When bad hitting beats good pitching

In the final episode of “The Club,” the White Sox brain trust confers around a table trying to decide whether to pursue a big bat (preferably left-handed) or rotation insurance.
Dan Fabian (stat guy) and Buddy Bell voted for the bat. Other guys like assistants Dave Yoakum, Bill Scherrer and Del Matthews wanted the pitcher, with the justification that good pitching always beats good hitting.
I was reminded of this scene while watching the pitcher the Sox ended up trading for, Edwin Jackson, receive the bare minimum of offense to work with on Monday night. Jackson pitched well — better than he did against Detroit, in terms of location — but he couldn’t make a 1-0 lead hold up.
Sure, good pitching beats good hitting. But what if bad hitting makes the other team’s pitching look good? Then you’re counting on good pitching to beat good (relatively speaking) pitching, and that can result in three-one run losses in one series.
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Those three one-run losses have dropped the Sox into a first-place tie with the Minnesota Twins, who, as luck would have it, come to town for what could be a big three-game series.
It can be easy to get too carried away with the Baltimore performance. The Sox tend to struggle against the Orioles for whatever reason, it was the final game of an eight-game road trip. They looked similarly ragged at the end of their westward swing, and they came back home to win seven of eight.
Things are set up rather evenly when it comes to the pitchers:

  • Today: Freddy Garcia vs. Scott Baker
  • Wednesday: John Danks vs. TBA (probably Glen Perkins)
  • Thursday: Gavin Floyd vs. Francisco Liriano

The Sox send their shakiest starter against the inconsistent Baker, Danks draws a guy who’s been struggling at Rochester, and then it’s ace on ace in the finale.
The stakes are obvious, but they can be overstated unless one team comes away with a sweep. They meet again next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so whichever team drops two of three would have ample opportunity to make up for it.
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Minor league roundup:

  • Birmingham 6, Mississippi 2
    • Christian Marrero went 1-for-3 with a sac fly and a strikeout.
    • Eduardo Escobar was also 1-for-3 with a sac bunt.
    • Justin Greene went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
  • Wilmington 5, Winston-Salem 4
    • Jose Martinez hit a solo shot, his third of the year.
    • Brandon Short delivered a triple and a single over five ABs.
    • Josh Phegley went 1-for-3 with a sac fly.
    • Joe Serafin allowed three runs over six innings, but none were earned. Seven hits, two walks, one strikeout.
  • Hagerstown 4, Kannapolis 1
    • Tyler Saladino and Brady Shoemaker both went 2-for-4 with a double.
    • Nick Ciolli went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
    • Miguel Gonzalez wore the collar.
    • Justin Collop struck out seven over six innings, and allowed one earned run (four overall) on eight hits and a walk.
  • Bristol 8, Danville 2
    • Matthew Heidenreich pitched eight strong innings, allowing a run on seven hits. No walks, two strikeouts, 17 groundouts.
    • Rangel Ravelo went 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
  • Missoula 2, Great Falls 0
    • Andy Wilkins went 2-for-4.
    • Ross Wilson went 1-for-4 with a K.
    • David Holmberg struck out six over six shutout innings for Missoula.
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blacksox56

first, i missed the whole delgado thing, but if we’re that desperate, i’d rather see bonds, lol, then he can fight with ozzie for spotlight…
now, the game last night. that was bad. the orioles just showed how the beat the inconsistent sox line up by simply pitching around paulie twice. just wait and see, bet other teams took notice and until quentin can pull his head out of his ass and be a legit 5 hitter, the sox are screwed.
andruw jones has regressed and no longer deserves at bats. I remember at one point matuesz (or however you spell it), left him a belt high change up and that should have been crushed opposite way…insteand jones tries to pull it, then promptly strikes out on the next pitch. he swings at the poorest pitches, i.e. mike gonzalez in the 9th. that slider was nowhere near the plate, in fact i don’t even think it made it to the plate.
jackson looks good, but not great. i like how he’s learning to trust his defense a little bit more here on the southside versus arizona. nothing pisses a fan, coach or teammate off more than a pitcher that can’t throw strikes, and so far he’s done a decent job.

knoxfire30

DONT STOP NOW BOYS! You shit your pants against an inferior team and were likely overlooking them to the biggest series of the year. Hopefully its worth it and we come out ticked off and ready to go vs the twinkies. Im really excited to see a full and hopefully rowdy stadium supporting our boys, should be a fun three days!

blacksox56

wish i was in town for this series

settembrini

Given the offensive struggles, there was no excuse to start AJ against a lefty and bat him sixth. AJ’s OPS (.616) is third last in all of baseball. His OBP (.270) is second to last. You could maybe make a case for batting him eighth based on his supposed pitch-calling prowess, if not for the fact that pitchers have been just as good with Castro, with the added bonus that he can actually hit. But hey, at least AJ can drop third strikes.

striker

None of Ozzie’s decisions have anything to do with math or numbers or brains.

cushinglee

Hawk has finally jumped the shark for me. It’s one thing to be a “homer” and kiss Reinsdorf’s behind for 25 years, but when a Major League broadcaster starts yelling at opposing players, on air, to drop balls and make errors, that’s a bit too much. Not exactly Vin Scully-like behavior, Hawkeroo.