walker GIDP with Cutch on and nobody out wasn't awesome. It's no secret I am a huge fan of Cutch and Walker, but they both do things that drive me nuts. Cutch's Evelyn Gardner impression ( not hitting the cutoff man) drives me up a wall. So does Walker's penchant for hitting into double plays at a Ripken like pace.
Face Palm of the Night: Not getting a runner past second base all night. WOW.
SmizBlog posted yesterday that the Bucs offense was the best in the NL in June. The Bucs were first in the NL in runs heading into last night's game as well as first in slugging and OPS. They are also first in total hits, but are middle of the pack in extra base hits and 12th out of 16 in home runs. However, they were first in Sac Flies, because that is one of their main sources of runs. These stats also cover the enormous sample size of 7 games, therefore it was easy to deduce the offensive juggernaut Cutch had predicted before the season was finally starting to show up. 3 runs in the last 21 innings should be enough to quell some of those prematurely celebrating, such as the Bucs broadcasting team, who are all ready to place a nice shiny ribbon around this season.
Unfortunately, to determine the quality of a baseball team, 7 games worth of stats isn't very telling. We still sit at 23rd in MLB in runs scored, 25th in batting average, 22nd in OBP, and 26th in slugging. The June stats might be a bit inflated, as well. Since scoring 17 runs combined on June 1st and 2nd, the team has scored 22 runs in the last 6 games, which isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. But 43.5% of the runs scored in June came in the first 2 games, 56.5% in the next 6. Consistency is a major issue for any ballclub trying to maintain long term success and the Bus have been lacking in terms of consistently hitting. That's not to say the June numbers aren't a positive sign, but we should put them in perspective before getting overly excited. SmizBlog also pointed out that the Bucs were 6th in the NL runs per game in May, which is encouraging, but they were 11th in total runs, DEAD LAST in batting average, 9/16 in .OBP, 13/16 in SLG %, 12/16 in OPS, 9/16 in HR, DEAD LAST in total hits, and 14/16 in XBH.
This is why pointing to a single stat for proof of anything regarding a team's overall performance is virtually pointless. But nothing surprises me anymore. I saw a guy on SmizBlog yesterday suggest that we could get a good return for Xavier Paul because he could lead off for a lot of teams! They suggested this 2011 30-30 squad won't collapse like the 2005 squad simply because the 2005 squad had McClatchy at the helm. Smiz loved that, noting it as a compliment to Big Bob! In reality, that 2005 team had the SAME CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD BOB NUTTING, but we will ignore those facts. Facts, after all, are a stubborn thing.
Someone also patted Opie on the back for bringing in Tabata, Karstens,Correia, Morton, Overbay, Resop, Hanrahan, and Cedeno. Morton is money this year but he was 2-12 with 7+ ERA last season, Overpaid has been marginal at best, and I don't see how Cedeno is considered to be very good or at the least consistent. Correia has been excellent thus far but his career numbers show that he is prone to tailing off big time between June and August. Last season, he had a strong July between a dismal June and August. But that strong july was 5 starts against 4 teams with losing records, the Bucs being one, and in that one start against a team with a winning record he gave up 5ER in 5IP. Tabata, Resop, Karstens, and Hanrahan have all been good pickups by Opie. BUT, let's not forget Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Dana Eveland, Jeff Clement, Tim Alderson, Aki Iwamura, Latings Milledge, Raul Chavez, Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby, Kevin Hart, etc., etc. etc. Neal has made some good deals, he's made some bad deals, he's done NOTHING to prove he is any type of genius. After all, Cutch and Walker are our 2 best offensive players. They were drafted by Littlefield, who was AWFUL. Someone pointed out that while Littlefield drafted them, Opie should get credit for their performance because he brought them up. Right, he brought them up? Didn't he basically refuse to bring up Walker at one point?
Anyways, obviously, this was supposed to be a recap of last night's game, but when you lose 2-0, there isn't much to talk about. I figured, after being shut out and scoring 3 runs in the last 21 innings, it was a good time to point out that using numbers from 7 games of a 162 game season pretty much don't tell the entire story and stats can't always be taken at face value.SmizBlog chalked up last night's loss to the Bucs not being able to catch a break. You have to create a chance to catch a break in the first place, right?
Bottom line is this: Bucs are 5-3 so far in June. Those are some pretty awesome numbers for them and they are also 12-8 since The Mutiny launched! Therefore, Pucks_and_Pols and myself deserve all of the credit for the recent up turn in performance! The Mets are hobbling into town and they are just not a very good baseball team despite taking 2 of 3 from the Braves and Brew Crew espectively. Winning 2/3 from them should be doable. That would pit the Bucs at 32-32 halfway through June. Luckily, the manager isn't concerned with playing .500 baseball.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
McCLUTCHen
Anti or Pro, let's pull a Ted Leonsis and collectively enjoy that on June 9th, the Bucs are a .500 team this late in a season for the first time in 6 years. I will, for today, set aside the petty fact that it has been SIX YEARS since the team was .500 in June or later and give credit where credit is due.
Anybody expecting to see an old school pitcher's duel between current Bucco hurler Paul Maholm and former phenom Zach Duke got exactly that. Being pitted against a close friend and former long-time teammate seems to often bring out the best in competitors and we certainly saw living proof of that last evening. Maholm was awesome, to say the least. 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3BB amd 4K. Duke was not too far off Maholm's pace, though, going 7IP, giving up 1 run on 9 hits and notching one strikeout. It was a typical Maholm outing in that he pitched well but got little run support. It was a typical Duke outing, too; giving up a lot of hits but not incurring much total damage. However, the story of this game are the Brothers McCutchen, Daniel and Andrew, clearly identical twins.
As has been the case for the 2011 edition of the Bucs, the team scrapped on when it looked like another W was going to slip through their fingers. But not these Bucs, at least not yet. Bucs drew first blood when Cutch brought in Tabata with a sac fly to notch our only run scored in regulation. Tabata was nothing short of outstanding last night, either. Despite his recent struggles, likely due to a nagging injury, he has been heating up and a 4 for 6 night at the plate certainly can't hurt the average. Maholm didn't give up a hit until there was one out in the 4th and he left the game after six innings with a 1-0 lead intact. The Bucs were unable to get to Duke, who exited after the 7th and the Dbacks tied it up in the 8th. Stephen Drew, in a pinch hitting role, singled off of Jose Veras to score Kelly Johnson and tie the game at 1-1. Rookie Tony Watson was called upon to make his major league debut in a tie game with men on base and proceeded to strike out the first two batters he faced, ending the inning. What a gutsy move by Jake Taylor to go to the rookie here and what a gutsy performance in that situation, your MLB debut, to strike out two guys in a tie game with men on base.
