2015 ROYALS—A Wakeup Call

We also discover the problem with pitch counts...

July 17, 2015—White Sox

Due to some questionable scheduling the Royals come out of the All-Star break—which wasn’t a break for many of them—and start the second half with a double header.

When Game 1 starts, it’s 92 degrees.

Chris Young’s pitching for the Royals and wins his eighth game, but comes out after throwing five innings and 82 pitches. The Royals formula for winning is to get six innings out of their starter and then give the ball to Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. At 82 pitches couldn’t Young have gone one more inning?

Nope—and here’s why:

Pitch counts are only one piece of information and it might be a piece of information that’s misleading. Chris is one of the smartest ballplayers I’ve ever been around and he wishes they’d get rid of the radar gun and the pitch count on the scoreboard. Those numbers are there for fans, but pitchers can let those numbers get in their heads.

A pitcher can feel great until he sees he’s thrown 102 pitches and then thinks he ought to feel tired. And the same goes for a low pitch count: you look up and see 82 and think you ought to have another inning in you, but it’s a billion degrees in Chicago, your back is bothering you, you’re starting to leave balls up in the zone and it’s time to get off the mound before something bad happens, no matter what your pitch count is.

Chris Young believes far too many people over-rely on numbers because they can’t just look at a player or a situation and understand what they’re seeing; they need the numbers.

Some guys can see a pitch and give you an accurate idea of its velocity: the rest of us need radar guns. Some guys can watch a shortstop field groundballs and see his range; the rest of us need UZR. And some guys can look at a pitcher and see he’s tired; the rest of us need pitch counts.

If you don’t know what to look for, you look at numbers; that’s all you know. And if the numbers don’t reveal everything (and trust me, they definitely don’t) you’ve missed something.

In Game 1 of the White Sox doubleheader Chris Young throws 82 pitches and that’s enough. Ned Yost doesn’t push his luck; he pulls Young and turns the game over to his bullpen—the Royals win 4-2.

The White Sox pitcher in Game 1 is Jeff Samardzija.

If there’s anything those of us in the media like, it’s an easy story and they don’t come much easier than the Royals facing Jeff Samardzija for the first time since they brawled with the White Sox back in April.

Unfortunately for those of us who like an easy story, not much happens with Samardzija on the mound and there could be a couple reasons for that.

1. Nobody wants to get suspended or fined—the Royal have had enough of that already—and everyone just wants to concentrate on the ballgame.

2. The Royals got challenged and responded. Like a schoolyard bully trying to take your lunch money, you have to show you’ll fight back; then maybe you’ll get left alone. The Royals showed they’d fight to protect their teammates and now opposition pitchers don’t feel so free to plunk KC batters—the rest of the league knows there will be repercussions.

Whatever you thought about Kelvin Herrera throwing at Brett Lawrie and then pointing at his own head, Herrera gained a lot of respect from his teammates for sending the message: I’ll protect my guys.

July 18, 2015—White Sox

If you ever get invited to pitch or catch in a Big League game, here’s a general rule of thumb about pitching and calling pitches: when a hitter is looking for a pitch on the inner half of the plate, throw something on the outer half.

Which sounds obvious, but in this game, two pitchers and two catchers ignore that rule of thumb; Salvador Perez and Brandon Finnegan get away with it, Geovany Soto and Dan Jennings don’t.

Here’s why you don’t pitch inside in the later innings of a tie game:

When teams get into extra-innings everybody’s tired, they want the game to be over and hitting a home run is the fastest way to make that happen. Here’s what Lorenzo Cain said after he hit a home run in the 13^th inning: “I was hoping for anybody on this team to hit a home run at that point.”

Notice that Lorenzo did not say he was hoping someone would work a walk and then someone else would bunt that runner into scoring position and then another someone else would hit an opposite-field RBI single. Fuck all that, it takes too long.

Everybody’s up there trying to end it with one swing and catchers and pitchers should know that.

