Comments on: It’s Friday and who needs Melky Cabrera?

By: ' + title + ' - ' + basename(imgurl) + '(' + w + 'x' + h +')

' + title + ' - ' + basename(imgurl) + '(' + w + 'x' + h +') — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:48:14 +0000

[…] I raised the suspicion that his near-shutout in Kansas City a couple of weeks back was a “false positive,” and I’m afraid I was right. But if we are patient and Slowey throws another 130-140 […]

By: johnrambo

johnrambo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:15:37 +0000

Gomez is following up the KC series with a dud of a series against the Yankees.

Looks like Punto will get the majority of starts at SS and Harris will rotate back and forth between SS, 3B, and the bench. I was just starting to get comfortable watching him play everyday and then Punto had to come back and ruin everything.

By: sane

sane — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:49:15 +0000

melshmeister,
“Running up the count is a great thing… getting to ANY middle relief is a good thing.
Another good thing is taking that hittable 1st pitch and cranking it.”

Agree with everything.
But if you are a batting champ once (going on twice?) and you can run up the count AND still get your hit, maybe swinging at the first pitch is counter-productive for the team.

By: melshmeister

melshmeister — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:37:17 +0000

Running up the count is a great thing… getting to ANY middle relief is a good thing.

Another good thing is taking that hittable 1st pitch and cranking it.

By: sane

sane — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:29:26 +0000

Beisbol,
“why does he make so much more work for himself by always running up the count?”

Running up the count is good.
Especially if the starting pitcher is better than the bullpen, which is the norm.
Its even better if ALL the hitters are running up the count.

By: Beisbol-a-GO-GO

Beisbol-a-GO-GO — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:00:43 +0000

Jason, I agree with you in the moment but I’m scratching my head as to who else would be better in the 3 hole? Mauer looks like he’s in a mini-slump and I would suggest it’s due to the abuse he gets as a catcher. He soldiers on as all catchers do but all those nicks and bruises from foul tips have got to affect him overall. He has played a lot so far mainly I’m guessing because when he does have a true day off he is at least not also DHing. The guy is still the leader or in the top 3 or so in b.a. (changes of course every day). Hard to put anyone else in there when he has that kind of b.a. Casilla taking away some of his RBI’s is a nice “problem” to have!

The one thing about Joe that does drive me crazy is it’s almost like a “must” for him to work the count to 3-2 most of the time by staring at one of the first two pitches one of which will be a perfect strike down the middle. I can only remember a handful of times when he jumped all over the first good fastball. There isn’t a better eye at the plate than Mauer but why does he make so much more work for himself by always running up the count? Casilla has actually been doing a decent job of taking pitches so the rest of the lineup can see what the pitcher is doing that night.