White Sox vs. Twins 8/1/12

[caulfield12]

Really. He gives up one hit and struck out a guy (but the ump blew the call) but it was a rollercoaster. Good lord, unless someone is consistently getting 1-2-3 innings, they suck on this site.

 

 

Okay.

 

Well, I had the Twins' radio feed today, so I had no idea about some of the strike calls, checked swing and what exactly happened with the Rios play.

 

One thing's for certain, we can't just give up a double steal like that so easily. Not just Addison, but all our pitchers got raped this week by the Twins on the basepaths.

Edited August 1, 2012 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

It looks as if Flwoers called for quite a few offspeed pitches from Reed in the 9th. Reed's two biggest weaknesses on the mound right now are his unability to effective throw to the different quadrants, as almost everything is at the belt unless it's a change-up. As for his slider, he's not getting a lot of outs with it as he's starting it over the plate and hitters are letting it slide right out of the zone for a ball. I'd like to see him tweak his slider to try and get more downward movement/tilt.

 

 

Not only that, but even the opposing radio teams know the patterns.

 

Fastball/slider to right-handed hitters, fastball/change-up to the opposite sided hitters (threw one to Morneau, for example).

 

He has absolutely got to get away from the predictability of that pattern and mix it up a bit more.

 

As noted, if he and Jones are only get strikes called 15-20% of the time on his slider, every hitter will just lay off it and take their chances they'll get a fastball to drive in an at-bat.

 

Very rarely have you seen either one of those guys throw 2 off-speed pitches for called strikes or even swing-and-a-miss recently.

[balfanman]

Not only that, but even the opposing radio teams know the patterns.

 

Fastball/slider to right-handed hitters, fastball/change-up to the opposite sided hitters (threw one to Morneau, for example).

 

He has absolutely got to get away from the predictability of that pattern and mix it up a bit more.

As noted, if he and Jones are only get strikes called 15-20% of the time on his slider, every hitter will just lay off it and take their chances they'll get a fastball to drive in an at-bat.

 

Very rarely have you seen either one of those guys throw 2 off-speed pitches for called strikes or even swing-and-a-miss recently.

 

That's not on him, that's on the catchers (or bench) that is calling the game.

[South Side Fireworks Man]

Wow, that was intense. Sox win!

Repo man is always intense.

[greg775]

Of course most won't remember that part...

 

 

It seems that it's been a long ass time since Reed had a 1-2-3 inning. His control is good, doesn't walk a lot of people, but he seems extremely hittable out there. 35 hits in 38 innings against him, that's not the typical peripheral for a young closer who throws hard.

 

I didn't watch a pitch of the game today.

I'll tell you one thing ... this is nitpicking about Reed cause when you look at the box score you see a save in a 1-inning appearance. This is a results business only and Reed got the save. Congrats and move on. Who cares that they got one hit? When I look at the box score, I nod in happiness over what I saw from Peavy and Reed.

[thxfrthmmrs]

I didn't watch a pitch of the game today.

I'll tell you one thing ... this is nitpicking about Reed cause when you look at the box score you see a save in a 1-inning appearance. This is a results business only and Reed got the save. Congrats and move on. Who cares that they got one hit? When I look at the box score, I nod in happiness over what I saw from Peavy and Reed.

 

Do you pay attention to the games at all? This is like the third straight save opportunity for Reed where he has stranded a man in scoring position to end the game. It actually happens quite often throughout the season. Do you think he will be able to close out games consistently if he constantly allows man in scoring position? If you are a closer and you get hit around constantly in a tight game situation, you will blow many saves down the stretch. It's not just nitpicking his stat line, it's questioning whether he can save games down the stretch and in postseason.

[knightni]

Pretty cool that it was on MLBN today.

[iamshack]

Really. He gives up one hit and struck out a guy (but the ump blew the call) but it was a rollercoaster. Good lord, unless someone is consistently getting 1-2-3 innings, they suck on this site.

Jason, if we don't say anything now, but wait til he actually starts blowing saves, then we get accused of bailing on the kid of turning on him or something silly.

 

We're pointing out areas for improvement during the good times...and that's what needs to be done. Because if you ignore them until the bad times come, then you're just a fair weather fan.

[elrockinMT]

Pretty cool that it was on MLBN today.

 

 

I had to watch the Yankmees

[greg775]

Do you pay attention to the games at all? This is like the third straight save opportunity for Reed where he has stranded a man in scoring position to end the game. It actually happens quite often throughout the season. Do you think he will be able to close out games consistently if he constantly allows man in scoring position? If you are a closer and you get hit around constantly in a tight game situation, you will blow many saves down the stretch. It's not just nitpicking his stat line, it's questioning whether he can save games down the stretch and in postseason.

 

Sure I pay attention to the games. He is going to blow some saves. There's no doubt he's going to blow some before the season is over. The one he blew in Kansas City really pissed me off since I was at the game, but the bottom line is today he got yet another save and didn't blow it. He is who he is (cliche). He's not dominant. Hell, the games I watch, he rarely blows the ball by anybody. But Brett Myers (sp?) didn't do that well the other night, either (the bunt fiasco notwithstanding). he gave up a rocket single to start the inning and line shot sac fly to right right after the botched bunt. It's not like he wouldn't blow saves either. Robin has to ride Reed as long as he can. If Reed blows 2 saves in a row at some point, I'd assume it'll be closer by committee with the next candidate Myers, then Thornton or Crain. Yuk!! Ride Reed as long as we can!

Edited August 2, 2012 by greg775

[YASNY]

Reed has less blown saves this year than Thornton had in the first two weeks of the season last year.

[caulfield12]

Reed has less blown saves this year than Thornton had in the first two weeks of the season last year.

 

Comparing any closer in baseball history to Thornton would probably make them look good in comparison.

 

Reed has better than the 85% conversion rate that's considered excellent, but Sergio did for most of last year as well...until the final couple of blown saves against the Tigers.