Comments on: Two Plate Appearances from Tigers-A’s Game Two

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:35:51 +0000

Eno actually gave a fantastic answer to this query in his latest. Probably wasn’t prompted by what I said, but nonetheless very good stuff.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 01:21:41 +0000

Over his past 8 starts Sanchez has been closer around 6 and a third innings with a 2.12 ERA. Not really able to tell what it is, but the man is a different pitcher his last two starts of August and all of September. Something as simple as greater confidence?

By: RationalSportsFan

RationalSportsFan — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:59:18 +0000

I didn’t say we should just assume it. I said his pitch usage supports that conclusion. A fast ball that cuts in hard on righties, a solid change, and a so-so curve is a recipe for more success vs righties than lefties.

By: MGL

MGL — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:53:22 +0000

Hitters, pitchers, and fielders make mistakes, but there is no excuse for a major league pitcher to not pay attention to a base stealer at second (or not mix up his looks) in a critical part of a post-season game.

The only way that a runner on second steals third that easily is if the pitcher and/or the SS and second baseman so not pay enough attention to him (or the pitcher does not vary his looks).

By: Ryan e

Ryan e — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:23:48 +0000

So even up 2-0 its all excuses why the A’s gave the win away. Fact is 3 home wins is unlikely given the home win loss record for the A’s. The tigers should win and u really think that was the worst pitch in baseball ever?

By: chuckb

chuckb — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:39:05 +0000

Why is the fact that it’s just 124 PAs unconvincing, to say nothing of the fact that Ryan Cook is pretty good as well?

In September, Chris Davis had a 181 wRC+ in 116 PAs. He was worth 1.3 WAR in that month alone. From that single month, in almost exactly the same number of PAs as Doolittle had this season, can we extrapolate that Davis is an elite hitter? Should we be treating him as an 8 win player? Of course not, because it’s only 116 PAs. We know that sample sizes that small aren’t at all predictive. Davis, in fact, was worth 0.8 WAR the entire rest of the season.

So why should we just assume that Doolittle is not going to have any platoon splits — that for some reason he’s an exception to that tendency — based on a month’s worth of PAs?

By: RationalSportsFan

RationalSportsFan — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:31:45 +0000

But there are a great deal of exceptions to this truism. I believe Doolittle is such an exception and his pitch usage points to that. Merely saying “righties perform better against righties” is not convincing.