Another day, another 4-1 lead wasted. As one commenter noted -- the Marlins took advantage of a stingy strike zone; the Dodgers did not.
1. Lined to shortstop. #111.
2. Single to center! After Furcal got on! Makes me wonder... how often has it happened that Furcal and Pierre were both on the basepaths at the same time?
3. K. Looking. As the third out of the inning. With Dodgers on 2nd and 3rd. I'm so glad this guy is so hard to strike out, because otherwise, this would be dispiriting. #112.
4. Grounded to second. #113.
5. Popped to left. #114. That's the Juan-for-five we know and loathe!
Pace: 559 outs. Actually, 559.6, which rounds up to our magic number! Go Juan!
3 comments:
Glad to see I'm not the only one who holds a disdain for Juan Pierre! One of Colletti's worst missteps (yes, even worse than acquiring Julio Lugo for the stretch run last year.) But I think that by focusing on Juan's outs you're missing out on his worst feature: DEFENSE!! I can actually handle Juan Pierre at the plate because I think, at the end of the season, he'll have contributed his usual 200 hits and 50 stolen bases. His contributions might be overrated, but they're not bad. His defense, however, is nothing short of horrific! Bad reads, terrible jumps, poor catching (how many balls has he simply dropped this year?), one of the worst throwing arms I've ever seen, all of this is what Juan Pierre has brought to center field this year! If we don't move him to left soon, I predict he'll cost us at least 7-8 games this year. He's already cost us a couple.
Thanks for your comment.
I agree, of course, with your overall point about his defense. He's lost out there in center field. He was acquired, I believe, because the Dodgers Powers that Be felt that Matt Kemp could not handle center field. That may be true -- but Juan Pierre is not the cure for that particular ill. It boggles the mind.
With Juan, one has to consider the whole package. If he played better defense -- let's say, if he was the best defensive CF in the game -- it would make up for his deficiencies with the bat. (200 hits are not so great if they're all singles and the player doesn't walk; 50 SB aren't so great if the player is also caught stealing 20 times.) If Juan hit better, it would more than make up for his lousy defense. All taken together, it adds up to one thing: he should be a 4th outfielder/pinch runner. He'd be good at that -- maybe the best 4th outfielder/pinch runner in the league.
Counting his outs is most definitely a silly way to look at things, but it's just one way of spreading the word: Juan Pierre should not be given 750 major league plate appearances, and the day he gets demoted to the bench will be a good day for my favorite ballclub.
Move him to left? And what do we do with Gonzo? As on the decline as Gonzo may be, I would rather see him hit than Pierre. I don't think the defensive difference is enough to justify Pierre over Gonzo.
Now if you were thinking of splitting the time between those two... Now that is a plan I could get behind. I think we are already playing Gonzo too much if we expect him to have anything left come Aug-Sept...
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