This, of course, is supposed to be Joe's Game Report. I was at the ball park, doing my STATS gig, taking abuse from Fordin, and just making a few notes.
I got carried away.
So I thought - there's an off day tomorrow. I'll post a Bonus Game Report. Well, why not - when 3 hours and 47 minutes are required for 8 and a half innings... I mean, we had a lot of baseball. And, like I said, there's an off day coming up afterwards.
Immediately the internal e-mails started flying. "Magpie, you're just trying to horn in on a Jays win. That 1-4 record of yours... you're feeling the pressure! You're trying to vulture one! Shame! This is Joe's win!"
And indeed it is, but Joe is a gentleman and a scholar, and he's letting me run (off at the mouth) with it.
As said, I was at the ball park scoring this one, and I had decided to make some extra notes. A subject that had come up in the course of the Game Chats was how often hitters actually swing and miss. It doesn't happen nearly as often as one might expect. So I thought I'd make an extra note each time a hitter swung and missed. I wasn't expecting quite this type of game - nobody ever expects quite this type of game, in the same way that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Had I known, I might have reconsidered. 394 pitches were thrown yesterday afternoon. Which is a lot, believe me.
This game took 227 minutes to play, and the twenty-one runs scored were only part of the reason. The Jays made four mid-inning pitching changes, and sent Arnsberg out to chat with his pitcher a couple of times. The Royals made only two mid-inning pitching changes, but compensated by sending their pitching coach out to visit no fewer than four times in the course of the game. Hey, when you're walking 11 batters in 8 innings, I guess you need to go out there and remind your pitchers that Babe Ruth died a long time ago.
As this bizarre affair went on and on and on and on, a few other subjects caught my attention. We'll get to them in time. This was not a baseball game that's going to be put into a time capsule for future generations to marvel over. It is doubtful that any excerpts will show up in an instructional video. Both teams deserved to lose, and happily, the other team did.
I noticed in the Instant Replay that there were those who nominated Ken Huckaby as Jays Game MVP, which startled me, because I spent much of my afternoon complaining about various Huckaby-related things. But more anon.
First Inning
There was already a run in and a man on second when Dave Bush got his first swinging strike. Mike Sweeney missed a 66 mph curve on a 1-1 count. Later, with the count 2-2, Bush threw a lovely sinking fastball on the outside corner, and Sweeney missed that one as well. I was surprised - you don't miss as many bats with sinkers.
Matt Stairs singled in the second KC run, but Bush struck out Marrero and Brown to end the inning. Already I was thinking that Bush seemed out of sorts. He seemed far more tentative on the mound than usual, and he seemed positively obsessive about clearing away dirt from the rubber and smoothing out the ground in front of him. I also wasn't sure if he and Huckaby were on the same page. This was the first time they had worked together. Bush usually mixes up his two fastballs, but this inning he seemed to be throwing an awful lot of four seamers. Of course, the Royals were missing many of them. He started Emil Brown with one, that he swung through - Brown fouled off a number of pitches and worked the count full before swinging and missing another four-seamer for Bush's second strikeout. The next batter, Marrero also swung through a pair of four-seamers, on 1-0 and 1-2 counts, and Bush had struck the side while allowing a couple of runs.
Kansas City's Denny Bautista throws a 95 mph fastball almost effortlessly (although his shoulder started barking at him in the third inning) - however, he has a lot of trouble throwing anything for strikes. In this first inning, he blew one of those heaters by Hinske. It was the only bat he missed in the inning.
Second Inning
The Jays had given Bush a 3-2 lead, and Bush would give it back. Teahen singled on the ground up the middle. He was running when Castillo grounded out, so the Royals were able to stay out of the double play. Bush got Gotay to swing and miss at 1-0 breaking ball that the scorebaord called a "change-up" - Bush doesn't throw a changeup, unless he's added one very recently. He does throw a slider at about that velocity. He retired Gotay on a flyout and Angel Berroa stepped up to the plate.
This was an at bat that made me crazy.
Bush threw his two seam fastball and Berroa swung and missed for the first strike. He then floated in his 66 mph curve - it was just off the plate. Berroa leaned over the plate, he started his bat.... but held back. Bush threw another slow curve - Berroa swung and missed. He fouled off a fastball, and then Bush threw yet another slow curve.