The Bucs looked like they were poised to take the lead back in the bottom half of the 8th, but the Dbacks defense was not having any of it. Cutch smoked a hot shot between 3rd and short, only to see a leaping Stephen Drew make an outstanding catch. Drew did not start in order to get more right handed bats against Maholm, but he made a very strong case to be player of the game in this contest. The Pride of PR followed Cutch by smashing a drive down the first base line only to see Cuban DefectorPedro Cerrano Juan Miranda make an equally outstanding catch to rob him. Walker had been denied a hit on another great effort in his previous at bat, as well. The 9th saw Joel Hanrahan trot out and for the second straight night, he was dominant, getting the Dbacks down 1-2-3 but the Bucs weren't able to win it in the home half of the inning and we headed to extra frames.
The Dbacks took the lead in the 10th when Daniel Moskos surrendered his first earned run in the majors. Kelly Johnson led off with a single and was bunted to 2nd base by Ian Kennedy. Stephen Drew promptly singled up the middle to score Johnson and Cutch couldn't handle the ball cleanly, allowing Drew to have second on his error. Moskos IBB-ed Upton to put the force on but didn't end up needing, retiring Young and Miranda to end the inning. The Bucs were not going down without a fight, though, and Cutch was going to lead the charge. Following an Xavier Paul strikeout, Cutch blasted a ground rule double to right, bringing up the Bucs most clutch hitter in the Pride of PR. Walker was 0 for 4 coming into this at bat but he had hit the ball very hard and deep his first 2 at-bats and was robbed in the previous 2. Something had to give way and wouldn't you know it; it did. Walker singled up the middle and Cutch FLEW home to tie it at 2-2. GI Jones PH for Moskos, but fanned with Walker swiping 2nd in the process. Dusty Brown was up with the game on his bat and did exactly what a 29 year old with 20 major league games under his belt would do- not get the run home.
The Dbacks threatened in the 11th with the Guy Who Cried replacing Moskos. Nady led off with a double and moved to 3rd on a single by Disney Villain Henry Blanco. However, the Guy Who Cried got Ryan Roberts to fan and Kelly Johnson to ground into an inning ending double play. The Bucs managed 2 baserunners in the bottom of the 11th with back to back 2 out singles from Brandon Wood and Jose Tabata. Xavier Paul couldn't get Wood home and we moved on to the 12th. The Guy Who Cried found himself in trouble again, this time allowing a lead off single to Gerardo Parra, who stole second and then moved to third on a wild pitch with 2 outs. I said it yesterday and I reiterate, the number of Wild Pitches and Passed Balls this team racks up is mind boggling. Anyways, D-Cutch walked Young intentionally but got Sean Burroughs, who hasn't been in the majors since 2006, to fly out. The bottom of the 12 was one of the shortest innings in recent memory, lasting all of 6 pitches and one batter. Cutch stepped into the batters box with ending the game in mind and did exactly that by depositing a 3-2 pitch high and JUST inside the left field fair pole to give the Bucs the walk off win! 30-30! The Guy Who Cried gets the W and the Box Score is McCutchen Mania. W- D. McCutchen, HR- A.McCutchen RBI- A. McCutchen 2 .Final Count: Bucs 3, Dbacks 2 in 12 innings.
Player of the Game: Cutch. Little doubt about this one. 3 for 5, 2 RBI 2-runs scored including the game tying run in the bottom of the 10th and game winning walk-off HR in the 12th. Tabata, Drew, Maholm, and Duke all made strong cases, but Cutch WAS the Bucs scoring offense. Accounting for every run in one way or another.
Head Scratcher of the Night- This goes to Kirk Gibson for not playing Stephen Drew until late. Even if he is only batting .231 vs lefties, he still has driven in 14 of his 35 runs against them. He came off the bench to go 2 for 3 and knock in both Dbacks runs as well as making a tremendous catch in the bottom of the 8th.
Face Palm of the Night: Once again, the pitchers and catchers for the Bucs have GOT to do something about the wild pitches, passed balls, and blocked balls in general. I cannot recall seeing our catchers blocking so many pitches in the dirt nor dropping as many pitches right in their mitt. We somehow staved off any official PB's, but Brown dropped another one that hit him square in the mitt and nearly allowed a runner to freely move 90 feet closer to home. Jake Taylor was a great catcher, maybe Hurdle should consult his alter ego and seek some advice.
In the end, the Bucs are in good shape right now and that is GREAT. Now, Nutters will get down on me for not pulling the aforementioned Ted Leonsis and writing a One Shining Moment piece where I declare we have arrived, but the Bucs have to keep on rolling. We can't see a losing streak here, we've got to sweep this series and take 2 out of 3 from the Mets. That would put us at 33-31 or uncharted waters known as a WINNING RECORD. There is a lot of baseball to be played and if the Bucs can continue the next 102 games the same way they have treated the first 60, the Streak may actually come to an end in 2011. That would REALLY be an awesome event to witness, but history tells me it is unlikely.I truly hope that I am wrong.
Also, we need to develop nicknames for the following: Hanrahan, Tabata, Cedeno, and Snyder.
Anybody expecting to see an old school pitcher's duel between current Bucco hurler Paul Maholm and former phenom Zach Duke got exactly that. Being pitted against a close friend and former long-time teammate seems to often bring out the best in competitors and we certainly saw living proof of that last evening. Maholm was awesome, to say the least. 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3BB amd 4K. Duke was not too far off Maholm's pace, though, going 7IP, giving up 1 run on 9 hits and notching one strikeout. It was a typical Maholm outing in that he pitched well but got little run support. It was a typical Duke outing, too; giving up a lot of hits but not incurring much total damage. However, the story of this game are the Brothers McCutchen, Daniel and Andrew, clearly identical twins.
