Blanton’s Control Problems
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Wed, July 23, 2008 11:11 AM | Comments: 38
Posts
Last night Joe Blanton pitched six innings but gave up five runs. So he ate innings, but his ERA resembled Brett Myers and Adam Eaton.
The reason for that: control. He said the three walks were too many:
“I was really disappointed with myself about the walks. Especially the pitcher. That’s definitely not what I wanted to do.”
Blanton has walked three or more in seven starts this season, but hasn’t walked more than four in any game. More alarming, he gave up two home runs for only the second time this season. The Delgado homer came after a controversial check swing call. The homer was, according to Charlie Manuel, a ball.
So the conventional wisdom is Blanton is a Moyer/Kendrick kind of guy, one who’ll get hit a little, but limit damage against bad and inexperienced offenses. But against the Mets and Cubs of the world — look out.
Still, I find this piece from Beyond the Box Score intriguing, especially after the two homers surrendered yesterday:
While approximately 11-12% of fly balls become homers on average, Blanton has given up only 69 homers on 892 career fly balls – good for 7.7%. Much of this likely stems from the fact that he has pitched for the Athletics during his entire career. You can find different sources for park factors, but according to this McAfee Coliseum depresses homers by 11%. When we adjust for the fact that Blanton made approximately half of his starts in the Coliseum, we can see how he was able to beat the league average in homers per fly ball by approximately 4-5%. Sure enough, we see that Blanton’s career HR/9 at home is lower (0.75) than his career HR/9 on the road 0.90).
BtBS hypothesizes Citizens Bank Park could increase Blanton’s homer-surrendering chances by 16 percent. Yikes. That, to me, screams more Adam Eaton than Jamie Moyer.
Posts: 0 Geoff
Well, I think Dubee has already gotten a hold of him today. You could see it last night. Ill bet they try to make him a different kind of pitcher than he has been. he said he ptiches to contact but he doesnt throw enough sinkers. he needs to become a sinker heavy pitcher. he has a two seamer already. he needs to become a sinkerballer.
he has god stuff too, i cant understand why he has such a high ERA. i guess it is the walks and the control. his breaking stuff is good. he throws hard enough. he needs command.
Posted: 11:18 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
they see something there, and so do i. he just needs to get himself under control. his mechanics are a little odd too. he sort of rocks back and then throws it more with his arm without driving his body forward a whole lot.
Posted: 11:20 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
The ball that Delgado hit out… was at his ankles….. Delgado, Ichiro, and Vladdy Guerrero are the only players in baseball that could have hit that pitch.
I thought he did a nice job.. he was throwing strikes for the most part, but sometimes walks can kill you and last night they did…. he’s a upgrade over what they had, and he kept it close enough to allow us to come back.
Eaton would have given up 12 runs last night..
Posted: 11:20 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 TJ
I like Blanton alot, last night’s start was good with the exception of a few at bats. He looked real sharp the first two innings though.
Posted: 11:22 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
oh, hes WAY better than eaton even when hes having control problems. adam eaton is finished as a starting pitcher. he needs to remake himself as a reliever. id prefer he didnt do it here though.
i give blanton a free pass on the delgado home run. that was ridiculous. the castro one was bad because castro is total garbage and he hung that one in the groove. anyone that says hes not better than eaton is crazy. his number are liek lohse’s were last year and i think mike t posted those a while back.
Posted: 11:24 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
The positivity is good here. I think he threw too many breaking balls, and the Mets just laid off, waiting for fastballs.
Posted: 11:28 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
I think Blanton gets a bti of a grace period to study the NL hitters. but he will be here next year so hes not a rental. i think hell be very very good next year for some reason. hell be ok this year but hell break out next year. i dont know why but i think he will.
Posted: 11:32 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Rob E.
