Jonathan Sanchez, Giants 3-hit Pirates
by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 14, 2010 6:03 PM EDT
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PrintThe most frustrating thing about today's game was that Charlie Morton allowed three homers. That Aubrey Huff's jack was an inside-the-park homer was a freak occurrence, a product of the weird architecture around San Francisco's right field wall (I've certainly never seen a second baseman field a ball by the warning track before), but the fact that it was a homer was not--the ball was very well hit and would have been out of most parks. Morton was very frustrating, painting the corners on occasion with nasty stuff and keeping walks off the scoreboard, but often throwing both fastballs and breaking balls right down broadway, where even a non-hitter like Eli Whiteside can crush them. Offensively, the Pirates could do little with Jonathan Sanchez, who racked up eleven strikeouts over eight innings. The Bucs had just three hits, and one was an infield hit by Lastings Milledge, who managed to reach first by hitting a ball that bounced off Sanchez's rear end.
Incidentally--and there was a big discussion about this in the gamethread--why was Bobby Crosby starting at first base today? This is the third game the Pirates have sat Jeff Clement so far in this young season. I get that he should occasionally have a day off, especially against a tough lefty, but he doesn't need three days off so early in the year. The entire point of having him on the big-league roster right now is that there's hopefully a limited amount of time before Pedro Alvarez arrives and crowds the infield.
And playing Crosby at first is just a waste of time. Not that it was primarily Crosby's fault the Pirates only had three hits today, but as today's performance suggests, they need hitting ability wherever they can find it, and effectively punting first base in any given game is no way to do that. If Clement needs to sit, then moving Garrett Jones to first and playing Delwyn Young in right would probably be fine. John Raynor would also be fine. The Pirates could also clear a bench spot for Steve Pearce. Playing Crosby at first, though, does not make sense--he has a career .698 OPS against lefties.
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Morton
I still think he’ll figure it out eventually. You don’t learn stuff like that but you can learn to trust it.
I’m not even upset … came in to the season thinking 100 losses so this is par for.
On an outside note, longtime reader – rare poster … but I invite you all to stop over to my new (nonPirates) foodblog. GF and I are tired of buying processed foods so we’re going to start making our own. http://foodbuilders.blogspot.com/ Sorry if anyone thinks the plug is inappropriate.
Thanks...
for checking out the blog. It’s a fun project and it’s really nice to know what goes in to your food.
I hope I’m right about Morton and wrong about our record this year.
by RetireNutting on Apr 15, 2010 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions
...
no…but getting outscored a bazillion to one in the losses we’ve seen is. sorry, i wasn’t being very fine when i posted the “on par” cliche. i do think we’ll end up close to 100 losses but I think we’ll start the season a bit better because we throw out so many 0-2 year guys clubs haven’t scouted much yet.
clement
What I seen of clement is that he not hitting balls hard that are clearly right down the middle, also he is not really competitive versus lefthanders. He’s kind of a platoon 1b-man with out a righthanded option. This club is really not put together very well after our first 4 hitters. Doumit is a 7th place hitter, laroche, cedeno and clement may not be full time starters. We really need two more bats, pedro and jose should be here and we could start to have the makings of a solid line-up. Church and tabatta in a semi platoon and jones moved to first full time and pedro playing third with laroche be a super sub .
pitching
wow! Our starters better get it together or this could be a long season. Morton has NO guts, a non-hitting catcher takes you yard and there no chin music next time up is pussy baseball. Be a man charlie and start pitching with an attitude or you won’t be in the big’s very long. But that being said when we have a lead late in games we have some guys who can come in shut the door, meek, hanrahan, donnelly and dotel have a been solid.
What?
“a non-hitting catcher takes you yard and there no chin music next time up is pussy baseball.”
And throwing “chin music” makes you a better pitcher how?
by IAPiratesFan on Apr 14, 2010 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions
wakeup
Someone has to wake this kid up, their no fire . His problem is between his ears.
by wishiewashie on Apr 15, 2010 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Can you give me an example...