As has been the case for the 2011 edition of the Bucs, the team scrapped on when it looked like another W was going to slip through their fingers. But not these Bucs, at least not yet. Bucs drew first blood when Cutch brought in Tabata with a sac fly to notch our only run scored in regulation. Tabata was nothing short of outstanding last night, either. Despite his recent struggles, likely due to a nagging injury, he has been heating up and a 4 for 6 night at the plate certainly can't hurt the average. Maholm didn't give up a hit until there was one out in the 4th and he left the game after six innings with a 1-0 lead intact. The Bucs were unable to get to Duke, who exited after the 7th and the Dbacks tied it up in the 8th. Stephen Drew, in a pinch hitting role, singled off of Jose Veras to score Kelly Johnson and tie the game at 1-1. Rookie Tony Watson was called upon to make his major league debut in a tie game with men on base and proceeded to strike out the first two batters he faced, ending the inning. What a gutsy move by Jake Taylor to go to the rookie here and what a gutsy performance in that situation, your MLB debut, to strike out two guys in a tie game with men on base.
The Bucs looked like they were poised to take the lead back in the bottom half of the 8th, but the Dbacks defense was not having any of it. Cutch smoked a hot shot between 3rd and short, only to see a leaping Stephen Drew make an outstanding catch. Drew did not start in order to get more right handed bats against Maholm, but he made a very strong case to be player of the game in this contest. The Pride of PR followed Cutch by smashing a drive down the first base line only to see Cuban Defector
The Dbacks took the lead in the 10th when Daniel Moskos surrendered his first earned run in the majors. Kelly Johnson led off with a single and was bunted to 2nd base by Ian Kennedy. Stephen Drew promptly singled up the middle to score Johnson and Cutch couldn't handle the ball cleanly, allowing Drew to have second on his error. Moskos IBB-ed Upton to put the force on but didn't end up needing, retiring Young and Miranda to end the inning. The Bucs were not going down without a fight, though, and Cutch was going to lead the charge. Following an Xavier Paul strikeout, Cutch blasted a ground rule double to right, bringing up the Bucs most clutch hitter in the Pride of PR. Walker was 0 for 4 coming into this at bat but he had hit the ball very hard and deep his first 2 at-bats and was robbed in the previous 2. Something had to give way and wouldn't you know it; it did. Walker singled up the middle and Cutch FLEW home to tie it at 2-2. GI Jones PH for Moskos, but fanned with Walker swiping 2nd in the process. Dusty Brown was up with the game on his bat and did exactly what a 29 year old with 20 major league games under his belt would do- not get the run home.
The Dbacks threatened in the 11th with the Guy Who Cried replacing Moskos. Nady led off with a double and moved to 3rd on a single by Disney Villain Henry Blanco. However, the Guy Who Cried got Ryan Roberts to fan and Kelly Johnson to ground into an inning ending double play. The Bucs managed 2 baserunners in the bottom of the 11th with back to back 2 out singles from Brandon Wood and Jose Tabata. Xavier Paul couldn't get Wood home and we moved on to the 12th. The Guy Who Cried found himself in trouble again, this time allowing a lead off single to Gerardo Parra, who stole second and then moved to third on a wild pitch with 2 outs. I said it yesterday and I reiterate, the number of Wild Pitches and Passed Balls this team racks up is mind boggling. Anyways, D-Cutch walked Young intentionally but got Sean Burroughs, who hasn't been in the majors since 2006, to fly out. The bottom of the 12 was one of the shortest innings in recent memory, lasting all of 6 pitches and one batter. Cutch stepped into the batters box with ending the game in mind and did exactly that by depositing a 3-2 pitch high and JUST inside the left field fair pole to give the Bucs the walk off win! 30-30! The Guy Who Cried gets the W and the Box Score is McCutchen Mania. W- D. McCutchen, HR- A.McCutchen RBI- A. McCutchen 2 .Final Count: Bucs 3, Dbacks 2 in 12 innings.
Player of the Game: Cutch. Little doubt about this one. 3 for 5, 2 RBI 2-runs scored including the game tying run in the bottom of the 10th and game winning walk-off HR in the 12th. Tabata, Drew, Maholm, and Duke all made strong cases, but Cutch WAS the Bucs scoring offense. Accounting for every run in one way or another.
Head Scratcher of the Night- This goes to Kirk Gibson for not playing Stephen Drew until late. Even if he is only batting .231 vs lefties, he still has driven in 14 of his 35 runs against them. He came off the bench to go 2 for 3 and knock in both Dbacks runs as well as making a tremendous catch in the bottom of the 8th.
Face Palm of the Night: Once again, the pitchers and catchers for the Bucs have GOT to do something about the wild pitches, passed balls, and blocked balls in general. I cannot recall seeing our catchers blocking so many pitches in the dirt nor dropping as many pitches right in their mitt. We somehow staved off any official PB's, but Brown dropped another one that hit him square in the mitt and nearly allowed a runner to freely move 90 feet closer to home. Jake Taylor was a great catcher, maybe Hurdle should consult his alter ego and seek some advice.
In the end, the Bucs are in good shape right now and that is GREAT. Now, Nutters will get down on me for not pulling the aforementioned Ted Leonsis and writing a One Shining Moment piece where I declare we have arrived, but the Bucs have to keep on rolling. We can't see a losing streak here, we've got to sweep this series and take 2 out of 3 from the Mets. That would put us at 33-31 or uncharted waters known as a WINNING RECORD. There is a lot of baseball to be played and if the Bucs can continue the next 102 games the same way they have treated the first 60, the Streak may actually come to an end in 2011. That would REALLY be an awesome event to witness, but history tells me it is unlikely.I truly hope that I am wrong.
Also, we need to develop nicknames for the following: Hanrahan, Tabata, Cedeno, and Snyder.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Hubris in Bucco Land
A summary of an actual conversation that took place on the phone with my Mother:
Pucks_and_Pols: So what’s up Mom?
Mom: You’re still really ticked off at the Pirates aren’t you?
Pucks_and_Pols: Yah, they are playing better, but I still think their management stinks.
Mom: And you are still angry about people who go to the games for silly promotions instead of the watching the baseball?
