posted on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 11:57 PM
by
Jim
Haeger bombed
Instead of burying Haeger's first start
in a recap where he wasn't the largest culprit by far, I figured it deserves its own forum.
Haeger's debut was a roller coaster -- three walks in the first inning, leading to zero runs. 1-2-3 innings even-numbered innings sandwiched between odd innings in which he couldn't keep runners off base...only a knuckleballer could wreak that kind of havoc.
Just like the White Sox said, Haeger's knuckler danced a lot more when it was thrown outside of Tucson. That was bad news for A.J. Pierzynski. The good news is that he probably landed on the short side of the under/over of passed balls with only two. The bad news is that one was a third strike leading off that fateful four-run third.
Haeger didn't get a lot of help from A.J. or the defense -- A.J. dropped about four or five pitchers that would've been called strikes if he caught them and Tadahito Iguchi looked like he was running in sand -- but the biggest mistakes he made were all on him.
The one that'll happen is good contact at wrong times. Vladimir Guerrero's run-scoring infield single was a rocket, and Garrett Anderson hit every piece of the letter-high knuckler Haeger threw him to lead to that four-run outburst. That happens to all pitchers.
The one that he'll learn is that before Guerrero would eventually come to the plate with the sacks packed, both Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera offered sacrifice bunt attempts. Charlie threw knucklers with them showing bunt and walked them both.
With zero outs, Haeger should've been throwing fastballs to Figgins to not only get the first out of the inning, but also to keep that speed off the bases. Cabrera showed bunt, too, and Haeger passed up that opportunity as well. Charlie tried being too fine and paid for it, because they'd all end up scoring to put the Sox in an early hole.
All in all, an admirable effort by the rookie. It just isn't easy being a knuckler, which is why there are so far few of them. Hopefully that'll be the last major-league start he makes for awhile, and he'll go back to refining his craft in Charlotte.
As far as Pierzynski was concerned, he allowed a passed ball the first batter Brandon McCarthy faced when he replaced Haeger, so I don't think he can blame the fluttering all that much.