Tim that is how the Marlins play all fastballs hitters. So he is going to have to locate those fast balls,
Posted: 11:37 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
I’ll post it here too… http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2695359131_c9a6eedd2e.jpg?v=0
Posted: 11:40 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Gavin
I agree. I thought his sinker looked really good and when he threw it for strikes looked like a different pitcher. He needs to throw that more.
His deuce breaks to soon. His slider looked better than his deuce. He didnt throw many Changes…..when he did it was -10 each time which is about as good as you can get.
With Delgado, you have to jam him with the high heat. He did that a bunch and Delgado fouled off a bunch. He gave in a threw a deuce in Delgados zone. He…like most LH…is a great low and inside hitter. It was a bad pitch. If he was throwing down there, he needed to bury it.
Did anyone notice that he looked like he got distracted by missing close strike calls out there, ala Brett Myers?
Overall his stuff was ok, but he threw too many curves in the zone late in counts.
Posted: 11:43 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
I do like his high heat. We dont have enough starters, one other, who throw high heat.
i never see brett myers do that. maybe he does but i cant recall it. happ throws nice inside heat and hamels does too sometimes, but kendrick doesntnt and moyer cant throw any heat.
Posted: 11:47 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
Wheels actually said that, they Blanton has a history of getting pissed at calls.. and thats when the catcher or coaches need to go settle him down..
Posted: 11:48 AM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 The Voice of Reason
Dudes gotta chill. Blue is going to miss some strikes every now and then.
Posted: 12:05 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Bruce
As I posted on Tim’s previous blog this morning, I noted Blanton’s lack of control (3 walks) and questionable pitch selection (with Ruiz’s repeatedly looking over to the dugout for pitch signal?). I hope in due time as Ruiz, Coste and Dubee worked together with Blanton, they will form a solid relationship that will provide better results on the mound. I also noticed Moyers had a few words with Blanton during the game. I hope Blanton is listening closely to the Master of Guile. ;-)
Posted: 12:30 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
I’m not going to jump on Blanton’s case at all. He has good stuff. He had a lot working against him last night. He was basically thrown to the wolves, much like Happ. Happ may have let up a lot more than 2 runs in that game, but they pulled him in 4 2/3 with the bases loaded to bring in Durbin. Blanton also hasn’t pitched in like 2 weeks. Coste, Ruiz, Dubee, and Manuel need to learn him better too. Once he works out the kinks I think he can be a sub 4. ERA 15 wins a year kinda guy for the Phillies. And yes, I agree with you Bruce, he should be learning as much as he can from Moyer. The stuff Blanton has can really improve if he listens to Moyer. Moyer can help him with location, and maybe even help him learn what pitches to throw in what situations. Moyer is so great for the young kids. Is anyone else still calling for Happ? I think I might like Happ more than Kendrick right now. Send Kendrick down to AAA and let him develop that change up. If Kendrick could do that he could be devistating. Happ is pitching lights out in AAA. You know it’s him making a statement to get the call up.
Posted: 12:45 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 TJ
Happ coming up I think depends on Myers.
Posted: 12:49 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 The Voice of Reason
At least put Happ in bullpen and let go of Eaton. Eaton is a waste of oxygen. You know he’s going to come into a close game at some point and blow it wide open. Its a lock.
Posted: 12:52 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 bob k
All right…Reason to hope…Timely hitting even from Taguchi,Blanton not bad for the first time…Good defense…..But lets see what happens with Myers tonight.
Posted: 12:54 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
A LOT of catchers get their signs from the coaches… especially with a new pitcher.. sometimes they are looking to see if they should give the sign to throw over to first.. or to step off… or just hold the ball until the runner breaks or someone calls timeout.
Posted: 12:54 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
Yeah he needs to get the call. I doubt theyll send kendrick to AAA, but I agree that his pitches have gotten stale. He needs a new pitch very much. Happ belongs on a major league roster. The phililes ALWAYS do this. take young mlb ready talent and bury it in the minor leagues for YEARS. this is a prime example of them wasting happs talent. if you have to put him in the bullpen for a few weeks then put him in as the long man. FIND A WAY TO GET HIM TO CONTRIBUTE. great teams find ways. i dont know why eaton is still on this team.
