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Blog*Spot ArchivesContactRichard Ceccarelli Josh Mandir |
Tuesday, August 16, 2005Tip your cap: Jays 4, Angels 3Another bullpen implosion, another round of criticism for Mike Scioscia. I, for one, don't see it. This might come as a shock to many of you, but I generally have very little negative to say about Mike Scioscia these days, and that includes his handling of the bullpen situation. I gather that tonight's point of contention was the decision not to pull Frankie after he loaded the bases - or even earlier than that. But I ask, in favor of whom? The schizophrenic Brendan Donnelly? The enigmatic Joel Peralta? Kevin Gregg, a tail of two halves? Esteban "doesn't require a modifier" Yan? Look - we got our best guy in there with a lead, and he blew it. It happens occasionally. Time to tip your cap, and time to realize that if this bullpen blows, it's not necessarily because Mike Scioscia messed up - it's because Bill Stoneman hasn't supplied the tools for success. Oh, and booing Frankie off the field was totally classless. Way to go, Angels fans. UPDATE: Frankie should be sent to the minors? Are you shitting me? JOSH: I think the main thing for Frankie is just to have the confidence to throw strikes. He has been through this glut where he walks a ton of people before. It seems to happen after he has struck out a bunch of guys swinging, then people lay off of his slider (because he throws it for a ball a lot) and he just keeps throwing it for a ball. The Blue Jays as a team this year appear to have decided to make Frankie pitch strikes...and he hasn't been doing it very well. I personally would rather him throw the strikes (with the potential for big hits) than walk a guy with the bases loaded. He needs to trust his defense and that people won't be able to hit his pitches well very much even when they are in the strike zone. By no means does he need to go to the minors. Usually once he pulls out of these walk-a-thons he is ridiculously hard to hit (meaning normal Frankie). Everyone slumps, Frankie will be fine, and the team will be helped more if Frankie can work through his problems in the majors than if he is sent down. UPDATE: The real shame here is that this Frankie nonesense has us looking past the fact that Joe Saunders was absolute nails. I really like this guy. Starting with a major league changeup from day one is a real advantage. We're not going to have sit through the growing pains as he tries to pick one up as he goes. Hell, the Angels would still be waiting on these guys. Comments:Oh, and booing Frankie off the field was totally classless. Way to go, Angels fans. I felt totally the opposite. As a non-Angel fan who attends 10 games a year and watches 90% of their games on TV, I've always thought the Angel fanbase, in large part, was made up of three classes: Rich skater kids from Anaheim/Seal Beach, WASP families from Irvine and the "I remember watching Gene Autry on television" crowd. I guess the Santa Ana contingent (as one Angel commercial suggests) is the largest growing fanbase. But I digress... Because of this "non-diehard fanbase" I've always made fun of Angel fans as a whole. They usually are drowned out by Yankee and Red Sox fans, they have the annoying Rally Monkey and ThunderStix, etc. But their recent booing of Finley and KRod (you may disagree with it in principle) shows me that the fans are toughening up a bit, and as an outsider, I see that as a good thing. Note: I realize the Halos have great fans like Richard, Josh, Rob, Shredder, the Rev, etc., but in general I feel they aren't your diehard fans like those for Boston, New York and Chicago. They may be assholes, but you gotta admit, the fans of those teams live and die by their team, stick up for their team at all costs and generally have a vast knowledge of baseball and it's history. Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. I don't disagree with it on principle - I disagree with it because it makes no sense. Look at the guy's numbers over the past month and a half. What has he done to earn admonishment? Is it the 2.50 ERA, or the 12 K’s per 9 innings? Booing him doesn't show that your average Angel fan is becoming more "hardcore" - it shows that your average Angel fan is still an idiot. Re Josh's comment: I think the main thing for Frankie is just to have the confidence to throw strikes: no, the main thing is for him to have the control to throw strikes. He started his outing with two beautiful sliders for strikes -- and imploded immediately thereafter. Part two: Saunders had one good outing. Remember Bootcheck's outing against the pathetic Devil Rays. Christ, Kotchman hits four home runs in his latest callup and everyone thinks he's a four hitter. Chill. I agree with Richard. What is Scioscia going to do? All our relievers have seemed capable. You can only probe him to find out if something is physically wrong. Rodriguez is saying he hasn't had enough work. That sounds like a crappy excuse to me. The bullpen has to understand the morale they are killing. 9 blown save in the last 18 games? Even half gives us a 5 game lead. And remember we still have the Yanks at our necks too. I think Frankie's problem is that he has lost some velocity on his fastball and cannot blow it past hitters anymore. That makes it easier for them to lay of his slider. He can throw 96 mph somewhere over the plate, but with 91, he has to locate the pitch, which he can't do consistently right now. As long as he doesn't regain his velocity or masters his control (was he ever a great location guy?), we'll have to get used to some tough 9th innings. Here's what Bud Black should tell Frankie... "Relax, aight? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring and besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. They're more democratic." |
