What did he get, 7 grounders that inning and one of them turned into an out?Originally Posted by Vottomatic
What did he get, 7 grounders that inning and one of them turned into an out?
No start in August is a defining moment for anybody.
Many of those grounders were hard hit balls that would go through many infields.
In the fourth, Homer just gave up medium grounders, not hard hit, routine outs.
The ones hit in the third were very different, several of them were shots through the infield.
Geez, he went to full count on Wainwright, and then grooved a fastball.
Those were all solidly hit. Doesn't matter if they went through the infield. If they're hit hard, and they were, your infielders aren't going to get to them.
Yes, and fortunately he could have given up far more damage if they weren't all grounders.
That said, it could easily be argued the reason he gave up hits, even on grounders, is because he was grooving fastballs right down the middle, allowing batters to better square up on the ball. They were obviously on top of it, given they were grounders, but it's easier to hit the ball hard when it's down the middle.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
Two of those were seeing eye singles that just happened to be hit into the right spot. But that was kind of the point. Sometimes they hit them where they aren't. Homer gave up a bunch of singles on groundballs in that inning. They weren't exactly teeing him up and hitting double after double. But the reaction certainly seemed that way by a few.
Again though, evaluating things on a game basis, or even worse, on an inning basis is a little silly. I know that we all do it because we live by each game, particularly when you are in first place, but we should know better than to do it.
Look, Bailey's not a control ace. He needs to miss more bats in the grand scheme of things to be more than a #4/5 guy.
I don't think evaluating one particular inning is very useful. But in this case, although he gave up lots of groundballs which is generally a good thing, it is going to happen from time to time when the other team, including the pitcher, have zero difficulty in getting the ball in play. You can't always chalk all of that stuff up to luck (nor can we say he's "dominating" when he cruises through a shutout against the Pirates). Both fluctuations are largely out of his control when he's reliant on oppositing hitters to dictate results with balls in play.
His command and pitch location was horrible. I don't agree with the characterization of seeing-eye singles on most of those, but regardless, when you groove a fastball down the middle, the results should not be expected to be very good. Sometimes it might only be bloop hits or seeing-eye singles. Other times it might mean the ball leaves the park. Either way, you shouldn't expect good results when grooving balls down the middle. That's not being BABIP-unlucky.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
I just have to chuckle and move on. Doug, it's clear you and I will always be of very different opinions. Not sure of the reason, but you are strongly opinionated.
I'm guessing since you cover the minor leagues that you have a strong connection to the major leaguers you followed for years in the minors, like Homer and Mez. I can appreciate and respect that. I wonder if it affects your opinion on some topics though.
I'll agree to simply disagree.
Has nothing to do with it.
Can I blame this on Hanigan?
No you can blame it on Bailey being a mediocre pitcher.
I was kidding. I always blame the pitcher or always give the pitcher the credit. You know, unless it was literally a Bull Durham moment where the catcher tells the guy what is coming.
I know you were but that was too easy to pass up.
It's fascinating how consistently inconsistent Homer is.
Hoping to change my username to 75769024
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