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Well, that is how you hope everything is going to work out when Josh Towers starts.



He goes a nice solid 7 innings, and leaves with a 4 run lead and a runner on. Scott Schoeneweis comes on and faces 3 batters, 2 of whom are lefties. Miguel Batista then closes out the game in solid fashion. One starter, two relievers, and the managerial textbook circa 1978 is followed pretty much perfectly. It was not always so over the last 2 weeks.

Let's take a peek at the bullpen chart for the last 2 weeks. I have added new information in the 3rd line of each entry with the relative score (e.g. Jays 6 Mariners 3 is recorded as +3) and the number of baserunners on when the reliever enters the game. So here's the chart:

(entrance inning/batters faced/opp. GPA/score/runners on)

date Batista  Speier  Frasor   Miller    Schoen      Chulk      Walker   League
                                         
Jl 08 8.0/5   6.0/5    2.2/8              7.1/2                  4.0/9
      .305    .090     .424               .350                   .294
      +1/0    +1/0     +3/0               +1/1                   +1/0

Jl 09                           2.2/12                7.0/4               5.0/11
				.500                  .175                .473
                                -2/2                  -9/0                -6/0
Jl 10         7.2/2    7.1/4              6.0/6
              .725     .753               .075
              -2/1     0/0                -1/0
Jl 11
Jl 12 --------------All-Star break-----------------------------------
Jl 13
                                Downs
Jl 14 8.0/4                               7.1/2       7.0/2
      .538                                .000        .350
      -2/0                                -2/1        -1/1

Jl 15         8.0/4    5.1/5              6.1/2       7.0/3
              .175     .368               .000        .000
              +5/0     +5/1               +4/1        +5/0

Jl 16 8.0/4   6.0/5    7.0/3    4.0/7
      .113    .243     .000     .170
      -1/0    -3/0     -1/0     -3/0

Jl 17 7.2/9   8.2/1                       6.2/5       6.0/4
      .585    .000                        .243        .463
      +2/1    -1/3                        +3/2        +3/0

Jl 18------------------day off----------------------------

Jl 19 7.1/7   6.0/4    5.1/6              7.0/3
      .236    .175     .633               .466
      +3/1    +3/0     +6/0               +3/0
                               Gaudin
Jl 20         8.0/3            7.0/6                  6.0/4
              .000             .600                   .175
              +5/0             +8/0                   +8/0

Jl 21 7.2/5                               7.0/3
      .140                                .425
      +3/1                                +4/1

All season long, Manager John Gibbons has been using 5 pitchers during the last 4 innings of games- Chulk, Frasor, Speier, Schoeneweis and Batista. That should be plenty, but during the Tampa Bay series of July 14-17, it was not. What happened?

In the first game of the series, coming off the All-Star break, Gibbons used Chulk and Schoeneweis in the eighth while down a run, and then Batista in the ninth despite being down 2. This was intelligent use of the pen to make sure that they get enough work.

In the second game of the series, the Jays had a 5 run lead in the 6th inning when Gibbons went to his pen. He went through Frasor, Speier, Chulk and Schoeneweis, despite the fact that the game was never close. This was unnecessary. Frasor and Speier needed work, but one or both could have gone longer, or one of the other relievers could have pitched.

In the third game, the Jays trailed throughout the game, but came back to make a game of it. Gibbons rightly brought in Scott Downs early and he pitched effectively. In the 7th inning, the Jays were still down by 3 runs, Gibbons brought in Speier for an inning, followed by Frasor and Batista, although the Jays trailed by a run entering the ninth. Had Chulk and Schoeneweis not been used unwisely in the previous game, this would have been an appropriate game for one, probably Chulk, to have pitched rather than Frasor/Speier.

In the fourth game, the Jays held a 3 run lead after 6 when Gibbons went to the pen, but everyone had seen a lot of work, and no one was particularly effective. Chulk, Schoeneweis and Batista struggled, and Speier (who had pitched the previous 2 days) only came on in desperation after the horse had left the barn in the ninth inning. This was a game where prior bullpen use may have had an impact on performance and ultimately the result.