So when Salvador Perez and Brandon Finnegan decide to sneak an inside fastball past Geovany Soto in the twelfth inning, people who know the game might have winced—I know I did. Even though the count’s 1-2 it’s likely that Soto is still looking inside, and he is; Soto doubles and comes very close to ending the game.

It doesn’t mean you can never go inside late in a game; some batters need to see a pitch inside off the plate to set up a pitch away. But with nobody on and a big guy at the plate, throw your strikes on the outer half. The hitters are looking to turn and burn.

Don’t let them do it.

July 20, 2015—Pirates

Being able to throw a fastball 100 MPH is an extremely rare talent and Yordano Ventura has it. But if the fastball is your go-to pitch when you have to throw a strike, hitters will look for it and be ready when they get it.

Yordano Ventura faces the Pittsburgh Pirates and gives up 10 hits and six earned runs over four innings. Five of those 10 hits come when Yordano Ventura falls behind in the count and throws a fastball in a fastball count. Two more of those hits come when Ventura is ahead in the count and throws something off-speed.

After the game Pirates manager Clint Hurdle says his team was able to sit on certain pitches in certain spots and did damage when they got them. The best Big League pitchers will throw any pitch in any count; Yordano Ventura does not appear to be there yet.

Ventura and Salvador Perez are being predictable—fastballs behind in the count, off-speed when they’re ahead—and the Royals are paying the price. They lose to the Pirates 10-7. Yordano Ventura finishes the day 4-7 with a 5.19 ERA.

July 21, 2015—Pirates

The big news is Yordano Ventura’s demotion to the minor leagues. Ventura had another mediocre outing, Jason Vargas is coming back and the team needs to make room on their roster.

The Royals choose to send Ventura down to the minors and keep Joe Blanton for long relief. And even though keeping Blanton is ridiculed by some of the geniuses who have never played, but still share their baseball wisdom on the internet, Royals fans should thank God and Dayton Moore that Blanton is available for this game.

I have yet to earn a medical degree (it probably got lost in the mail) but when a pitcher throws a pitch and then walks off the mound biting his glove because he’s in pain, I’m going out on a limb and saying that’s a bad sign. That’s what Jason Vargas does in the second inning. Vargas is going to have his arm checked out, but the news is probably going to be bad.

Once Vargas leaves the field, Blanton comes in and saves the day. The guy that was getting ridiculed on the internet an hour before the game began, strikes out two batters with runners in scoring position and then goes on to give the Royals three more shutout innings.

Once Blanton did his job in long relief and got the ball to the sixth inning with the game still tied, Ned Yost could bring in his other relievers; Ryan Madson, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland.

Before the game I’m talking to Clint Hurdle about the Royals bullpen and Wade’s name comes up; Clint makes it clear he does not want the Royals to get the lead and hand the ball to Davis.

Right now, nobody in either league wants to face Wade Davis.

Madson has thrown a scoreless sixth, Herrera has thrown a scoreless seventh and for whatever reason, Ned Yost sends Herrera out for the eighth.

And I don’t know what that reason is because I’ve been going to Clint Hurdle’s post-game press conferences and skipping Ned’s. I promise Clint I’ll try to ask obnoxious, dumb questions and Clint says he’d expect no less of me.

In the seventh inning Herrera throws eight pitches and seven of them are fastballs. Relievers have a better chance of getting away with blowing straight heat because hitters will face them once; there’s not much time to adjust. In the eighth inning Kelvin starts switching it up—18 pitches, 13 fastballs—but with the game still scoreless, Herrera has runners at first and second and two outs.

With Andrew McCutchen at the plate, Ned brings in Wade Davis. It’s kind of like getting into a playground fight and bringing your big brother along to protect you, which actually sounds like a great idea. Davis strikes out McCutchen and walks off the mound to one of the loudest ovations ever heard in Kauffman Stadium.

