TruffleShuffle

this is the dave duncan special - take a guy who had a neutral GB/FB ratio, sharpen up his control and make him a ground ball pitcher.

good job lilly... he pitched fine tonight, offense just laid an egg. bullpen will only have to go 1 inning tonight, most likely.

i too find it unbelievable, mostly because it's not true.

Why would they take Lilly out? to have our awesome bullpen pitch 4 innings in the first game of a series.

so pujols is 0-3 and brendan ryan has been on base 3 times. what?

pineiro doesn't really walk people. to beat him you're going to have to get hits, and his pinch count is going to be low if nobody is getting hits. i like working the count too, but look at theriot's AB - he took the first pitch for a strike and the second pitch was going to be a strike. if the guy is just throwing everything over the plate, there's no point in just standing there and putting yourself in an 0-2 hole. Exactly. He's basically chucking everything over the plate. If you don't swing he's getting you out anyways. I appreciate your actual analysis and logic here, Truffle. I can only assume it's going to fall on deaf ears. Fontenot with an opposite field double! to reinforce my point, i will refer people to this article Lines with "action pitches" on each count: First pitch: .338/.344/.547 0-1 count: .317/.326/.485 1-0 count: .339/.340/.563 2-0 count: .351/.351/.625 1-1 count: .325/.330/.512 1-2 count: .177/.185/.263 2-1 count: .337/.338/.554 3-0 count: .390/.958/.780 2-2 count: .194/.199/.299 3-1 count: .355/.691/.638 3-2 count: .229/.468/.381 so yes, the cubs can take more pitches, but when the pitcher is throwing just about everything over the plate on the first and second pitches, they're just going to put themselves in bad counts that result in defensive swings and outs. the problem isn't swinging too early in the count, it's not getting good enough swings on hittable pitches.

pineiro doesn't really walk people. to beat him you're going to have to get hits, and his pinch count is going to be low if nobody is getting hits. i like working the count too, but look at theriot's AB - he took the first pitch for a strike and the second pitch was going to be a strike. if the guy is just throwing everything over the plate, there's no point in just standing there and putting yourself in an 0-2 hole.

mixed bag for searle - 6 H and 2 BB in 4 IP, but also 3 K's and an 8/1 GO/FO ratio. he's done for the night.

certainly if we lose this game we can pack it in.

terrible.

i do too, usually because those guys suck and shouldn't be walked.

that's why you don't walk bad hitters.

is don baylor managing the cardinals?

solo homers for flaherty and burke in the 3rd, vitters made an out. the top 4 in the chiefs' lineup have each hit a solo home run.

solid baserunning for ryno's team... thomas has walked and singled but was picked off both times; guyer reached on an error and was caught stealing. pretty pathetic second inning: guyer reached on error guyer caught stealing jay jackson walked tony thomas walked thomas picked off barney singled smith grounded out. that is how to run your way out of a big inning.

bad 2nd for searle: * Manuel Rodriguez doubles (8) on a fly ball to right fielder Dylan Johnston. * Kevin Ahrens singles on a ground ball to center fielder Tony Campana. Manuel Rodriguez to 3rd. * With Adam Loewen batting, wild pitch by Ryan Searle, Kevin Ahrens to 2nd. * Adam Loewen walks. * Jesus Gonzalez singles on a line drive to left fielder Jonathan Wyatt. Manuel Rodriguez scores. Kevin Ahrens to 3rd. Adam Loewen to 2nd. * C. J. Ebarb lines out to first baseman Ryan Keedy. * Chris Emanuele grounds into a force out, shortstop Starlin Castro to second baseman Nate Samson. Kevin Ahrens scores. Adam Loewen scores. Jesus Gonzalez out at 2nd. Chris Emanuele advances to 1st, on throwing error by second baseman Nate Samson. * Darin Mastroianni walks. Chris Emanuele to 2nd. * Justin Jackson grounds out to first baseman Ryan Keedy. i didn't know adam loewen had converted to outfield. what a bust.

harrison also homered in the first. daytona is up 7-0 after 1.5 innings. castro has singled in 2 ABs and searle threw a 1-2-3 first inning with 2 ground outs and a K. should be an easy one as long as they stay dry through 5. colvin is back in the lineup and has doubled. jay jackson started for tennessee and has given up 3 hits in 2 innings, but also K'ed 3.

as long as it's not jose i'm okay with it.

he can't. is slightly below average a possibility? from everything i've read, no. he'll be bad defensively and has to either DH or hit enough to overcome the runs he gives away with his glove.

Don't know about that. It's a great class, but best since Fab 5? yeah plus most of the fab 5 stayed 2, 3, 3, 4 and 4 years. most of these UK guys are 1 or 2 and gone. it will be interesting down the road to see which group of recruits ultimately made more money during college.

the other possibility is that ramirez stays good into his mid 30s; the cubs have a need at 1B and shift ramirez to 1B as he gets older/slower and put vitters at 3B. Micah Hoffpauir doesnt like you very much right now. that's nice, micah hoffpauir is 29 years old and guys who peak late tend to drop off pretty early. counting on him as a long-term solution at 1B would be dumb.

the other possibility is that ramirez stays good into his mid 30s; the cubs have a need at 1B and shift ramirez to 1B as he gets older/slower and put vitters at 3B.

i'm pretty sure braun made a few good plays at 3B his rookie year, but he also made enough errors to give away about 25 runs in the field. gamel is brutal defensively, even if he did make one good play.

hopefully wall is getting paid well for his season in college.

he can't.