Impatience And How To Cure It
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Thu, June 19, 2008 05:39 PM | Comments: 19
Posts
The big grind-our-gears trend with the Phillies this season is the 20-run, then 2-run game. A few times this year we’ve seen giant offensive outputs one night become sour performances the next night.
What’s the reason? Is it lineup inconsistency? Too many strikeouts? Impatient hitters? A look at pitch-per-plate-appearance numbers show the Phils aren’t very patient:
Pitches per plate appearance:
ABOVE AVERAGE
Jayson Werth – 4.69 (23rd, NL)
Pat Burrell – 4.22 (58th, NL) 64 80 96 112 128 144 160AVERAGE
Ryan Howard – 3.97 (133rd, NL)
Chase Utley – 3.92 (155th, NL)
So Taguchi – 3.85 (180th, NL)
Greg Dobbs – 3.84 (182nd, NL)
Geoff Jenkins – 3.77 (223rd, NL)BELOW AVERAGE
Carlos Ruiz – 3.66 (261st, NL)
Jimmy Rollins – 3.60 (295th, NL)
Chris Coste – 3.56 (307th, NL)
Shane Victorino – 3.54 (313th, NL)
Pedro Feliz – 3.29 (377th, NL)
The problem with being impatient is if the starting pitcher is throwing well enough, he stays in the game and makes it more difficult to beat him. We’ve seen this when the Phils face league-best pitching. Against mediocre fastballers, the Phils kill. Against pretty good break-throwers, good luck.
The way to maximize the Phils efforts against great pitchers is to score early. Yes, the best time to beat a great pitcher is in the first inning, when his stuff might not be quite at 100 percent.
So imagine, if you will, Charlie Manuel going with a starting lineup that maximizes the Phils efforts against great pitchers:
1. Jayson Werth
2. Pat Burrell
3. Chase Utley
4. Ryan Howard
5. Jimmy Rollins
6. Shane Victorino
7. Chris Coste
8. Pedro Feliz
Of course, Manuel would never fly with this lineup, as he’s all about putting speed at the top of the order. Vic’s on-base percentage has been pretty good this season, too, so that bodes in his favor.
My question is how would you try to maximize the Phils efforts against great pitching?
Posts: 0 Phil
Pat Burrell can’t bat 2nd. He would be an obstruction on the bases.
Posted: 05:43 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
How much of an obstruction, really? An extra base hit by Utley puts him on third. An extra base hit by Howard scores him. Singles just load the bases up with less than an out. It is a novel approach. Consider Rollins and Vic get on base, use their speed and make it easier for non-RBI guys, such as Coste and Feliz, to get them home.
Posted: 05:47 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
What if it’s a righty? Werth can’t hit righties.
Posted: 05:49 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Chris C.
Rollins is a great hitter, end of story. However, when you are in the leadoff spot you have a few duties that come along with it including taking pitches. Those stats are interesting, but nobody who follows this team closely would need them to know that he needs to be more patient. I don’t know if taking a couple of pitches is going to disrupt the opponent or run up his pitch count significantly (hits tend to do that), but letting your RBI guys see different pitches will help. Doing something drastic like moving the order around is not the answer, but neither is popping up to short on the first pitch of the game.
Posted: 06:01 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
I’m merely playing the advocate here. I’d like for ya’ll to answer the query. What would you do?
Posted: 06:08 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Pete
I like the idea, though I’d bat Burrell third and Utley second to get a little extra speed at the top of the order and to go R-L-R-L with the top four hitters. I’d also sit Feliz down and play Dobbs at 3rd (batting 5th or 6th in the order)
Posted: 06:13 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
as long as we are being unconventional, this is my wierd lineup:
werth
dobbs
utley
burrell
howard
coste
rollins
victorino
pitcher
i liked when burrel was in the 3 hole last year. cost is impatient but they can fix that. i know rollins and vic are the speed but were being unconventional here. feliz can sit on the bench and keep his mouth shut. ruiz isnt even on my team if im a manager
some managers do that. but why not get speed on ahead of werth when the order recycles itself.
Posted: 08:10 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Lewisauce
The only thing concrete I would do is sit Ruiz’ fat ass on the bench and tell him it’s staying there until he learns how to take a few pitches. My nickname for him — and I swear this goes back to early last season — is “First-Pitch Ruiz.” Now that I think about it, I’d do the same to Feliz (except that he’s not fat).
Posted: 08:40 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
Why are you guys overlooking Feliz’s glove? I know Dobbs is great and all, but I like him more on the bench as a lefthanded person to come out in clutch situations and get the job done like he always does.
Posted: 08:43 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Tommy A
Anybody have stats on Dobbs’ batting average as a starter? He’s absolute money off the bench…but I don’t think he’s near .300 when he starts. Just curious.
Posted: 09:59 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
Agreed Tommy A. He has the mentality of a pinch hitter drilled into him. It’s a different mentality you need to do it. Feliz isn’t a bad hitter either. He has 8 homers and 24 RBIs I think? He’ll finish the year with 20 homers and 60 RBIs or something like that. That’s good production for your 7th hole hitter, especially with who you have hitting in front of you. His glove is so fucking good that it doesn’t even matter what his offensive numbers are.
Posted: 10:13 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 NateB
I really like the lineup the way Manuel usually has it set up, but I do think that Dobbs should always platoon at 3rd, and that Coste should get the majority of starts behind the plate. Besides, this team is tied for the most runs in the league. It’s the pitching that should be switched around. Myers belongs in the bullpen (for good) as the set-up man, Gordon should be a middle reliever (he’s like 40 now), Chad Durbin would be a good starter to replace Eaton (who should be released or thrown in a trade), and they should shop for an ace to replace Myers’ slot in the rotation. Just don’t trade Carrasco (he will take Moyer’s slot next year).
Posted: 10:28 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
Agreed. Moyer will probably retire. carrasco is his replacement.
i wonder what value eaton has
Posted: 10:31 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
Chad Durbin should not start. He’s too valuable to the pen.
Posted: 10:38 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 NateB
I think Eaton has as much value as a Geoff Geary, and the Phils could throw him in with a cluster of players (with minor league talent including Adrian Cardenas) for an ace. If the Phillies can win a World Series they’ll be able to afford Howard (no need to move Utley to first base). They’ll also be able to afford Hamels. We need to win this year.
Posted: 10:41 PM on June 19, 2008
Posts: 0 The guy that always signs in as someone funny
Pedro Feliz is a hell of a fielder and we should not forget what a disgrace that position has been since CryBaby Rolen left town.
Posted: 12:44 AM on June 20, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
Polanco wasn’t too bad as our 3B
Posted: 12:50 AM on June 20, 2008
Posts: 0 matthew
the phils need to kick myers out of the rotation ,he gonna kill them in the long run.
Posted: 09:38 PM on June 22, 2008
Posts: 0 matthew
cc sabathia would look real sweet in myers spot,the rotation should
be
hamels
sabathia
moyer
kendrick
eaton
not the greatest starters but still a little better than with myers who still will kill the phils in latter part of the season.
Posted: 09:46 PM on June 22, 2008