Posted: 01:12 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
The Red Sox have Bucholz in the minors and he threw a no hitter last year. haha
Posted: 01:17 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
Yeha thats crazy. I wonder if they will listen to offers for him. i dount it though. they horde quality starting pitching like texans horde oil.
Posted: 01:21 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
haha I don’t blame them, it looks like the Phillies are starting to do that too. As much as I hate Eaton I’m going to throw him in the mix because he CAN start, just not very well.
Hamels
Myers
Blanton
Eaton
Moyer
Kendrick
Happ
Carrasco
That other lefty in AAA with a decent ERA who could start
Benson who blows worse than Eaton but could start
Out of those above mentioned I’d say half of them are quality starters.
Posted: 01:28 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
I took a look at metsblog. what a TERRIBLE website.
Posted: 01:28 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
Yeha they are. They need to find a place for happ on the mlb team. Id be in favor of a 6-man rotation. nobodys done that in a while but i think thats such a good idea if you can sell it to hamels.
hamels
blanton
myers
happ
moyer
kendrick
thats pretty decent. theyd ALL be rested each start.
then you need two innigns eater long men in the bullpen and you can pull it off. i dotn know why people dont do it more often. i guess you need the arms in the pen who can take stress.
Posted: 01:36 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Greg
Off topic, but what the deal with the Boo? F*ck You T-shirts? maybe I don’t get but they seem pretty bush to me.
Posted: 01:59 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Pat
I thought Blanton looked rusty, but he had a 12 day layoff. He walked 3 people and hit a batter, and he normally has great control. Two of the mets 5 runs came from lead-off walks. We all know Delgado struck out and then hit a ball of his shoe laces for a homerun… not a bad pitch. Also, its not like we eased him into the rotation, we threw him into the fire with first place on the line against the hated mets.
Don’t give up on this guy, I think he will be alright.
Posted: 02:06 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Phlorida
Ill start the bidding with- Joe ‘Sixpack’ Blanton
Posted: 02:08 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
Does anyone know a site where you can look up game winning hits, RBI’s after the 7th inning, BA with RISP after the 7th inning, and other things like that. I have a retarded biased uncle who said he’d rather have Ryan Howard up in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs in a tied game than Pat Burrell. I am trying to find stats to back it up to prove him other wise.
Posted: 02:19 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
Can’t help you there Phil, But I know that www . red tube . com is a wonderful ADULT website …. only you have to take out the spaces
NOT SAFE FOR WORK !!! …that is my official warning
Posted: 03:09 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Frank
He has to be a National League pitcher- can’t give up HRs w/ 2 outs and the pitcher on deck to eight hole hitters.
Posted: 03:33 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 The Sports Complex :: Blog Archive :: Breaking Down Joe Blanton :: Philadelphia City Paper :: Philadelphia Arts, Restaurants, Music, Movies, Jobs, Classifieds, Blogs
[...] Tim at Phillies Nation compared him to Brett Myers and Adam Eaton and Blanton himself was unhappy with his effort: “I was really disappointed with myself about the walks. Especially the pitcher. That’s definitely not what I wanted to do.” [...]
Posted: 03:38 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 dramz
I left Dayton, Ohio, with two bad knees and a dream of becoming a baseball player; I thank God it came it true…*sniff…sniff**
Posted: 03:59 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 ryan
he had some terrible control problems at times where he just couldn’t throw a strike for 7 or 8 straight pitches at a time. just couldn’t find the plate. if he had eliminated that he woulda fared much better. also if the third base ump had called Delgado out when he went around he woulda had two less runs on his line.
Posted: 04:20 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 Bruce
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Posted: 05:53 PM on July 23, 2008
Posts: 0 porntubeguy
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Posts: 0 porntubekiller
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Posts: 0 Emile Kleinhenz
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