…of a player with “a fire between his ears”? How would that even work?
Why would you throw at Whiteside?
He didn’t dance or strut or anything. Throwing at his head just because he happened to get lucky and run into a fastball last time up is a real horseshit move.
by Vlad on Apr 15, 2010 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
90%
Tell that to 90%of the pitchers in the hall of fame. "The outside and inside of the plate is mine " bob gibson
ps- dancing get you hit, hitting a hr gets you chin music, there a difference.
by wishiewashie on Apr 15, 2010 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions
When you have as little command...
…as Morton had that game, there’s no functional difference between hitting a guy and throwing chin music. If he can’t hit the strike zone (and if he’s giving up down-the-pipe HR to Eli Whiteside, he can’t), then he can’t reliably buzz a guy’s head, either. You ever seen a guy catch a fastball in the face? I have. We spent fifteen minutes looking for his teeth, and he drank his lunch through a straw for the rest of the semester.
You want Morton to risk ending a guy’s career to send a message? That’s lame, particularly when the message is just “I’m embarrassed that I’m pitching badly, and that you took advantage of it.”
If you’re defending a teammate or something, fine, bean away. But what you’re telling him to do is horseshit.
1 walk=not wild
If you can’t and will not pitch inside, you will not make it. This is one of many reasons we lose year after year,no guts,no heart and no balls. ps after doumit got run over the night before and morton does NOTHING what kind of team-mate is that. Hell last night brad penny had words with Borne because he stared back at him, That’s what you will never see here. Also lets get kevin hart up here asap, he’ll do what has to be done. IT’S TIME MAN UP!!!!!
by wishiewashie on Apr 15, 2010 6:34 PM EDT up reply actions
There's a difference between "pitching inside"...
…and “chin music”. Don’t go moving the goalposts just because you don’t like the rhetorical ground you’ve staked out for yourself.
Also, what does Brad Penny have to do with anything? Penny responded to an actual slight with words – you were calling for Morton to respond to a pretend slight (at best, a causus belli) with a fastball to the head.
It’s a lot easier to be an internet tough guy than it is to play the game for real.
chin music
Is pitching high and tight, if the batter is to slow to get out of the way ef’m. Its about attitude. also morton needs to put these hitters on there ass to keep them from getting good swing on his outside pitches. this has been going on for 130yrs it really pitching 101. Their more to baseball than just numbers.
by wishiewashie on Apr 16, 2010 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes, but we've already established...
…that Morton didn’t have good command that night, which is why he gave up the Whiteside HR in the first place. So if he was aiming to put one on Whiteside’s eyeline, he might just as easily have hit him in the back of the neck.
I understand the principle of backing hitters up in order to take away the outside of the plate, but since Whiteside’s HR came on a pitch that was right down broadway, backing him up wouldn’t have done a damn bit of good.
hug
Your right lets get the guys together for team hug after a 6-0 shut out, Make no waves and go on quietly to a 100 lose season. After all lets the way JR wants it. ps they have to get mad as hell and not going to take it any longer.
by wishiewashie on Apr 16, 2010 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Brad Penny is a notorious jerk
Bourne didn’t stare at him either. If your strategy to improve the team is to stomp around, provoke people over nothing and start beanball battles over nothing, I don’t think it’ll work. It sure isn’t manly.
additude
We need some fire and attitude , we have to start to fight back. We need more jerks and A-hole who really hate to lose.
by wishiewashie on Apr 16, 2010 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Personally, I don't like rooting for jerks and A-holes.
And I don’t remember us winning all that many games back when we had certifiable jerks/A-holes like Boehringer and Mesa and Mondesi and Chris Stynes. We just ended up with an unlikable team full of losers.
Exactly.
Talent is the only thing that determines whether a team wins or loses.
The team could scream and rant and rave and throw shit around after every loss, and it wouldn’t make them an ounce more talented than they are.
Well, I mean, if it's really heavy shit...
…then they might eventually get stronger from the extra lifting.
But the larger point remains.
