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Written by Craig Brown
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Monday, 14 September 2009 00:00 |
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I really don’t like watching the Royals on Sundays. And that’s down entirely to SABR Trey and his wacky lineups. Check out this gem:
DeJesus - LF
Bloomquist - 2B
Butler - 1B
Jacobs - DH
Callaspo - 3B
Maier - RF
Buck - C
Hernandez - SS
Anderson - CF
Ick.
The top four spots are fairly settled these days… Something that I wasn’t sure SABR Trey would ever be able to do. But the five after that? Jeez, that’s a big ball of suck. Not that the alternatives are much better, but does Alex Gordon really need a day off? Yuniesky Betancourt is far from my favorite player, but I’d rather see him than Hernandez. Maybe I’ll give Hillman a pass on having Maier and Anderson in the lineup at the same time due to the injury to Mark Teahen, but it doesn’t make it any less appealing. However, I won’t give Hillman a pass on having Jacobs hit cleanup against a left-handed starting pitcher. That’s just wrong.
For a moment, I’d like to recap Luis Hernandez’s day at the plate.
First at bat - 2 pitches, ground out
Second at bat - 3 pitches, strikeout
Third at bat - 1 pitch, ground out
Fourth at bat - 2 pitches, ground out
He saw eight pitches in four plate appearances. That’s just all kinds of awesome. He get’s my misguided confidence award of the day… The dude can’t hit a lick, but he keeps swinging.
Anyway, these Monsters Of September (awesome nickname from Clark at the end of last week) keep rolling. The only setback came on Saturday when Luke Hochevar was hammered yet again.
Interesting story about Hochevar from 610 Sports post-game host Greg Schaum, who reported that up to six teams had knowledge of Hochevar tipping pitches. Just amazing info if it’s indeed accurate.
My first thought about this was, are you freakin’ kidding me? For six teams to have this knowledge means whatever “tell” Hochevar possessed, it was consistent and unyielding. And for six teams to have used this against Hochevar, it’s a “tell” that’s existed for a long, long time. Certainly, information gets around. It’s shared between players.
So tell me, how is it possible the Royals were in the dark about this for so long? How can Bob McClure watch his charge pitch every fifth day for the better part of two seasons and not notice he’s doing something specific and unique before he throws a slider? And how can someone watch video (please tell me the Royals use video to break down their pitchers and hitters) and not discover this? For the Royals to miss this for so long strikes of further pitching malpractice.
Then my next question was, do the Reds suck or what? That 80 pitch game looks more impressive every day.
Maybe I would have been inclined to give some weight to this had Hochevar come out and handcuffed the Indians over the weekend. But a shellacking to the tune of 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB and 6 SO leave me a little dubious.
I’m not disputing Schaum’s report. I have no reason not to believe it. However, I can’t shake the feeling that Hochevar simply isn’t that good of a pitcher. He has his moments - The Cincinnati start and the 13 strikeout performance against Texas jump to mind - but he just can’t harness this quality on a regular basis. And isn’t that the job of the coaching staff? Shouldn’t they help Hochevar discover what made those starts against the Reds and the Rangers so good, so he can set forth and repeat his success?
It’s a simple question, but it truly doesn’t have an easy answer.
And now the Monsters of September have won six of seven for the first time since early May. They’ve gotten hot enough down the stretch that they just might avoid a 100 loss season. For that to happen, they’ll need to be better than 5-14 down the stretch. Honestly, I didn’t think there was going to be any way they could avoid it, but it’s just like the Royals to walk the tightrope of suck and just barely make it over to the other side.
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Comments
I respectfully disagree. It's on the players to perform. But it's on the coaches to help them realize their potential. We hear all the time about McClure doing the little things, like working with someone on his release point or where he stands on the mound... That's a coach trying to help a player get better. Sometimes, it works... But if it doesn't, the coach and player either need to move on to something else, or scrap it altogether.
As I said in the article... Hochevar clearly has some talent. He needs to figure out how to make the most of that talent. Usually, a coach is involved.
BMac: I'd say the most a manager can do is win 4-6 ball games a year. The manager can't throw for 'em can't hit for 'em. At this level the players have to do it." (something to that effect.) Clinkscale, of course, failed to challenge or follow up thus I figured BMac must be correct.
Why the difference between his fantastic games and his bad ones? Uh, here's an idea: the fantastic games were against the teams that *didn't know he was tipping*. Assuming he learns how to throw that well without showing everyone what pitch is coming next, the simple fact is that 13-K-0-BB and 80-pitch complete game are both genuinely special achievements. If not clear indicators of ace potential, they're pretty close. Maybe he can't get there with a new throwing motion. But most people never get there at all, so I wouldn't lose faith in him.
Horrible truth, though: he'd be a lot more likely to become that ace on some other team.