Rubby News Day: Who Could Bang A Hit Off You?
by Eric Stephen on Mar 18, 2011 5:11 PM PDT
in Dodgers Game Recaps
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David Young and I have been covering spring training for two days, and the Dodgers have two wins. Coincidence? Yes, very much so. The Dodgers captured their third straight Cactus League victory with a 6-3 win over the Giants at Scottsdale Stadium. Rubby De La Rosa started the game off right for the Dodgers, and a pair of guys fighting for a roster spot ended it in style.
De La Rosa, the organizational minor league pitcher of the year last season, started the game and threw four no-hit innings. He did walk three of the 14 batters he faced, and struck out two. Those were the first three walks of the spring for De La Rosa, who has struck out seven in his 10 Cactus League innings, putting up a 1.80 ERA.
Still, as the regular starting rotation begins to get stretched out into longer outings, there are limited innings for De La Rosa to pitch going forward. Don't be surprised if he is reassigned to minor league camp soon.
The Dodgers were up 4-3 in the ninth inning when Hector Gimenez struck again, hitting his second home run in as many days, crushing a pitch from Guillermo Mota (see left) over the right field wall. In his last five plate appearances, spanning four games, Gimenez has three home runs and a double. He did not start the game, but entered the game in the seventh, playing the final three innings at first base. Gimenez has played 30 innings at first base this spring.
Xavier Paul, who like Gimenez is out of options, followed with a home run of his own off Mota, to right center field. For someone who began the spring with eight strikeouts in his first 13 plate appearances, Paul has had a very quietly effective spring. Of course, as is always the case with small sample sizes and spring stats, take these with a grain of salt, but in 35 plate appearances this spring Paul is hitting .313/.343/.625.
Notes
- Ted Lilly pitched in a minor league game at Camelback Ranch against Hi-A players from the Texas Rangers system. Lilly threw 72 pitches, allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out seven. The two runs were scored on a two-run home run.
- Jamey Carroll (finger) and Jay Gibbons (eyes), both battling back from injuries, played in a Triple A game against the Rangers at Surprise. Carroll went 1-for-3 with two walks, while Gibbons went 1-for-4
- Hiroki Kuroda gets the start tomorrow for the Dodgers, back at Camelback Ranch against the Brewers and old friend Randy Wolf
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Meaningless good shit beats the hell out of meaningless bad shit.
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Question
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Alston
That site says that Alston has 2040 wins and 1613 losses a total of 3653. Then it mentions games at 3658. Am I missing something here? I would think games would be 3653
http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/alstowa01.shtml
Check out the second year.
Showing 4 more games than the total of wins and losses.
by Dodgerblue8188 on Mar 18, 2011 5:21 PM PDT up reply actions
Sorry 1 more game
So Im guessing this happened several times but why?
by Dodgerblue8188 on Mar 18, 2011 5:22 PM PDT up reply actions
Tied games that were suspended due to rain, darkness, curfew, or whatever. The old rules counted those as games played, keeping all the stats, but the games were replayed from the start.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 18, 2011 5:23 PM PDT up reply actions
thanks
Always can count on you guys for answers!
by Dodgerblue8188 on Mar 18, 2011 5:25 PM PDT up reply actions
I wonder if there’s anybody else famous that was born in Venice and died in Oxford. You could win a lot of bets with that one.
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
by Humma Kavula on Mar 18, 2011 5:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Save the good luck for games that actually matter
by Tripon on Mar 18, 2011 5:48 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Spring training Spring training I don’t care, this shit is impressive
In his last five plate appearances, spanning four games, Gimenez has three home runs and a double.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
From a couple threads ago
When I’ve seen Hawksworth, he depends heavily on his curveball. If I were managing, I’d send him up there against weak-hitting RHs mainly :)
Was reading some Dave Cameron stuff [I know] on how the slider is the most lh/rh dependent pitch. Meaning, the pitch from a RH pitcher is almost useless against a LH batter. Wonder what Reg/others think of that.
by kinbote on Mar 18, 2011 2:49 PM PDT
As a pitcher who relied heavily on a slider, it depends on the pitcher. K-Rod is okay because his has a lot of downward tilt, almost like a curveball. I (like most) threw it with much more 2-8/3-7 (on a clock) tilt, so from a righty to a righty it was filthy, but to a lefty it was almost unthrowable. For a slider with so much across-the-plate action, for it to be called a strike it would need to start in the RHH batter’s box and come back across the plate (very, very difficult) and would never be swung at by a lefty BECAUSE it starts out as a ball. On the other hand, if I start it over the plate, they may start to swing at it, but it’s going to end up either hitting the left-handed batter or they’ll get barrel on it (pitch isn’t hard enough to jam anyone on) and (hopefully) pull it foul.
The reason a cutter is so successful against opposite-handed hitters (righty to lefty/lefty to righty) is because the movement on the pitch is still sharp, but isn’t as big so you can (as a RHP) start it just off the outer edge and have it come back for a strike, start it down the inner third and have it break to the corner, or start it on the inside corner and have it break just far enough to jam the hitter but not far enough to hit them.
No Rafael Furcals were hurt in the making of this video.
Also
because a slider is dangerous if you don’t get enough tilt on it, the hitter can start his swing where the ball starts, the ball can move to somewhere the hitter didn’t expect, and it’ll just follow the plane of the bat. So instead of the batter hitting it off the top end of the barrel, he’ll hit it off the bottom part of the barrel. Long story short: flat sliders get barreled up on.
No Rafael Furcals were hurt in the making of this video.
I find a good slider from a RHP is the toughest pitch for me to handle
But I find a pitcher with a good fastball/curveball mix tougher, even though neither pitch can be as nasty as a slider with some tilt
by Hollywood Joe on Mar 18, 2011 7:12 PM PDT up reply actions
I found curveballs harder to hit, especially 12-6 ones. My vision as a hitter wasn’t good enough to notice the difference between a 12-6 curve and a fastball (which, i suppose, is the point of the 12-6 curveball). Whereas I could see the dot on a slider and take.
No Rafael Furcals were hurt in the making of this video.
Which is why it's slightly annoying to be a LHP in high school.
Not nearly enough LHB to warrant a slider.
by Taylor Maricle on Mar 18, 2011 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions
There's a new post above this one, apparently...
Tray it, you’ll like it.
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
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