Berroa pulled this one into the left field seats. It was foul by quite a bit, but I said to myself "OK, guys. Cut it out. Angel's figured out the curve ball." But Bush and Huckaby came right back with yet another slow curve (the fourth in the six pitches of the at bat), and Berroa rocketed it into left field for an RBI double. I was furious with Huckaby for going to the well too often, and unhappy with Bush for not shaking off his catcher. Berroa would come around to score on DeJesus' single.
Still, the play of the inning, besides the fourth curve ball to Berroa, was interim manager Schaeffer starting his runner Teahen with Castillo at the plate. With Alberto "running" to first, it's an easy double play, and the Royals don't score (assuming Bush gets Gotay, as he did.)
In the bottom half of the inning, Denny Bautista found a Jays hitter who couldn't catch up to his heater. Huckaby waved at two of them, and then hit into a double play. I was angry again. I can accept that there's a role for Ken Huckaby in the major leagues, but as a hitter he's not that much better than Tom Glavine (and not quite as good as Livan Hernandez). Plus, Huckaby runs like a catcher. He's a double play waiting to happen. I'm not a big fan of the sac bunt, but when Tom Glavine or Ken Huckaby are batting with runners on and no one out... I vote for the bunt. Making it worse was the fact that Hudson followed with another walk, but Bautista got Catalanotto to swing and miss one of his fastballs before grounding out to second.
Third Inning
Bush suddenly looked like Dave Bush in the third inning - he retired the side on a quick 9 pitches, getting a flyout and a couple of ground balls.
In the bottom half, Bautista's woes began. With one out, he hit Hillenbrand, which prompted an unnecessary warning from Tom Hallion. He got Hinske to swing and miss at a slider - Eric can never lay off those breaking balls, can he? - but Hinske lined an RBI double and came around to score on Wells' single. The pitching coach came out to visit with Rios at the plate, and with the count 3-1, Bautista came out of the game with "shoulder soreness." Mike MacDougal came in to throw one pitch to Rios and complete the base on balls. Which was charged to Bautista, and ESPN apparently charged the pitch to Bautista as well. Don't be fooled. Bautista threw 71 pitches on the afternoon, and MacDougal would throw 42.
Of those 71 pitches, just 35 were strikes. The 35 strikes break down this way:
11 called strikes
10 balls hit in play
9 balls hit foul
5 swinging strikes (slider to Hinske, fastballs to Hinske, Catalanotto, and Huckaby twice)
MacDougal got Adams on a pop up, and then found someone he could throw the ball by as well. Huckaby missed a 1-0 fastball and struck out swinging on a 3-2 slider.
Fourth Inning
With one out, Bush gave up an alarming double by Castillo - alarming because Castillo's really not much of a hitter. Gotay then lifted a high pop up foul down the third base line, except: a) it blew back into fair territory, and b) landed in between three fielders for a really cheap double. Castillo, hung up wondering whether the ball would be caught, was thrown out at the plate by Catalanotto for the second out. The Gang in the Game Chat were saying that Castillo didn't get any help from his on-deck hitter - take a bow, Angel Berroa - which was something I couldn't see in Real Time (watching the ball, I was.)
By now Gibbons had seen enough of Bush, and came out with the quick hook. That's two starts in a row that Bush has been pulled, with a lead, having thrown less than 80 pitches. Not that he looked very good today. He threw 74 pitches on the day, and 49 were strikes. The strikes break down as follows:
16 balls hit foul
14 balls hit in play
10 called strikes
9 swinging strikes (slider to Gotay, curves to Sweeney and Berroa, fastballs to Sweeney, Berroa, Brown twice and Marrerro twice)
Pete Walker finished the inning, and found himself in wonderful position to vulture a win.
With Hudson aboard after his third walk in four innings, MacDougal got Koskie to miss a hard first pitch slider. But Koskie would double in Hudson and score on Hillenbrand's bloop single. Jays were up 7-4. MacDougal got Hinske to swing and miss at a couple of pitches, I think a slider and a fastball. Actually, I'm not sure on this.
See, we were all a little distracted, because during the Hinske at bat Castillo tried to catch Hillenbrand wandering off first base. Only to throw the ball into right field. Official scorer Joe Sawchuk blinked and missed the play live, and was busy rewinding the videotape to see a replay before making a ruling. So naturally those of us who enter the game in real time are all yelling "What was it, Joe? Whose error? The catcher? We got to enter something!" And that's why those you following on GameDay experienced a lull at that point in the proceedings. After a moment, I charged forward and entered a throwing error on the catcher, trusting Joe would see it my way. Sometimes, I am so full of... confidence?