Pucks_and_Pols: Umm, yah, but what does that have to do with anything?
Mom: Well, my knitting group is doing a night at the ballpark…
Pucks_and_Pols: Your knitting group???
Mom: Yah, they are giving away tote bags and prizes before the game, and we are talking about going, but I’m kind of embarrassed by it to be honest with you.
Pucks_and_Pols: (Stunned) So the Pirates are actually organizing a knit at the ballpark night?!?
Mom: Uh-huh. You’re not going to be mad at me if I go along, will you?
Pucks_and_Pols: (Still Stunned) Of course not, go, have fun, enjoy the game.
Now, my preferred method of going to games is to buy tickets on the secondary market at websites such as craigslist or stubhub, so that I’m just re-buying tickets that people have already paid for and not putting any additional $$$ into the Nutting Family’s coffers. And of course I’m not going to buy any concessions or souvenirs at the game while I’m there either.
I don’t consider this a protest or a boycott, because it lacks any sort of organization and outreach, and I do not try to actively dissuade people from attending ballgames if that is their preference. It is a personal consumer decision I have made as a customer of major league baseball.
I don’t hold it against people like my Mother, who is a wonderful lady and also spends her free time teaching single mothers at women’s shelters how to knit clothes for their children, for wanting to go out and enjoy a night at the most scenic stadium in baseball, no matter their motivations.
I do however hold the Pirates responsible for their ridiculous, overzealous, and sometime downright zany promotion strategy of emphasizing everything except the game and team that actually takes the field.
I went to the Pirates website this morning to look up this latest and greatest promotion from the folks who brought us All-You-Can-Eat Seats and Bring-Your-Dog-to-the Game. It turns out they have actually been doing this “Stitch-and-Pitch” for a few years now.
Pucks_and_Pols: So what’s up Mom?
Mom: You’re still really ticked off at the Pirates aren’t you?
Pucks_and_Pols: Yah, they are playing better, but I still think their management stinks.
Mom: And you are still angry about people who go to the games for silly promotions instead of the watching the baseball?
Pucks_and_Pols: Umm, yah, but what does that have to do with anything?
Mom: Well, my knitting group is doing a night at the ballpark…
Pucks_and_Pols: Your knitting group???
Mom: Yah, they are giving away tote bags and prizes before the game, and we are talking about going, but I’m kind of embarrassed by it to be honest with you.
Pucks_and_Pols: (Stunned) So the Pirates are actually organizing a knit at the ballpark night?!?
Mom: Uh-huh. You’re not going to be mad at me if I go along, will you?
Pucks_and_Pols: (Still Stunned) Of course not, go, have fun, enjoy the game.
Now, my preferred method of going to games is to buy tickets on the secondary market at websites such as craigslist or stubhub, so that I’m just re-buying tickets that people have already paid for and not putting any additional $$$ into the Nutting Family’s coffers. And of course I’m not going to buy any concessions or souvenirs at the game while I’m there either.
I don’t consider this a protest or a boycott, because it lacks any sort of organization and outreach, and I do not try to actively dissuade people from attending ballgames if that is their preference. It is a personal consumer decision I have made as a customer of major league baseball.
I don’t hold it against people like my Mother, who is a wonderful lady and also spends her free time teaching single mothers at women’s shelters how to knit clothes for their children, for wanting to go out and enjoy a night at the most scenic stadium in baseball, no matter their motivations.
I do however hold the Pirates responsible for their ridiculous, overzealous, and sometime downright zany promotion strategy of emphasizing everything except the game and team that actually takes the field.
I went to the Pirates website this morning to look up this latest and greatest promotion from the folks who brought us All-You-Can-Eat Seats and Bring-Your-Dog-to-the Game. It turns out they have actually been doing this “Stitch-and-Pitch” for a few years now.
Sunday, July 19 @ 1:35 p.m.Pirates vs. San Francisco Giants
Join fellow needle artists at PNC Park
Outfield Box Seatsfor just $20
Come to PNC Park for the fourth annual Stitch N' Pitch Day!
Bring your knitting, stitching, quilting or other fiberarts projects to the game.
Take a lesson, learn a technique and meet other enthusiasts, all while enjoying Pirates baseball!
Everyone who participates will receive a Stitch N' Pitch Tote Bagand will also be entered for a chance to win Pirates prizes!
No word on if this guy is going to be there to ‘encourage’ participation:
WELL NOW YOUR BACK'S GONNA HURT
CAUSE YOU JUST PULLED LANDSCAPING DUTY
I have had some of my own interaction with overzealous ticketing reps recently.
I was contacted by Mellissa my Pittsburgh Pirates “Personal Ticket Representative” on May, 23rd. After some initial confusion on my part as to what entitled me to have a Personal Ticket Representative with the team and how they got my phone number in the first place, it was determined that they wanted to know A) What interested me in attending baseball games (answer: the game of baseball and a winning team, which is lacking in these parts) and B) Would I be interested in coming down for a tour of the Stadium (and, I surmised, a sales pitch on purchasing tickets for upcoming summer games).
Interestingly, even after informing Melissa, my Personal Ticket Representative, that what interested me in attending ballgames was the game itself, the pre-pitch I was being given kept drifting onto other topics: how nice the weather was getting, fireworks nights, giveaways, concerts, family entertainment value, all-you-can-eat seats, anything to draw attention away from the lackluster team that would actually be taking the field on whatever mystical summer eve on which I chose to partake in the pastime of a baseball fan experience. Heavy on the Peanuts, Popcorn, and Crackerjacks, light on a focus on Winning, which was a shame
As my conversation went on with Melissa, my Personal Ticket Representative, and it became clear I was not going to be purchasing any tickets off of her at this point, first she got pushy, then it got weird, then she got condescending. I wish I had turned the record function on my phone so that I could give you a transcript verbatim, but for a brief summary I let her know that I did not want to lock into one of her plans, and that if I purchased tickets it would be on my own terms and conditions, at this point she changed tact to try to entice me with bizarre trinkets and rewards for becoming a plan holder, and I actually found myself having to defend myself for not buying the tickets. As an engaged consumer I cannot stand high-pressure sales tactics, and she started turning the screws and I started to squirm as she tried to leverage what she had to offer against my preferred method of buying tickets on my own terms. If the product she was trying to sell me wasn’t total craphola, I may have cracked at that point and signed on for a package.
