The Minor Leagues, Generally

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Reds v. Phils, Game 1

Game Over:
4-0 Phils

Oh, Halladay threw a no-hitter also...

Top 9:
Over. No Hitter for Halladay. It was the most methodically easy performance I've ever seen. In the Philly post-no hitter scrum, it was almost like his teammates were afraid to touch him. It's great how each postseason, one pitcher emerges as just obviously unhittable. There was Lee last year, Beckett twice, Kenny Rogers, Mariano, off the top of my head, but I've never seen an excellent offensive team be so overmatched in a postseason game. The luster of time tends to cast a sentimental sheen on great pitching performances from decades past, but Halladay tonight will be talked about and watched for decades in the future.

Top 8:
4-0
That was an absolute breeze, and Halladay is three outs away from the first no-hitter in the postseason since Don Larson in 1966. This is wonderful to watch.

Top 7:
Phils, 4-0
Whoa. Halladay got through the heart of Cincinnati's order, getting two groundouts and striking out Rolen. The crowd in Philly is frantic.

He's thrown first-pitch strikes to 19 of 22 batters.

Top 6:
Rollins made a nice play on a grounder over the mound, and now this is starting to get interesting; Halladay's still not given up a hit.

Top 5:
Phils, 4-0
Jay Bruce worked a two-out walk to at least give the Reds a baserunner. Halladay looks incredible -- he's thrown maybe three pitches in a poor location and everything is darting in either direction. Drew Stubbs, by the way, has some quietly great offensive numbers this year.

Bottom 4:
Phils, 4-0
Travis Wood has done a great job settling this game down and earning himself a start if the Reds can somehow get past the Phils three aces and into the NLCS.

Top 4:
Phils, 4-0
Halladay struck out two using the full arsenal and is, ho-hum, perfect through 4.

Bottom 3:
Phils, 4-0
Travis Wood has a fantastic, sweeping cutter. Halladay's bores sharply, and Cliff Lee's is right in between the two. The cutter is definitely the pitch of 2010.

Bottom 2:
Phils, 4-0
Volquez has three electric pitches, but he couldn't command any of them. After getting two quick outs, Ruiz walked, Valdez chopped an infield single, the Doc ripped an RBI single, Rollins walked, and Victorino drove the stake through Volquez's outing with a single to center. Mercifully, Travis Wood got Utley to roll over the end it... but this is a major hole for the Reds to dig out of, and I'm not just talking about Game 1.

Top 2:
1-0, Phils:
Halladay is just all over the Reds' bat handles. Leaked a few pitches to Rolen, resulting in some hefty cuts, but Halladay put him away with a change that disappeared straight down. The Philly crowd loved it.

Bottom 1:
1-0, Phils
Victorino manufactured a run with a beautiful slap double on a changeup from Volquez. He stole third, then Utley's sac fly scored him.

Volquez is one of those ballplayers who smirks all the time, which is annoying.

Top 1:
0-0
Halladay picked exquisitely at the first base-side corner of the plate to Phillips, OCab, and Votto and got three easy outs. Not a pitch in the center of the plate.

In stark contrast to the earlier game, it's nice to see (and hear) a home crowd with a little life. This is the most intimidating crowd in the National League.

Texas v. Tampa Bay, Game 1

Game Over
5-1, Texas
Feliz didn't look good early, surrendering back-to-back walks to begin the inning and then allowing a seething liner to right by Zobrist (who was all over everything all day) that was caught. Then he struck out two and turned out the lights with nice movement on high 90s gas. Carlos Pena struck out three times for Tampa and gave you no confidence that he was going to make contact this month.

With a questionable Shields (over Garza?) set to start Game 2, the Rays seem to Mr.Z to be in trouble.

Bottom 8:
5-1, Texas
Darren O'Day made Upton look very uncomfortable during a three-pitch AB and Oliver got Crawford and Longoria without incident.

Bottom 7:
5-1, Texas
Well, a Zobrist HR dangles the possibility that the Rays could bring the tying run to the plate if Qualls can skate through the 8th.

Bottom 6:
5-0, Texas
Lee's up to 10 Ks. Hard to believe that arguable the two best pitchers in baseball -- Lee and Halladay -- were both sent back to the minor leagues after spending significant time in the show.

Bottom 5:
5-0, Texas
Lee got his 8th K right about when TBS flashed a graphic listing him as tied for second with Bob Gibson for all-time playoff Game 1 ERA at 0.50. The don of Game 1 donuts is El Tiante.

graphic that lee is tied for 2 with bob gibson for gm 1 era, .50, 8 ks now

Top 5:
5-0, Texas
Vlad drilled a 3-0 fastball off the base of the center field wall to score Hamilton, who reached on an error. Most of Texas' hits have been of the tip-your-cap variety, but this one to Vlad was a ham sandwich.

Bottom 4:
4-0, Texas
Lee flipped huge, slow yakkers to K Pena and Baldelli, and let's move right into this Joe Madden riddle: why is Rocco Baldelli -- who had retired earlier this year and hasn't been a productive player for years -- starting this game?

Top 4:
4-0, Texas
Price was looking dominant, with another couple ticks on his fastball, then Molina popped a cheapie over the left-field fence. Looking bad for TB, as Lee is clearly settling in to this one.

Top 3:
3-0, Texas
Nelson Cruz hit a 3-0 fastball on the inside corner that was not badly placed approx. 440 feet to dead center.