Anyway, this was the end of MacDougal's day. He threw 42 pitches, 25 strikes:
9 balls hit foul
6 called strikes
5 balls hit in play
5 swinging strikes (sliders to Koskie, Hinske, and Huckaby, fastballs to Huckaby and Hinske)
Fifth Inning
Could Pete Walker stand the good fortune? Not much chance of that. He got Matt Stairs to whiff a 2-0 fastball, but missed out of the zone with his next two pitches. Marrero delivered a two out double to keep the inning going, and Mark "Moneyball" Teahen grounded a single up the middle to score a pair and cut the lead to 7-6.
Teahen obligingly got himself thrown out trying to steal while Castillo was hitting, and that would be the end of Walker's afternoon. He threw 27 pitches, and 14 were strikes. The breakdown:
6 balls hit in play
4 called strikes
2 balls hit foul
1 swinging strike (fastball to Stairs)
1 ball bunted at and missed (Berroa)
Jamie Cerda came out to work the fifth for the Royals; he sandwiched strikeouts of Adams and Hudson around a walk to Huckaby. Neat trick, because he didn't get a single swing and a miss.
Sixth Inning
Vinnie Chulk breezed through the sixth, getting Castillo swinging at a 1-2 fastball, and getting Berroa to fly out after he'd swing at and missed the heater. Very neat and tidy 11 pitch inning.
For his part, Hillenbrand patiently worked Cerda for a two out walk, but Hinske grounded out to end the inning. Cerda's day was done. He'd thrown 45 pitches and 29 strikes, as follows:
14 balls hit foul
11 called strikes
4 balls hit in play
0 swinging strikes
Seventh Inning
DeJesus lined Chulk's first pitch of the inning for a double. The next ball Vinnie threw was in the general direction of second base. Alas, no one had informed the infielders that a pickoff play was in progress. The ball sailed into the outfield, and DeJesus trotted happily to third. Arnsberg came out to visit - Chulk gathered himself and got Sweeney swinging at a fastball for strike three. And with Matt Stairs coming to the plate, representing to the go-ahead run, surely it must be LOOGY time? Vinnie took his leave, having thrown 17 pitches and 13 strikes, as follows:
4 called strikes
3 balls hit foul
3 balls in play
3 swinging strikes (fastballs to Castillo, Berroa, Sweeney)
And so it was time for Scott Schoeneweis' brief but memorable day on the mound. Matt Stairs lined his second pitch over the wall in the right field corner to put the Royals ahead 8-7. Seconds later, Emil Brown crushed a 1-2 pitch into the second deck in left field. That was enough of that. Schoeneweis threw 7 pitches, 5 strikes:
2 balls hit in play
2 balls hit foul
1 called strike
Jason Frasor got Marrero to miss a 1-0 fastball before he walked him. He struck out Teahen swinging at 1-2 changeup. He got Castillo to miss a first pitch fastball, but walked him as well before escaping the inning with a one pitch flyout from Gotay.
The Royals summoned Andy "Benjamin" Sisco to work the 7th. Sisco is enormous, in the way that large buildings are enormous. The Royals PR guy told me he stands 6-10 and weighs about 270 pounds. He issued a leadoff walk to Wells, who then had a jolly time running for second over and over while Rios fouled off pitches. He eventually moved to second on the groundout. Which brought Russ Adams to the plate...
But nooo, as John Belushi used to sneer. John McDonald would pinch hit. Look, people. There is something seriously wrong somewhere if, in the late innings of a close game, you are sending up John McDonald to pinch hit. Something is very, very wrong with that scenario. Fortunately, McDonald was able to foul off a couple of 1-2 pitches and walked to first when Sisco missed with three straight pitches. Runners on first and second, one out, down by two runs... Ken Huckaby to hit? Bloody hell! Why is Frank Menechino even on the team if he's not going to bat in this situation?
At this moment, I said to my neighbour, "if you allow Ken Huckaby to swing the bat with the game on the line, you deserve to lose." Huckaby took the 1-0 pitch for a strike, and waved helplessly at a pair of fastballs. Hudson drew yet another walk to load the bases with two out for Reed Johnson. Sparky battled away nicely, spoiling four straight 2-2 pitches before swinging and missing the slider. Sisco's excellent adventure was done.
