Marc-O, Later Innings
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THIRD INNING
'member these are MY impressions get yer own.
Hunter Dozier took a paintball just outside. Dr. D started worrying a bit about "nibbling." Nibbling occurs when you are afraid, or at least tentative, about throwing a pitch inside the strike zone.
Dozer took another ball and then a mighty hack at an unhittable Marco Gonzales curve ball. He got the best possible outcome: he topped it. To Kyle Seager. Which gives you as much chance of reaching base as if you're a contemporary major leaguer bunting the shift.
Alcides Escobar was detonated on 5 ruthless pitches, paintball for 0-1, swing thru a perfectttttt changeup 0-2, hold up on a couple tease pitches, and then fan on a jam pitch. Dr. D stopped worrying entirely about nibbling or anything else.
Some Feeb saw 91 fastball 0-1, 78 hook 1-1, 78 hook swing and miss 1-2, 84 change foul tip, routine fly to Span on a cutter above the hands.
IMPRESSION: STOP DA FIGHT.
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FOURTH INNING
KC got a little "traffic" -- two on, one out -- when
Hang on. We have to digress here. One of the first things Bill James brought to a screeching halt, was the idea that pitchers could throw double plays at will. Bob Gibson particularly would talk about setting a guy up and then come low-in, BOOM, double play.
Nowadays we realize that very seldom does anything even vaguely like this actually occur. But it did in this case. A very jumpy Salvador Perez swung over a changeup, and then Marc-O took it lower -- whereupon Perez jumped out and topped an easy bouncer to Dee Gordon. Double play, end of "traffic."
Impression: Better not mess up those final totals tonight, keed. Dr. D is wanting to see some killer stats.
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FIFTH INNING
As Marco was knocking them down 1-2-3 with two strikeouts -- both on deadly curve balls -- Bill Kreuger came on to give HIS impressions. Let's check him on them.
√ Incredible game-to-game consistency after the first four starts.
√ Great first-pitch strike percentage.
√ Amazing mix: four pitches and they are not, NOT sez Bill NOT thrown down the middle. Every one of them is well-located. We're not talking about a 2-pitch guy who shows two more. We're talking 4 pitches that are weapons.
√ Curve ball is best weapon.
√ Remarkable "touch and feel" for a young pitcher.
√ Reminds him of Jimmy Key: clean-cut, (?), ball kinda jumps out of his hand sneaky fast, EZ-breezy motion ... Gonzales is going to win 12-15 games a year for a long time.
The Mainframe's impression: very verrry nice job there Mr. Ex-Major Leaguer (TM) Sir, especially on noticing that the curve is the real garrotte in this assassin bag. For some reason it had taken people half a season to notice that the changeup isn't that great a pitch, but Bill Kreuger has now noticed.
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SIXTH
Two hard-hit balls, nothing dangerous, a smoked lineout and a single -- but both on changeups IN the zone. Marc-O's changeup has to be set up or thrown to drop outside the zone; it's sort of a trick pitch that way.
I mean, not to exaggerate it. But he can't start a game throwing 6 of 10 changeups all thigh-high. He'll get hurt.
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SEVENTH-EIGHTH-NINTH
He tricked them here. He came out "pitching frontwards," that is, starting hitters with a fastball first pitch. Of course by this time his fastball was "playing up" to 93 MPH+ and they were way late on everything. Marc-O has made a statement that --- > after a few innings, and especially late in the game, he "doesn't want them to have any idea what is coming." The Key/Moyer/Beuhrle effect: as the game goes along, they get inside your head.
Overall, he threw 71 strikes against 25 balls and how many were centered?! First pitch was 22/30. Other numbers: 8-5, 3.77 now. The slash line is 7.8 / 1.8 / 0.9 so his other stats:
WAR - 2.0 #13 in the AL (so that Marco is on pace for about 4 WAR)
xFIP - 3.42, #10 in the league
FIP - 3.40, #10 in the AL
ERA - 3.77, #23
Walks - 1.79, #3 in the American League (Kluber, Manaea)
Control ratio (K/BB) - 4.35, #8 in the AL
For a few thoughts on offense, and sundry, check my second site at D-O-V. For thoughts on tomorrow's game, we're day-to-day. If you want to help us out, toss a potato in the pot before you ask for a bowl of hobo stew. Hey, it's just good Depression Era etiquette :- )
Enjoy,
Dr D