As I held out and stood firm, and I made it clear that I wished to end my status with Melissa, as my Personal Ticket Representative, she started to get snippy and condescending. How dare I turn down her ‘offer you can’t refuse?’ All the way through, until the very end of the phone call, I resisted the temptation to get real nasty back with my Personal Ticket Representative and tell Melissa what I really felt about the Pirates and their obscene management. I realize that as annoyed as I am with the Pirates and how they are run, she is just a marketing rep trying to do her job, and lashing out directly at her would not resolve anything.
Obviously the team on the field has played better so far this year. For the first time in a few years there is a legitimate reason to have some reasonable hopes and expectations.
It should be noted that the last time the team was this competitive in June, it was that magical year of 2005, when on June 11th, against the Tampa Bay (Then Still the Devil) Rays, the Pirates cracked that magic ceiling of .500 with an 18-2 Interleague Shelacking. Reading this article was like a weird mini-time warp: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=250611123
Classic Lead: The Pittsburgh Pirates know all about bad baseball, having gone through 12 consecutive losing seasons. Even they haven’t seen anything like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The winning Pitcher that night: Oliver Perez.
Jose Castillo was the offensive hero with a homer and 5 RBIs, Ryan Doumit was still a rookie, Lloyd McClendon was still secure in his spot as manager, Daryle Ward was still in baseball. Freddy Sanchez was leading off and looked like the 3B of the future. Jason Bay and Jack Wilson had established themselves as legitimate ballplayers. It looked like the Pirates were a team on their way up. We can all see how that turned out.
Even if Pedro, Walker, McCutchen, and Tabata all turn out to be decent big league players, it is no guarantee that the end to losing is in sight. The pitching so far has been surprisingly excellent and has carried the Pirates to flirt with that magical realm of .500 baseball once again heading toward the Summer Solstice. The ownership and management has done nothing to deserve an atta-boy or a pat on the back yet though. Let’s see them lock in this core, commit to them, and actually build around them, rather than again tearing the club down to its foundations in the ever questing crusade for more prospects and a brighter, shinier tomorrow.
Never Give Up, Never Surrender
If the 2011 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates know that on paper they translate to being only slightly better than the 105 loss team of a year ago, they certainly don't act like it. So often, teams with little chance to compete fizzle out at various points during a season for any number of reasons. #1 being that they just don't have the horses. A few others include injuries, firesale trades, or just losing all sense of hope and confidence whatsoever. Just over 1/3 of the way through the 2011 the battling Bucs seem to be showing a lot more resilience than in recent years, showing more mettle down the stretch. They never count themselves out of a game and even a die-hard yet skeptical fan like myself can't help but feel that no game is lost for them until that final out.
Last night, the Bucs did battle with the D-backs, who came in one game out of first place in the NL West. Kevin Correia was looking for 9th win of the season and the Bucs were looking to stay hot in June. Despite losing Sunday to Filthy, they still took 2/3 from the Phils, also helping the Cards take over the Best Record in Baseball.
The game didn't start off well for KC, who just didn't look as sharp last night as he had the rest of the season. For some reason, the guy just can't pick up wins at home and that has been a career long issue. 17-24 with a 4.59 ERA for his career at home, 27-23 with a 4.35 on the road.. Last year, against the Bucs at the JotNS, KC was excellent giving up 3R, 2 earned, over 6 innings and picking up the victory. This year, he is an abysmal 1-3 at home with a 5.76 ERA compared to 7-1 and 2.42 on the road. I guess it's a lot easier to win at JotNS when you are facing the Pirates as opposed to playing for them?
Anyhow, KC gave up a first inning solo bomb to Kelly Johnson but suffered no other damage until the 5th. He had 2 baserunners on board in the second, but was able to get Parra to line into a double play to end it. The Bucs struck back in the 2nd and took the lead by Manufacturing Runs the Pirates way: Cutch walked, Overpaid reached on a 2 base error, setting up 2nd and 3rd and no outs. Snyder followed with a sac fly and Cedeno singled in Overpaid. KC breezed through the 3rd 1-2-3 and the Bucs followed suit in the bottom half. The 4th was largely uneventful save a Stephen Drew single with 1 out that turned into a double when Snyder pulled a Doumit and couldn't catch a curveball that was RIGHT IN HIS MITT. This team has to have more passed balls than any in recent memory. Anyway, KC got out of the inning sending us to the bottom of the 4th.
Cutch led off with a double to the North Side notch, moved to 3rd on an Overpaid flyout, and scored on one of the stranger plays I have seen lately. Snyder hit a looping line drive to left that was caught my Parra. Cutch tagged up and Parra threw a LASER home, reaching the catcher on the fly who clearly tagged Cutch out. However, the homeplate ump had some sort of brain fart and ruled Cutch safe, indicating a non-existent bobble. Another addition to Manufacturing a Run the Pirates way: a leadoff XBH, 2 sac flies, and a generous call!
KC took the hill in the 5th leading 3-1 but REALLY struggled to get outs. He surrender a leadoff homer to Miranda, struck out Parra, and allowed a single to the pitcher and a double to Jesse James wannabe Ryan Roberts. Kelly Johnson singled to bring 'em both around and we had a deficit, Dbacks 4, Bucs 3. Upton followed Johnson with another single but Overpaid was able to stab a hot shot from Drew to get the out at 2nd. 1st and 3rd, 2 outs for Chris Young. Drew moved to 2nd on a wild pitch but Young flied out to end the threat and Correia's evening.
That did it for scoring until Young blasted a home run off of Meek to begin the 8th. Meek got himself in some more trouble but Future All Star Chris Resop got the final out with the Bucs trailing 5-3. Jake Taylor then sent GI Jones to PH in the 8th and he rewarded him with a double. Yes, the same GI Jones who sat against a righty so Xavier Paul and his ZERO HR's could bat 3rd....... Tabata followed with a double and Harrison with a single to score Tabata and tie the game at 5. Paul bunted and ended up reaching, putting 2 men on and 0 out for Cutch, who drew a walk to load the bases for Overpaid. With the sacks full in a tie game and Overpaid at the plate, it was easy to imagine a 1-2-3 DP and then a Snyder K to end the inning tie. But Overpaid must read this blog and abhor his nickname because he came through in a big way with a base clearing, Mr. Sunshine orgasm inducing, double to give the Bucs the 8-5 lead. This whole time Opie was on the phone talking up the draft and sitting on his hands until they fell asleep so he could give himself a stranger. Snyder, Wood, and Cedeno all failed to score Overpaid, but the damage was done. Bucs 8, Dbacks 5.
