Funny how things work. The club installs Field Turf, and we guess that the major effect will be to slow down balls in the outfield causing fewer triples. It might end up that way, but right now the Jays are 2nd in the majors in triples. Reed Johnson's leadoff triple set the tone in last night's game.
Did I mention that the Jays swept the Sox? Blew them away. Easily. It's chest-thumping time.
So, on to the bullpen. Last night, Pete Walker did an excellent job of closing things out in the blowout, but then he's been doing that all season.
Here's the bullpen chart for the last 2 weeks:
May 13-26
(entrance inning/batters faced/opp. GPA)
date Batista Speier Frasor Downs Schoen Chulk Walker
Ma 13 1.2/4 3.0/8 6.2/5 5.0/7
.000 .300 .140 .264
Ma 14 6.0/5 7.0/3 2.1/13
.430 .000 .092
Ma 15 7.2/6
.350
Ma 16-------------------day off---------------------------
Ma 17 8.0/3 7.2/1 6.2/5 5.0/8
.000 .000 .180 .347
Ma 18-------------------Bush's complete game--------------
Ma 19 7.0/3 5.0/4 6.0/3
.000 .350 .233
Ma 20 6.0/10
.115
Ma 21 8.0/3 7.0/3
.000 .000
Ma 22 8.0/5 7.0/4 4.1/6 5.2/9
.140 .175 .200 .464
Ma 23-------------------day-off--------------------------------------
Ma 24 7.2/5 6.2/4 3.0/14 7.1/1
.090 .475 .204 .000
Ma 25 8.0/3 6.2/4
.000 .000
Ma 26 6.0/10
.140
What is immediately noticeable about this chart is the even distribution of the work. Pete Walker had 3 long appearances over the 2 weeks, while every other member of the 7 man bullpen had 4 or 5 appearances. The bullpen performed very well overall, with only Frasor and Chulk struggling to some degree.
The even distribution of work seemed to particularly benefit Schoeneweis who pitched less often and more effectively than previously. So far, John Gibbons has managed to integrate Scott Downs into the bullpen scheme more easily than Matt Whiteside, and Schoeneweis has been the prime beneficiary. The prospect for further modest improvement on the part of all members of the pen on account of the stabilization of workloads is reasonably good.
So, how is the bullpen doing overall? Here are some basic statistics courtesy of The Hardball Times, through May 22:
pitcher IP FIP (2004) ERA Batista 19.0 3.31 (5.17) 1.89 Frasor 18.1 4.68 (4.13) 3.44 Chulk 21.2 4.78 (4.61) 4.15 Schoeneweis 14.2 5.12 (5.41) 4.91 Speier 13.2 5.48 (4.59) 4.61 Walker 22.1 3.97 1.61 Downs 4.1 5.52 2.08
Wow, the defence behind the bullpen has been very good. It is probably not reasonable to expect the defence to continue to perform so well; the bullpen ERAs (especially Batista's and Walker's) are likely to rise modestly, even if the FIPs decline modestly, as I think they will.
All in all, the bullpen is almost exactly where I had hoped it would be. There are no real stars, and the bullpen is not on its own taking the team forward, but it is solid and improving.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050526221136758