For all those young pitchers out there who want to look like a Bad Ass, study Wade Davis. No fist pump, no screaming, no bling; just a guy who looks like he figured he was better than you and isn’t overly surprised to find out he was right.

The Royals score three runs in the bottom of the eighth and hang on for a 3-1 win.

July 25, 2015—Astros

When I was asked to start Tweeting during games I said that would be difficult; I was actually trying to watch the games. I was told to Tweet when nothing was happening and I responded that if you knew what to look for, there was always something happening.

For instance:

It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, the game is tied and the Royals have the winning run on third base. Salvador Perez is at the plate and the Astros decide they want reliever Will Harris to face him.

Harris gets eight warmup throws and bounces three breaking balls in the dirt, which is kind of unusual when a pitcher’s warming up. Astros catcher Hank Conger blocks those warmup pitches in the dirt, which is very unusual. Catchers get beat up enough already; generally speaking, they don’t block warmup pitches.

Turns out, Harris and Conger are practicing.

When the count goes 2-2 on Salvador Perez, Harris bounces a curve in the dirt. As anyone who’s watched him knows, Sal will chase breaking pitches out of the zone and Harris wants him to chase this one, but he also wanted Conger to see how his breaking pitch moved after it bounced. The Astros can’t afford a wild pitch with the winning run on third.

Somehow Perez lays off and walks. Alex Rios grounds out, the game goes to extra innings and the Royals eventually win.

If you’re thinking it’s pretty sharp of me to spot the Astros practicing what they were going to try on Perez, think again: Rusty Kuntz notices it and tells me about it later.

I miss it because I’m busy Tweeting.

July 26, 2015—Astros

Jason Vargas is going to need Tommy John surgery and Yordano Ventura is right back on the team. Five days after being temporarily demoted, Yordano pitches seven innings and gives up one run; the Royals beat the Astros 5-1.

Here’s what Yordano says after the game: “My confidence is a lot better after today because I was able to locate my pitches and I was able to throw my breaking ball for strikes. It’s definitely a big boost for me.”

Against Houston, Yordano goes to his curve early; he throws four of them to the second batter of the game—Preston Tucker—and strikes him out. Ventura throws 97 pitches and by my count 29 are curves, 14 of them for strikes and 12 changeups, eight of them for strikes.

Ventura throws enough off-speed pitches for strikes to keep the Houston hitters from sitting on fastballs and having to worry about more than one pitch makes Ventura’s fastball even better.

Meanwhile, Royals hitters do their thing: they jump on Houston starter Dallas Keuchel early in the count and score four runs in the first inning. Every Kansas City hitter swings within three pitches; Keuchel cannot get ahead in the count and force Royals hitters to swing at his pitch.

And with Yordano Ventura back on track, those four runs are enough.

A Wakeup Call

During one of my many conversations with Jason Kendall, he mentions a “wakeup call” and I ask what that means. Jason says it’s a trip to the minors or getting benched; it’s a reminder that nothing is guaranteed and you need to get your head out of your ass.

If you’ve been skipping workouts or blowing off coaches or generally behaving like a horse’s ass, go down to Triple A and spend a week eating peanut butter sandwiches for a postgame meal, riding on buses instead of chartered jets and thinking about how you fucked up your life and what you might do differently if you’re given a second chance.

OK, I get what a trip to the minors does, how about being benched?

Jason says it has an adverse effect on the social life of a young ballplayer: “Lee, women want to (bang) starters.

I’ve never been a starter in the Big Leagues so I wouldn’t know from personal experience, but it sounds plausible. I say I believe Jason knows the way to a young man’s heart.

I don’t know for sure and Yordano may not either, but spending time in the minors—however brief—might have helped his attitude. Yordano Ventura’s next six decisions will be wins and after his trip to the minors he’ll go 9-1 for the rest of the regular season.

And Jason Kendall definitely needs to be managing a baseball team.

Next Up: Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist join the team.