May 11, 2006
Games of the Day
The Diamondbacks and Pirates get off to a 12:30 EDT start in Pittsburgh. It's a game that represents how to and how not to build a team. Arizona put together an offense that's not great, but no one's bad. Together, they're an above average offense. I'm not sure how Pittsburgh built their offense, but I can guess they didn't ask the question, "Can this player get on base?"
It's also an important start for Oliver Perez. There's sort of an unwritten rule in baseball that if your ERA is over 7.00, you're not long for the starting rotation. Do they send him back down to triple-A to work out his problems? Send him to the bullpen? Right now Tracy is staying positive:
"Instead of putting the guy's head in a noose, I think Oliver needs to know that his manager, his coaches and his teammates are behind him," Tracy said. "I don't think he needs to be reading in the paper that he might be losing his spot in the rotation. He needs to be reading that we're all pulling for him to go out and have a good start."
Okay. But sometimes, "If you don't pitch well today, you're going to the minors," is a good motivator.
The Cubs and Giants play an afternoon game, so people on the east coast don't need to stay up late to see if Bonds hits 714. He'll face Sean Marshall, a pitcher not seen by players on the Giants. Marshall's only allowed three homers in 34 2/3 innings this year.
The Braves face off against the Marlins with a pair of struggling stars on the mound. Tim Hudson comes into the game with a 5.09 ERA. This season sees a continuation in the decline of Tim Hudson's strikeouts that started in 2004. He's only getting 4.5 per nine this season. Dontrelle Willis is saddled with a 5.15 ERA. His numbers are good, however, as his 3.09 FIP shows. I'm guessing he's suffering from having a AA defense behind him. That's what always strikes me as the biggest difference between the minors and the majors; the ability to catch the ball.
Enjoy!
Posted by David Pinto at
11:23 AM
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One wonders where that kind of support was for Hee Seop Choi when Tracy was benching him in favor of Jason Phillips...
sure are a whole lot of managers who didn't like hee sop choi and i wonder why - he gets benched in favor of worse guy everywhere he goes
and i agree about defense being a HUGE difference between majors and minors.
amazing how many people who don't think defense really matters - just slugging and Ks
THT have Florida as an average defensive team. I think Dontrelle's problems are elsewhere. For example he has hit 6 batters in 7 games. He's givinin up over 4 free passes (BB + HBP) per game compared to 2.3 last year.
The only marlins games I have seen this year were the 3 against the cardinals, but in those games their defense was just atrocious. Some games they should have had 3 or 4 errors, but the scorekeepers ruled the plays as "hits", which was unfortunate for the pitchers. Throwing to wrong bases, missing cut-off men, etc.