Hanrahan came out for the 9th and was taking no prisoners, striking out the 1st 2 batters and getting Drew to pop out to end it. RTJR. Final Bucs 8, Dbacks 5.
What a come back. Walkie said as the credits rolled that this game "was not handed to the Bucs". He noted that we got our runs from putting hits together and not from walks or errors. He must also read this blog. And I hope so, because I want to point something out to him: the 1st 2 runs came as a result of a walk and an error. The third run came from a blown call by the home plate ump.The go ahead runs in the 8th came as a result of a walk and a poorly played sac bunt ruled an FC, not considered an error. Yes, we strung a few XBH in a row during that ONE INNING of offense, but prior to the 8th had 3 runs on 3 hits............ not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.
ok, I digress. A win is a win and a comeback win is great. Especially one where you come back after blowing a lead.
Player of the Game: Overpaid with the 3 run double. Since we started the Mutiny, he has picked it up with 11 RBI, 6 in June already, and raised his AVG about 5 or so points. However, I will continue to call him Overpaid because after this season he will have $32M during his career and he can afford to have a sense of humor about a nickname from a lowly blogger.
Headscratcher of the Game: Playing Xavier Paul against righties is one thing, but batting him 3rd is entirely different. Tabata is struggling against righties and having he and Paul in there while Jones and Walker are idle gives us little power in the lineup.
Face Palm of the Night: It wasn't costly but Snyder's passed ball was disgusting. Right in the mitt! he is supposed to be a defensive uprgade from No-Mitt. Snyder has 5 PB and has been behind the plate for 9 WP. wow.
Tonight Christian Husband Paul Maholm takes on former Buc and a favorite of mine Zach Duke. Should be interesting and hopefully all 398 people on hand give Duke a nice welcome. It wasn't his fault this organization toyed with his mechanics and decided to fix something that wasn't broke.
Last night, the Bucs did battle with the D-backs, who came in one game out of first place in the NL West. Kevin Correia was looking for 9th win of the season and the Bucs were looking to stay hot in June. Despite losing Sunday to Filthy, they still took 2/3 from the Phils, also helping the Cards take over the Best Record in Baseball.
The game didn't start off well for KC, who just didn't look as sharp last night as he had the rest of the season. For some reason, the guy just can't pick up wins at home and that has been a career long issue. 17-24 with a 4.59 ERA for his career at home, 27-23 with a 4.35 on the road.. Last year, against the Bucs at the JotNS, KC was excellent giving up 3R, 2 earned, over 6 innings and picking up the victory. This year, he is an abysmal 1-3 at home with a 5.76 ERA compared to 7-1 and 2.42 on the road. I guess it's a lot easier to win at JotNS when you are facing the Pirates as opposed to playing for them?
Anyhow, KC gave up a first inning solo bomb to Kelly Johnson but suffered no other damage until the 5th. He had 2 baserunners on board in the second, but was able to get Parra to line into a double play to end it. The Bucs struck back in the 2nd and took the lead by Manufacturing Runs the Pirates way: Cutch walked, Overpaid reached on a 2 base error, setting up 2nd and 3rd and no outs. Snyder followed with a sac fly and Cedeno singled in Overpaid. KC breezed through the 3rd 1-2-3 and the Bucs followed suit in the bottom half. The 4th was largely uneventful save a Stephen Drew single with 1 out that turned into a double when Snyder pulled a Doumit and couldn't catch a curveball that was RIGHT IN HIS MITT. This team has to have more passed balls than any in recent memory. Anyway, KC got out of the inning sending us to the bottom of the 4th.
Cutch led off with a double to the North Side notch, moved to 3rd on an Overpaid flyout, and scored on one of the stranger plays I have seen lately. Snyder hit a looping line drive to left that was caught my Parra. Cutch tagged up and Parra threw a LASER home, reaching the catcher on the fly who clearly tagged Cutch out. However, the homeplate ump had some sort of brain fart and ruled Cutch safe, indicating a non-existent bobble. Another addition to Manufacturing a Run the Pirates way: a leadoff XBH, 2 sac flies, and a generous call!
KC took the hill in the 5th leading 3-1 but REALLY struggled to get outs. He surrender a leadoff homer to Miranda, struck out Parra, and allowed a single to the pitcher and a double to Jesse James wannabe Ryan Roberts. Kelly Johnson singled to bring 'em both around and we had a deficit, Dbacks 4, Bucs 3. Upton followed Johnson with another single but Overpaid was able to stab a hot shot from Drew to get the out at 2nd. 1st and 3rd, 2 outs for Chris Young. Drew moved to 2nd on a wild pitch but Young flied out to end the threat and Correia's evening.
That did it for scoring until Young blasted a home run off of Meek to begin the 8th. Meek got himself in some more trouble but Future All Star Chris Resop got the final out with the Bucs trailing 5-3. Jake Taylor then sent GI Jones to PH in the 8th and he rewarded him with a double. Yes, the same GI Jones who sat against a righty so Xavier Paul and his ZERO HR's could bat 3rd....... Tabata followed with a double and Harrison with a single to score Tabata and tie the game at 5. Paul bunted and ended up reaching, putting 2 men on and 0 out for Cutch, who drew a walk to load the bases for Overpaid. With the sacks full in a tie game and Overpaid at the plate, it was easy to imagine a 1-2-3 DP and then a Snyder K to end the inning tie. But Overpaid must read this blog and abhor his nickname because he came through in a big way with a base clearing, Mr. Sunshine orgasm inducing, double to give the Bucs the 8-5 lead. This whole time Opie was on the phone talking up the draft and sitting on his hands until they fell asleep so he could give himself a stranger. Snyder, Wood, and Cedeno all failed to score Overpaid, but the damage was done. Bucs 8, Dbacks 5.