70's phillies
Had a very talent teams but could not get over the hump, they add pete rose and win a world series. They needed some fire, and attitude. PS-The pirates must have read my post because they have played with more purpose the last to nights. LOL
by wishiewashie on Apr 18, 2010 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions
The 1978 Phillies made the playoffs.
They added Rose as a free agent that offseason, and in 1979… they finished fourth.
Clearly, Pete’s fire and attitude made all the difference.
I sorta hate to bring this up, Charlie...
but you mentioned Crosby’s .698 OPS against lefties, so I figure it is fair game.
Garrett Jones vs LHP…Minors .690 OPS…Majors .678.
Steve Pearce vs LHP…Minors .922 OPS…Majors .920.
I agree with you there. But making a case for benching Jones against lefties seems like a bridge too far.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 14, 2010 6:53 PM EDT up reply actions
I didn't say bench Jones against lefties...
although the numbers might support it. However…playing Pearce at 1B against lefties appears to make sense. Leave Jones in RF.
I watched some of the Giants broadcast for some reason, and their announcer was talking about how Akinori Iwamura is similar to Pablo Sandoval in that they’re both free swingers. It sounded like an insane comparison to me, so I looked it up. For his career Iwamura swings at 17% of pitches outside the zone, Sandoval swings at 43.5%. That’s almost the biggest difference there could possibly be between two players.
I lol’d.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Apr 14, 2010 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions
I read the Bobby Crosby comment
and thought I’d share this with you guys.
http://www.athleticsnation.com/2010/1/5/1235255/as-2010-lineup-hr-vs-2b-and-the
Obviously any links in the above post are probably NSFW
I think we are making too much of the early season "benchings."
For the first time in a while the Pirates have a legitmate bench. There are a couple players on that bench who are fall back plans. Church and Crosby both need to get at bats. I have no problem with Russell breaking in Clement the way he is. Clement is getting, and will get, plenty of at bats to show his stuff before Pedro gets here. The fact of the matter is if Clement starts swinging a better bat the benchings will be fewer. The same thing happened to Laroche last season. I’ve never been a suscriber to the theory that a player has to get at bats every single day in order to get a groove. Clement is seeing the majority of at bats and when he proves he deserves more he’ll get more. All that being said, Cedene is far from a lock, Clement is far from a lock and even Jones isn’t a lock to performa at the levels we hope and need them to perform. And if the unfortunate situation should a occurr where a few players continue to struggle as June approaches we will need Crosby and Church to step in. As much as I am not a DY fan the guy has proven so far that he deserves at bats as well. This is a good problem to have and I think that Russell has done a pretty good job so far keeping everyone involved. My one criticism would be that he could be more selective as to when he decides to bench Clement (tough lefties vs righties) and there is also no crime in sitting Jones and Aki. Other than that I think he has done a decent job of getting everyone playing time in order to keep everyone fresh. This is not a Craig Wilson getting blocked by Simon type situation. Clement will get the lion’s share of at bats. Everyone needs to relax and realize we will find out what we have before Pedro is ready to hit in the Burg.
by Slick1 on Apr 14, 2010 8:58 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Pedro and Jose
Pedro Alvarez and Jose are in the minor leagues because they could not hit major league hitting during exhibition season.
Its going to be a horrible year for sports in Pittsburgh.. Imagine just less then a year ago we were taunted as the city of champions. Pens will be lucky to get out of this round, Pirates will be lucky not to lose 100 games, I am thinking right now that figure is going to be over 100, maybe closer to 110, and the Steelers demise has started, even thought it won’t last long.
110 losses?
You’re nuts. To get that kind of performance, you pretty much need to be the worst team in all of baseball within a ten-year period.
Even if you have zero faith in this roster (which I think would be excessively pessimistic, but OK), that’s still an extremely tall order.
my predictions
Pens will beat the Sens.
Pirates will win 70.
Steelers (assuming Roethlisberger is a Steeler) will be in contention through the season.
I know
I sure didn’t sign up for plausibility.
by BlindSquirrel on Apr 15, 2010 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions
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