In one inning, he had thrown a mind-boggling 41 pitches and yet hadn't allowed a run. Or a hit - he walked the bases loaded. He threw 23 strikes, as follows:
16 balls hit foul
3 called strikes
3 swinging strikes (slider to Johnson, fastballs to Huckaby twice)
1 ball hit in play
And I thought the Jays had blown their best chance to get back into the game.
Eighth Inning
Jason Frasor gave up base hits to three of the four batters he faced. Berroa started things with a line drive single, but was quickly erased by Huckaby attempting to steal. Frasor struck out DeJesus, but gave up two more hits, to Sweeney and Stairs. Gibbons decided to bring in his closer with the team trailing by two.
Frasor has had better days - 3 hits and 2 walks in 1.1 IP, but he would escape without allowing a run. He threw 30 pitches, 17 strikes:
7 balls hit foul
4 balls hit in play
3 swinging strikes (changeup to Teahen, fastballs to Marrero and Castillo)
3 called strikes
Miguel Batista instantly wild pitched both runners into scoring position, but got Brown to fly out on the next pitch.
The Royals' fifth pitcher of the long, long afternoon was Ambiorix Burgos, certainly the first "Ambiorix" that I know of to play major league baseball. For all I know, he could be the first "Ambiorix," period. Corey Koskie hit his third pitch over the wall in left-centre, to cut the lead to 9-8.
Hillenbrand singled on a 1-1 pitch. Burgos got Hinske to swing and miss a 1-1 splitter (oh Eric and the off-speed stuff!), but the Dude singled to right on the next pitch. Wells reached on an error - his routine grounder went right through Teahen at third, which surprised Angel Berroa so much, that it went by him as well. Am I the only person wondering what Angel Berroa is thinking about during these games? It doesn't always seem to be baseball. I noticed that Dr Prison Fence's game story charged the error to Berroa, which, while not technically accurate, is certainly close enough for government work. They both deserved one.
Bases loaded and Alex Rios, having a quiet day up to this point, delivered a huge two run double to put the Jays on top. Alex has been scuffling a little these last few days. He needed it, and so did his team.
With no one out and runners on second and third, the Royals brought their infield in. Or as the Cheeky Rookie (Rob) said in the Chat, "Infield drawn in for John McDonald -- otherwise known as the McDonald Shift." Thank you, Rob, thank you. I not only promise to repeat that at every opportunity, I promise to claim the credit for it as well.
McDonald grounded out meekly to third. Huckaby got the suicide squeeze down, and Wells made it across the plate ahead of the throw. Orlando Hudson, who had struck out once and walked four times, finally put a ball in play, ripping a double to right that scored Rios and moved Huckaby to third.
That was enough for Burgos, who had made a notable contribution to the Jays winning effort, allowing 5 hits and 5 runs in a third of an inning. He threw 21 pitches, 15 strikes, as follows:
8 balls hit in play
4 called strikes
2 balls hit foul (one a foul bunt by Wells!)
1 swinging strike (splitter to Hinske)
The Jays greeted Nunez with another attempted squeeze. Alas, Johnson bunted through the ball. The charging Huckaby jammed on the breaks and reversed course. The Royals ran him back to third base, where Orlando Hudson was already waiting. The Royals tagged everybody, and waited for the umpires to decide which baserunner they had removed. Hudson left the field. Johnson grounded out to end the long but enjoyable inning. Nunez threw 3 pitches, 2 strikes:
1 ball hit in play
1 ball bunted at and missed
Ninth Inning
Batista issued a five pitch walk to start things off, but then, thinking no doubt of the post-game spread growing cold in the clubhouse, induced a pair of ground balls to Hudson. Orlando turned them into a force out and a double play. Game over. Had 'em all the way, as Matthew E always says.
Batista threw 16 pitches, only 6 strikes:
3 balls hit in play
2 called strikes
1 ball hit foul
The PITCH TOTALS for today's game:
Kansas City: 223 pitches, 129 strikes
50 balls hit foul
35 called strikes
29 balls hit in play
14 swinging strikes
1 bunted at and missed
Toronto: 171 pitches, 104 strikes
32 balls hit in play
31 balls hit foul
24 called strikes
16 swinging strikes
1 bunted at and missed
Whew!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050511210102577