Jason Frasor struggled over these 2 weeks. It will be particularly important for his workload to be managed over the next 2.

Next report, we'll be looking at the Jays' record in close games (to date, a league worst 14-22), and trying to figure out how important the bullpen, as opposed to the bench and pure dumb luck, have been in this unpleasantness.

Jays 6 Mariners 3- Bullpen Report v. 8 | 11 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Magpie - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 09:50 AM EDT (#123492) #
I'm glad you spotted this trend. It drives me nuts when a reliever pitches effectively, only to be pulled from the game - as if the manager is working through the pen, trying to find which guy doesn't have it on this particular day. I don't think this has been much of an issue with Gibbons this year, but he slipped into it a little in the Tampa series.

I also thought the July 10 game against Texas was an example of this. Schoeneweis was pitching well - he'd faced six hitters, which is a lot for him, but he'd thrown less than 20 pitches. Still, he was pulled with one out, no one on, and the 8-9 hitters due up. Frasor promptly gave up a pair of two-run homers.

I complained about that move at the time, before Frasor even threw a pitch, so I don't feel like a cheap second-guesser complaining again!

Mike Green - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:02 AM EDT (#123495) #
I agree that it hasn't been a huge issue for Gibbons. Perhaps three times this season have I been bothered by serial changes in relievers for no good reason. By the managerial standards of today, his preferences are entirely normal.
Magpie - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:08 AM EDT (#123496) #
Next report, we'll be looking at the Jays' record in close games

Later today, I'm looking at the one-run games. Just them (there's 19 of them, and the Jays are 5-14). But you know me - not much for the helpful analysis. I just gather the raw information, and toss it out there...

I report, you decide? Am I the Batter's Box version of Fox News? Somebody kill me...

Mike Green - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:17 AM EDT (#123497) #
Magpie, Fox News? No way. Noam Chomsky, Gus Van Sant and Ken Burns all rolled into one. That's a compliment.
Thomas - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:21 AM EDT (#123498) #
Magpie, if you are the Box version of Fox News I shudder to think what that makes the rest of us. I don't even think a comparable entity would exist.
Magpie - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:31 AM EDT (#123499) #
Noam Chomsky, Gus Van Sant and Ken Burns all rolled into one. That's a compliment.

And even if it wasn't, I'd take it as one. :-)

Pepper Moffatt - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#123500) #
If Magpie is Fox News, then I'm the raving nutjob on the streetcorner with the tinfoil hat and dozens of cats.

Magpie is more like one of those PBS specials. Like "In search of..."
Rob - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 11:29 AM EDT (#123510) #
Frank Catalanotto was quoted in the Star as saying that the offense realized they had to pick it up after Halladay's injury, and then he says this:

It's nice to see that finally we are where we want to be. Again, Mickey Brantley has done a great job with us. A lot of guys are starting to trust him."

"Starting" to trust him? That's an interesting choice of words, I'd say. I know some players were slow to adjust to the Barnett-for-Brantley switch, but I thought it would be a matter of adapting and learning something new, not a matter of actual distrust for your hitting coach.

Jordan - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 11:52 AM EDT (#123514) #
Frank Catalanotto was quoted in the Star as saying that the offense realized they had to pick it up after Halladay's injury...

I'm sure he meant well when saying this, but ... what, you weren't trying to score runs before the injury? You only got it in gear when Halladay went down? Cripes, what a dumb thing to say.

sweat - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 12:00 PM EDT (#123515) #
Well, just like some fans, and sports writers, there must be more than a few players that disagreed with the brantley hiring. If you don't think the guy should be your hitting coach, you probably aren't going to listen to his advice. Brantley needed to win them over, and from Frank's comment, it looks like he has.
Ryan Day - Friday, July 22 2005 @ 12:22 PM EDT (#123517) #
I'm not sure it has anything to do with whether they wanted Brantley hired. If a new coach comes along and tries to tell players to do something different, there's naturally going to be some resistance and distrust. It could be that the players are finally coming around to Brantley's particular philosophy.
Jays 6 Mariners 3- Bullpen Report v. 8 | 11 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.