Bottom 2:
2-0, Texas
Man, does Cliff Lee look good. Every fastball was either on the black or someplace unhittable but purposeful when he was ahead in the count, which was always. Zobrist hit a leadoff double, then it was K, F-8, K.

Also, batting average is a pretty meaningless stat, but Tampa has two starters hitting under .200 and neither is Sean Rodriguez. Not sure this team has the pop or starting pitching to hang with Texas.

Actually interesting from Buck Martinez: the pitcher who coaxes the highest percentage of first-pitch swings in baseball? Cliff Lee.

Top 2:
2-0, Texas
Francouer absolutely drilled a Price fastball off the center field wall to drive in Kinsler, who had singled, and Molina dropped a single into left to score the much maligned former Met who has hit .370 since joining the Rangers. The bottom of the Texas order changed their strategy against Price there, swinging early in the count. They have five hits already; this is a deep and very difficult lineup to pitch to. Lee with a lead is not good for Tampa.

Bottom 1:
0-0
Lee also stuck mostly to ol #1 and worked out of a bases-loaded jam after singles by Bartlett, Crawford, and Longoria. His cutter has so much lateral break it almost looks like a slider; that pitch looks like it'll be death on righties as it moves into their hands. Carlos Pena looks pretty lost. Hitting with the bases loaded and one out, he kept stepping out and calling time, and sure, this might have constituted a little gamesmanship, but you had the feeling he had no chance. He eventually struck out looking on a laser of a two-seamer from Lee, who has only walked 18 all year. Incredible stat.

Top 1:
0-0
Exciting initial half-inning of the playoffs. Despite two-out singles by Hamilton and Vlad, Price looked great. He threw almost all fastballs, almost all just off the outside corner. But Andrus and Cruz both worked long at-bats and got Price up to 24 pitches. Price seems determined to get through the order once without really showing them that slider.

As an aside, Josh Hamilton's batting stance is that of a left-handed Eric Davis.

**************************************************************************************
Ah, the playoffs... Ouch, an early setback: Buck martinez is the "analyst" for TBS. Is he actually wearing noseplugs while making these inane observations of what is completely obvious or does it just sound that way?

Breaking Down the Playoff Relievers

Most playoff games are decided in the 6th and 7th innings, between the starter and the closer. Here are eight playoff relievers you probably haven't thought a lot about who will have major impacts in the next week.

David Robertson, Yankees:
Robertson's 1.50 WHIP isn't gaudy, but this is the guy who's coming into a close game if Pettitte or Hughes is knocked out in the 5th or 6th. He's got one of the more impressive 12-to-6 curves in the bigs and has a reverse strikeout split, so he can go multiple innings if necessary. Pretty good weapon against the lefty-heavy Twins lineup.

Jesse Crain, Twins:
Another righty with a dramatic reverse split. Crain's .OPS against is .614 for lefties and they're slugging just .333. Righties' numbers against him aren't a whole lot better, so Crain should pitch a lot to all those Yankee switch-hitters in the middle innings.

Darren O'Day, Rangers:
The new Byung-Hyung Kim, and I mean that in a good way. A sidewinding righty who's delivering his second straight season with a WHIP right around 1.00. Gets better movement that any playoff pitcher except the Phillies' Ryan Madson and maybe the Giants' Santiago Casilla. Remember this, though: O'Day and kid closer Neftali Feliz are pretty green, for what it's worth. For every K-Rod in the playoffs there are a few Jobas.

Joaquin Benoit, Rays:
Benoit was in AAA until late April. Then he struck out 75 in 60 innings for Tampa while walking 11. Eleven. That's 11.19 Ks/9. 0.68 WHIP. The numbers in this case speak volumes.

Aroldis Chapman, Reds:
Myth: Chapman can throw 104. Fact: Chapman can throw 105 with a slider not dissimilar to that of the Carlton/Randy Johnson model. And you know that Dusty The Armwrecker will be K-rodding Chapman right before your bulging eyes. A major multiple-inning weapon, though this atmosphere will be very, very new.

Ryan Madson, Phillies:
Madson is as solid as Lidge is terrifying. That sinker is a bowling ball, he doesn't give up the amount of hits sinkerballers normally do, and his K/9 this year was a career high 10.87 while only surrendering four home runs. With Contreras the only other vaguely trustworthy bullpen arm, Madson's going to pitch a lot.

Santiago Casilla, Giants:
The Giants bullpen is stacked; Atlanta's in trouble if they're losing after five innings. Sergio Romo has become the Guillermo Mota to Brian Wilson's Eric Gagne (and by the way, Mota is in SF's pen), but righty slinger Santiago Casilla is the guy in the middle who can shut down in multiple innings. Nothing he throws is remotely straight, the heat touches 97, and he's given up eight hits in the last month.

Jonny Venters, Braves:
Atlanta is going to have a tough time winning bullpen wars against San Francisco, but Venters is the best bridge they have to Billy Wagner. A robust 93 Ks in 83 innings and a very non-robust .241 SLG against. Walks are a slight weakness, though: 39 on the year.

Playoff Baseball Can Make You Legendary, Even If You Slur When You Speak

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Mr. Z Is Back

You want an apology? I direct you here.

Look here: this is a Zephyrs blog and thus a Minor League blog, but the minor leagues are over, see, so we're switching to the big boys until November.

Here at What the Zeph we will be clogging the blogosphere with live, in-game commentary of as many playoff games as we can when not fully hypnotized by inevitable Taylor Swift pregame histrionics and national anthems.