Hanrahan came out for the 9th and was taking no prisoners, striking out the 1st 2 batters and getting Drew to pop out to end it. RTJR. Final Bucs 8, Dbacks 5.
What a come back. Walkie said as the credits rolled that this game "was not handed to the Bucs". He noted that we got our runs from putting hits together and not from walks or errors. He must also read this blog. And I hope so, because I want to point something out to him: the 1st 2 runs came as a result of a walk and an error. The third run came from a blown call by the home plate ump.The go ahead runs in the 8th came as a result of a walk and a poorly played sac bunt ruled an FC, not considered an error. Yes, we strung a few XBH in a row during that ONE INNING of offense, but prior to the 8th had 3 runs on 3 hits............ not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.
ok, I digress. A win is a win and a comeback win is great. Especially one where you come back after blowing a lead.
Player of the Game: Overpaid with the 3 run double. Since we started the Mutiny, he has picked it up with 11 RBI, 6 in June already, and raised his AVG about 5 or so points. However, I will continue to call him Overpaid because after this season he will have $32M during his career and he can afford to have a sense of humor about a nickname from a lowly blogger.
Headscratcher of the Game: Playing Xavier Paul against righties is one thing, but batting him 3rd is entirely different. Tabata is struggling against righties and having he and Paul in there while Jones and Walker are idle gives us little power in the lineup.
Face Palm of the Night: It wasn't costly but Snyder's passed ball was disgusting. Right in the mitt! he is supposed to be a defensive uprgade from No-Mitt. Snyder has 5 PB and has been behind the plate for 9 WP. wow.
Tonight Christian Husband Paul Maholm takes on former Buc and a favorite of mine Zach Duke. Should be interesting and hopefully all 398 people on hand give Duke a nice welcome. It wasn't his fault this organization toyed with his mechanics and decided to fix something that wasn't broke.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Questioning Cole
The Pittsburgh Pirates made Gerrit Cole and his golden arm the #1 overall selection for the 2011 MLB draft. There is no questioning the power behind that arm. All young pitchers come with inherit injury risk, but there has been no indication or history that would suggest Cole is any more susceptible to breaking down than any other young pitcher.
He touts a fastball in the mid-90s, a slider in the high 80s, a curveball with good break, and a strongly developing changeup. His frame and delivery are solid enough for a prospect.
The real question I have about Gerrit Cole is: what is between his ears and inside his heart?
Despite his overwhelming stuff, his numbers have never been off the charts or anywhere close to dominate during his time at UCLA. Most scouts, experts, coaches, and media have been dismissive of such numbers, but I feel there is a legitimate reason for concern there. These folks far too often get infatuated with an arm and forget that a lot more goes into pitching than talent alone.
I know that Wins and Losses are no indication of the quality a pitcher’s performance on a given day. But, taken as a whole, they can be viewed as a measure of competitiveness and leadership. Maybe this is just an old-school anti-sabremetrics opinion, but I still view baseball as a competition between two sides trying to outscore one another. I don’t view the batters, pitchers, and fielders as individual entities on isolated islands of action, but as parts of a whole performance that comes together and is either successful (win) or not (loss). If you don’t believe me, look at the atmosphere and the tone of interviews that take place in a locker-room after a game. It is drastically different depending on the results of the contest that just took place. Team achievement is still part of baseball, no matter what the statistics and other measurables say.
Cole has not strapped his UCLA teammates onto his broad shoulders and said: ‘All aboard!’ In fact his teammate, Trevor Bauer has been the real Ace of the Bruins staff, with 203 strikeouts to Coles 119, and only yielding 19 earned runs to Cole’s 42. In fact, Cole has the highest ERA on the team at 3.31 for guys who hurled at least 30 innings of work.
Now, College numbers are not the be-all, end-all of a prospect, I will admit that. But there are other red flags that have been raised about Cole’s mental makeup as well. After his freshman year of college, in which he also had a losing record, Cole was ticked off and considered quitting baseball. That is an Ian Snell level red flag if I have ever seen on. "Being able to taste failure, it makes you kind of want to throw up," Cole told Baseball America last month. "It makes you just hate the game."
He supposedly got over this understandable 18 year old hissy fit, but after losses this season, the wiser, more mature Cole has been reported to have thrown his ballcap into trashcans and kicked over equipment carts. "I don't have any answers," Cole told reporters. "The overall goal this year was to pound the zone. I've been getting ahead of guys. It's just that the ball's getting hit around the park."
Cole most certainly has the stuff to be a legitimate big league power arm. As no better teacher than Master Yoda would say however: “control, control, he must learn control.”
That goes for both the mechanics of his pitching and the way he handles himself in preparation for games and responds to disappointment as well.
He touts a fastball in the mid-90s, a slider in the high 80s, a curveball with good break, and a strongly developing changeup. His frame and delivery are solid enough for a prospect.
The real question I have about Gerrit Cole is: what is between his ears and inside his heart?
Despite his overwhelming stuff, his numbers have never been off the charts or anywhere close to dominate during his time at UCLA. Most scouts, experts, coaches, and media have been dismissive of such numbers, but I feel there is a legitimate reason for concern there. These folks far too often get infatuated with an arm and forget that a lot more goes into pitching than talent alone.
I know that Wins and Losses are no indication of the quality a pitcher’s performance on a given day. But, taken as a whole, they can be viewed as a measure of competitiveness and leadership. Maybe this is just an old-school anti-sabremetrics opinion, but I still view baseball as a competition between two sides trying to outscore one another. I don’t view the batters, pitchers, and fielders as individual entities on isolated islands of action, but as parts of a whole performance that comes together and is either successful (win) or not (loss). If you don’t believe me, look at the atmosphere and the tone of interviews that take place in a locker-room after a game. It is drastically different depending on the results of the contest that just took place. Team achievement is still part of baseball, no matter what the statistics and other measurables say.
Cole has not strapped his UCLA teammates onto his broad shoulders and said: ‘All aboard!’ In fact his teammate, Trevor Bauer has been the real Ace of the Bruins staff, with 203 strikeouts to Coles 119, and only yielding 19 earned runs to Cole’s 42. In fact, Cole has the highest ERA on the team at 3.31 for guys who hurled at least 30 innings of work.
