Monday, May 16, 2005
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
"There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting." - from the movie The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
A few thoughts and clarifications on Erickson, who apparently managed to cut the rope around his neck with yesterday's fine performance.
The graph that charted line drive % versus defensive efficiency showed that the defense was not helping Erickson out, but not by an overwhelming amount. (Thanks to 6-4-2 for the mention.) The thing that I should have stated is that ERICKSON IS NOT A STRIKEOUT PITCHER. Erickson's strikeout rate is about 4 less per 9 innings than the average LA pitcher, so the fielders must turn more balls in play into outs. The underformance by the defense is thus magnified.
As for yesterday's game...
{ theme music from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly }
The Good:
Erickson saved his own neck with a great performance. He carried a one-hit shutout into the sixth inning by mostly keeping the ball on the ground. (3 to 1 groundout to flyout ratio.) Hee Seop Choi continued to swing the bat by driving in a run with 2 outs in the 2nd inning.
{ theme music from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly }
The Bad:
I don't have a problem with Izturis attempting a bunt sigle in the 9th, but why stand there hoping that the ball goes foul? This and the unsuccessful stolen base attempt cost the team 2 outs. As for Tracy calling for a bunt by Robles with runners on 1st and 2nd in the 3rd inning ... position players who can hit should never bunt so early in the game. So why did the unproven Robles hit 2nd and Choi 7th? It's usually wise to give the ABs at the top of the order to those who can hit. In all, 3 failed bunts.
{ theme music from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly }
The Ugly:
From 1st place to 3rd place in a day. 10 runners left on base against a shaky Tim Hudson. Dave Roberts, of all people, hitting a 3 run homerun to help the Padres pass the Dodgers in the standings.
Sometimes I want to move over to Fire Jim Tracy and rant, rant, rant.
