=== Chone On Crazy Diamond ===
Don Wakamatsu, again two steps ahead of us, perceiving an important thing that we did not.
Isn't it great, sez Skip, that when the shortstop and third baseman glom onto a two-bouncer and look over to 2B .... the mitt is facing them, asking for the ball.
It's fine to talk about double-play technique. But if you're there four strides ahead of the other guy, what does technique mean, compared to extra time? Very little.
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Figgins' crazy speed around the defensive infield is one of those things that creates Swagger, a sense of Contenderness. Bounce, flip, We Bad. You feel me?
Bill James wrote that he expected great managers and GM's to do things that he thought were wrong, but that turned out to be right later. The managers and GM's specialize in their jobs, don't they? Shouldn't they teach us things, and frequently?
SSI gets the very pleasant sensation that Zduriencik, Wakamatsu, and Adair are two steps ahead. It gets this sensation frequently.
Crazy speed is lost on the 3B position. It is not in the middle of the field.
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Game opened today with Ichiro pulling a Lincecum pitch down the RIGHT field line for a double. Then Chone Figgins walks. That's backward.
I'm not having a snit fit. I'm just saying, walks sting when they push runners around the bases, or when they occur right before you face All-Star hitters. Walks with first base open?!, those are like going down to the court amp'ed for 3-on-3 and then having to shoot baskets by yourself.
I wish Ichiro were enthused about hitting second. But, of course, I'm more enthused about him hitting for my team in the first place.
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How many times is Ichiro going to rip a base hit, steal second... and then RISP, 0 out, first base empty, here is another one of those 100 walks. Ugh.
- 2B, 0 out - 1.19 runs
- 1B and 2B, 0 out - 1.57 runs
- Difference - only 0.38 runs added by the walk
- Flip the two: Figgins walks first; Ichiro with a single and SB - 2.19 runs
On these two plays, you added .62 runs just by inverting the batting order. As baseball goes, that's a big bonus for nothing more than a lineup switch.
I'm oversimplifying, of course - you don't gain .62 runs per game by flipping the 1-2 hitters, obviously. For illustrative purposes only. But Figgins' walks with 1B open are going to annoy me constantly.
Ichiro, on the other hand, doesn't walk with 1B open, mostly because he doesn't walk period. Ichiro hits with runners on. Having a fast runner on 1B with the ball rolling around in the outfield is my idea of $22 worth.
Cheers,
Dr D