So...

[Warpticon]

Why does usty get ridiculed for the "book" comment? It's a generally held conception all around baseball, in all organzations.

 

When teams don't know you that well, they play defense straight up and use a non-specific pitching approach geared toward any hitter. When they pick up a player's patterns and tendencies, then they adjust.

 

Why is this worth mocking?

 

a) People who don't like Dusty nitpick the hell out of him. I'm so glad there's actual baseball to talk about now so we don't have to overanalyze every adjective, gerund, and split infinitive for hidden meaning.

 

b) it ties into the justified fear of Dusty putting the youngsters on a short leash. A lot of people think he and Cedeno should have played a lot more last year. Fortunately, both Murtan and Cedeno have done well thus far, and Dusty seems to really like them both (He practically glows when talking about Murton on a couple of interviews I've heard on XM), so those fears are tempered somewhat.

[jjgman21]

Ronny's also batting eighth, and that has an effect of what kind of pitches he sees. There have been a couple at-bats where Ronny got a little aggressive, but it hasn't been like Pierre or Neifi when they clearly won't accept a walk.

 

Shouldn't that have an opposite effect? Hitting in front of the pitcher, wouldn't they occasionally unintentionally/intentionally walk the guy?

 

Cubs pitchers have come to the plate only 21 times this year, and they followed Blanco in six of those ABs.