One thing was clear to me during the Jays' shellacking of the Dodgers yesterday: there has been a change in thinking about Juan Pierre. He was given exactly 2 at-bats on Sunday -- after making the third out for the second time, Juan was pulled. Granted, it was part of a double-switch -- Schmidt had just allowed his sixth run, making it 6-2 -- and countless other Dodgers (Martin, Furcal) would get a break as the score would get even more lopsided. But at that point, the game was still very much in reach and there was no fear of offending the $44 million man.
That's the bright spot in an otherwise thoroughly dispiriting game: Little and Colletti have seemed to realize that only the kids can save this season and they are going to find ways to get them at-bats.
1. Grounded to pitcher. #205.
2. Grounded to third. #206.
As far as the pace goes, it seems kind of silly to keep this up. Pierre has lost his job (or part of it, at least). He's batting eighth. The record is out of his reach. His pace, for what it's worth, is 529 outs and falling.
6 comments:
Don't be disheartened. If Kemp flames out spectacularly and no one hits well in the #2 spot, Juan could find his way back into Out-making mode.
Did I so don't be dishearteed? I mean don't get comfortable.
Damn the Blue Jays pitched well. The Dodgers mini-bats did not help, but I really think those Jays' pitchers had some nasty stuff going...
Blue Jays' pitching, as of today, ranks 14th in MLB (4.33 ERA). That's thoroughly average. This team very nearly swept the Dodgers. The Los Angeleses got very lucky on Friday, somewhat unlucky on Saturday, and thrashed on Sunday (no luck involved).
Roy Halladay, as of today (yesterday included), is the 70th-best pitcher in MLB, with an ERA of 4.56. I will grant that he is Roy Halladay and thus capable of turning it around at any time.... still, after allowing 2 runs in the first, they went very quietly and let him off the hook.
Point being, maybe they were throwing BBs, and maybe not. This team lacks offense. That said, I'm very hopeful that with the callups of Kemp and Loney that the team is headed in the right direction.
Though I will root for both of them with every fiber of my being, I will note that both of them are prospects. Success for neither is guaranteed.
I was definitely commenting that the Jays, for whatever perverse reasons, pitched very well against us this weekend. Well, Marcum had quite a bit of luck. How many times did the Dodgers leave men in scoring position on Saturday? Lowe is getting Ska-Rewed.
I will also state catagorically that the Dodger offense is anemic as hell. With Kent slumping, Furcal limping, Pierre sucking, and Nomar powerless that doesn't leave much left. If Martin has a bad run of days... well, ugly.
Not hopeful about this Mets series, either. Why is it again we have to pay extra games against the arguably best team in the NL? Oh right, because Interleague play is completely screwed up. I am not against it in principle, but it has fairly serious flaws...
If it wasn't the Mets, it would be the Red Sox or the Yankees (who aren't as bad as the NY press would have you believe).
Now, I kinda wish that it had been the Red Sox or Yankees, because then I would have had a very valuable ticket that I could have sold and made back some of my season ticket money... but to imply that the Dodgers caught a rough deal by getting the Mets twice isn't really right.
By the way... trivia time.
Who has the worst slugging percentage in baseball? That's right, the Washington Nationals, at .360.
Who has the second-worst slugging percentage in baseball? That's right, the Chicago White Sox, at .370.
Who has the third-worst slugging percentage in baseball?
Now let's not always see the same hands.
The getting screwed by interleague actually refers more to the fact we play the Angels every year, while the Padres play Seattle, etc.
The Mets thing is just bad luck because MLB is too obsessed with being able to play every team every day, or keeping the interleague games confined to narrow blocks of time. If they moved Houston into the AL West they wouldn't need the random you get extra NL games. Part of me is deeply suspicious they picked teams they thought would draw more fans, i.e. it is not bad luck but further unbalancing tinkering.
But I would be fine if they got rid of the "AL rivals" part of interleague. It would more or less restore balance and would make the rivals games much more exciting. As it is I have lost all interest in Angels/Dodgers games except for the dread I feel of getting swept in Anaheim.
Post a Comment