Now, College numbers are not the be-all, end-all of a prospect, I will admit that. But there are other red flags that have been raised about Cole’s mental makeup as well. After his freshman year of college, in which he also had a losing record, Cole was ticked off and considered quitting baseball. That is an Ian Snell level red flag if I have ever seen on. "Being able to taste failure, it makes you kind of want to throw up," Cole told Baseball America last month. "It makes you just hate the game."
He supposedly got over this understandable 18 year old hissy fit, but after losses this season, the wiser, more mature Cole has been reported to have thrown his ballcap into trashcans and kicked over equipment carts. "I don't have any answers," Cole told reporters. "The overall goal this year was to pound the zone. I've been getting ahead of guys. It's just that the ball's getting hit around the park."
Cole most certainly has the stuff to be a legitimate big league power arm. As no better teacher than Master Yoda would say however: “control, control, he must learn control.”
That goes for both the mechanics of his pitching and the way he handles himself in preparation for games and responds to disappointment as well.
UPDATED:SmizBlog Opposes the First Amendment
I understand, as a blog administrator, wanting to keep certain aspects of Internet warfare out of your comments section. We have said here at The Mutiny that we have a No Deletion Policy and we will stick to that within reason. To me, a post we may delete here would contain something of a threatening or potentially dangerous nature. All other bets are completely off. Cussing is fine, speaking your mind is encouraged.
I also understand that SmizBlog has different standards because of it's affiliation is with a national newspaper and you want to keep the "clear and present danger" stuff out as well as swearing and personal attacks waged against other posters. But today, Bob Smizik. or whomever the admin shall be on the SmizBlog deleted a large portion of a post I had made in rebuttal to outlandish claims that the Anti Camp was crumbling. He limited my post to the following:
written by Nutting4Xmas, June 07, 2011 - 11:28 AM
However, there was much more to my post. I actually outlined a list of facts that supported the innumerable reasons the Anti Camp exists in the first place. I commented on Opie's record, I lamented the Lying Liar's foot-in-mouth abilities, and called Nutting cheap as evidenced by the low payroll; citing all of them to be amongst but the myriad of reasons the Antis feel like we do. I also pointed out the tax payer funded ballpark that was built on a promise of winning baseball but has not seen as much in 11 years. Lastly, I pointed out that so many of the commenters are quick to blast the Pens, Tomlin, Arians, LeBeau, and the Rooneys but kneel at the altar of Nuthouse, the FO, Opie, and the Lying Liar.
For whatever reason, SmizBlog didn't see fit for this post to remain in it's entirety for more than a few minutes. My only conclusion is that Bob Smizik is a communist and a Nuthouse sympathizer like many others out there. If SmizBlog thinks the deletion of my post will squash the insurgence, they have another think coming. I understand that is his blog and he can delete or modify whatever he wants. With that practice, though, he is impeaching the validity of the arguments being made and totally ignoring the 970,000 Square Foot Ballpark in the room. Nuthouse and his constituents have been pulling the wool over people's eyes for far too long, but how many true backers can they have out there? They have never proven any amount of loyalty, never won a thing, never showed that they are even serious about winning.
Here is the reason Bob gave:
I see, totally off topic. It was perfect acceptable for Dan1283 to shoot off his mouth first, for Naje (or whatever he is calling himself this time around) to take their pot shots, but when I come back at them, I get censored?!?!?!
It's burgeoning on the point of sheer redundancy, but I am just at a total loss as to why people support this ownership group.
Legal Note: I spoke to my lawyer regarding Libel as I repeatedly call Coonelly a liar on here. He informed me that you can only be accused of libel if the person you are calling a liar did not lie......................
I also understand that SmizBlog has different standards because of it's affiliation is with a national newspaper and you want to keep the "clear and present danger" stuff out as well as swearing and personal attacks waged against other posters. But today, Bob Smizik. or whomever the admin shall be on the SmizBlog deleted a large portion of a post I had made in rebuttal to outlandish claims that the Anti Camp was crumbling. He limited my post to the following:
written by Nutting4Xmas, June 07, 2011 - 11:28 AM
Admitting Cole was probably the best player available qualifies as the Anti Camp crumbling? This is why Nutters have ZERO credibility in my book.
However, there was much more to my post. I actually outlined a list of facts that supported the innumerable reasons the Anti Camp exists in the first place. I commented on Opie's record, I lamented the Lying Liar's foot-in-mouth abilities, and called Nutting cheap as evidenced by the low payroll; citing all of them to be amongst but the myriad of reasons the Antis feel like we do. I also pointed out the tax payer funded ballpark that was built on a promise of winning baseball but has not seen as much in 11 years. Lastly, I pointed out that so many of the commenters are quick to blast the Pens, Tomlin, Arians, LeBeau, and the Rooneys but kneel at the altar of Nuthouse, the FO, Opie, and the Lying Liar.
For whatever reason, SmizBlog didn't see fit for this post to remain in it's entirety for more than a few minutes. My only conclusion is that Bob Smizik is a communist and a Nuthouse sympathizer like many others out there. If SmizBlog thinks the deletion of my post will squash the insurgence, they have another think coming. I understand that is his blog and he can delete or modify whatever he wants. With that practice, though, he is impeaching the validity of the arguments being made and totally ignoring the 970,000 Square Foot Ballpark in the room. Nuthouse and his constituents have been pulling the wool over people's eyes for far too long, but how many true backers can they have out there? They have never proven any amount of loyalty, never won a thing, never showed that they are even serious about winning.
Here is the reason Bob gave:
It was totally off topic. I'm not interested in attacks on one group or the other. This is a sports discussion site and the particularly topic was Gerrit Cole -- not antis or pros. -- Bob Smizik
I see, totally off topic. It was perfect acceptable for Dan1283 to shoot off his mouth first, for Naje (or whatever he is calling himself this time around) to take their pot shots, but when I come back at them, I get censored?!?!?!
It's burgeoning on the point of sheer redundancy, but I am just at a total loss as to why people support this ownership group.
Legal Note: I spoke to my lawyer regarding Libel as I repeatedly call Coonelly a liar on here. He informed me that you can only be accused of libel if the person you are calling a liar did not lie......................
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