Matt Guerrier Doesn’t Have the Heart to Pitch the 8th Inning
April 30, 2011 at 10:13 pm | Posted in Dioner Navarro, Matt Guerrier | 55 Comments
I’m joking, but not exactly in the way you might think. After Hiroki Kuroda went seven innings allowing just two runs (the 25th time in his 3+ years as a Dodger he’s done that), Matt Guerrier entered, and that’s where things started to go sideways.
Here’s the damage:
I make jokes about Guerrier because as painful as that list seems, it wasn’t really as bad as all that (and I’m someone who hated his signing in the first place). Both of his walks were intentional. The last run would have been saved had Dioner Navarro not dropped a perfect throw from Jerry Sands at the plate (hey, isn’t it great he’s up instead of A.J. Ellis?). And none of the hits were screaming line drives. The first, by Will Venable, was a bouncer between first and second that a better second baseman than Aaron Miles may have come up with. Jason Bartlett‘s single to left-center fell just out of the reach of Sands, and almost certainly could have been caught by Tony Gwynn or any number of outfielders more fleet of foot than Sands. The final one, by Cameron Maybin, was nothing more than a bouncing ground ball just out of the reach of Jamey Carroll at shortstop. Even on the wild pitch, you could make a good argument that it should have gone down as a passed ball by Navarro.
The point here isn’t to absolve Guerrier of blowing the game, because he did, and it looked bad. The point is that this is exactly the sort of bad luck / good hit placement / subpar defense that has often victimized Jonathan Broxton this season, yet the outcry over it won’t be 1/10000th as large. I know the reply to that will be “well, Broxton’s issues have come in the 9th inning while Guerrier was in the 8th”, but that’s silly: a game can be lost just as easily in the 8th inning as the 9th, as we saw tonight. All of Broxton’s issues aside – and there are issues, which I have never denied – baseball is still a game that largely relies on batted ball luck and the support of your defense, not ‘heart’. For a guy like Guerrier who’s never had strikeout stuff, being on a team that doesn’t always put out the best defensive squad behind him can lead to trouble. Tonight, we saw that combined with the whims of the BABIP gods, and the results weren’t pretty.
Oh well. At least Andre Ethier extended his hit streak.
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Focus on the positives!!! Go Dre Go!
Comment by Eephus Blue— April 30, 2011 #
When you lose, there are few positives
Comment by Bob Springer— April 30, 2011 #
Hence the need to focus on them, few or not.
Comment by Eephus Blue— April 30, 2011 #
Not to mention that Kemp was totally safe.
Comment by Alireza— April 30, 2011 #
Last season, he clearly would have lacked the heart and focus to beat out that throw.
:o
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
He clearly lacked the heart and focus to turn Hunter Wendelstedt into a better umpire.
Comment by Alireza— April 30, 2011 #
Seeing him hit for his 25th & 26th games in a row was pretty sick!!!
Comment by Baby Blue— April 30, 2011 #
Ethier for prez in 2012!!
Comment by donald trump— May 1, 2011 #
Where is his birth certificate? He’s ethnic after all. And Left-handed
Comment by Alireza— May 1, 2011 #
Can he balance a budget?
Comment by Bob Springer— May 1, 2011 #
Great points made. I’ll add that Sands actually overran the ball – which shows how raw he is as a COFer. He’s got plenty of arm and range to stick in LF. His problems are the same as Matt Kemp’s in his early career, though he doesn’t have quite the tools.
Comment by Alireza— April 30, 2011 #
Agreed, I just don’t like him batting second. I’d like to see him back in the five spot.
Comment by dodgerbobble— April 30, 2011 #
Who do u think should be in the 2hole? I think Jerry is a little overanxious there and seemed more comfortable in the 5hole. But I cant think of anyone better if Carroll is leading off (I dont want Miles at the top anymore). Jerry has shown patience and could get used to it. Its only his second game so maybe he can improve. To be fair, I wasnt able to see his at bats. How did he look in real time? (had to monitor on gameday).
Comment by Eephus Blue— April 30, 2011 #
At least batting second he’ll benefit from getting plenty of pitches to hit with Dre behind him.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
Guerrier’s had two bad outings this year….Broxton has two GOOD outings since July of last year….
Comment by Tripp— April 30, 2011 #
What a shock, you’ve missed his point entirely.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
Yup
Comment by Alireza— April 30, 2011 #
What a shock you don’t know what you’re talking about. His point is the same he’s always trying to make about Broxton. Broxton didn’t even play tonight, yet, he still found a way to bring him in to tonights bullpen issue. He eludes to the same thing as usual, that Broxton’s problem can be blamed on poor defense. He took the first opportunity he had at another reliever blowing a game with defense, in his eyes, that was poor. Point is, they were clean base hits. A hit is a freakin hit. Since when do seeing eye grounders count as less than a piss rod up the middle. Why don’t the better relievers in the game consistently give up seeing eye grounders? It still take solid contact to get the ball through a Major league defense, no matter who you have in there. It’s time to stop making excuses for Broxton. He’s not what he used to be, move on.
Comment by Tripp— April 30, 2011 #
Oy. Vey. I don’t even have to go back through Mike’s posts to know he’s pointed out Broxton’s issues and poor outings. Broxton walking Bonifacio was all on him. Carroll royally screwing up was his fault. Bloop hits are hits, but they demonstrate that the hitter didn’t dominate a pitcher, and that luck does exist in baseball. Which you seem to either not understand or refuse to accept.
Oh, and just for the record, I know plenty of what I speak of. And I know far more than you.
Not that it matters.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
O boy, what will I ever do now? Some guy I don’t know stating that he knows more than I do!!! Ahhh, I’ll never be able to sleep. Get off Broxton’s sack and realize that in 11 innings, he’s given up 15 hits, 8 runs, 7 walks and two dingers. If you want to blame that on luck, you’re either clueless or on drugs. He’s lost 5 mph on his fastball, he’s not the same guy. You can not continue to say otherwise.
Comment by Tripp— April 30, 2011 #
Pre All-Star break of last year….38 innings, 34 hits, 9 runs, only 1 HR, 7 BB’s and 55 K’s….ever since….35 innings, 45 hits, 28 runs, 6 HR’s, 28 BB’s, 26 K’s…..All the proof is right there my friend
Comment by Tripp— April 30, 2011 #
Play nice, guys. Tripp, I’ve never said that defense or bad luck are the sole cause of Broxton’s problems. I’ve said dozens of times that he’s not the same pitcher, that Torre isn’t getting enough blame for ruining him, and even that the string of five saves he started the year with were misleading, because he wasn’t great in all of them. The main culprit here lies with him, no one else. Don’t mistake that.
But what I’m trying to say is that no pitcher has a K rate of 27/9. Unless you’re giving up a ton of homers or extra base hits, which he hasn’t been lately, you need balls to be hit at fielders and those fielders to convert. Other than Loney and when Gwynn is in, the Dodgers consistently put out a defensive crew that ranges from “okay” to “godawful”. As was smartly pointed out above, its not like the Padre relievers are blowing everyone away, but they’re getting a lot more support.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— May 1, 2011 #
I never said he was the same, simply that he had been benefiting from an inordinate amount of bad luck. And that you missed Mike’s point, which you refuse to accept or acknowledge. Because you peobably don’t understand what his point was.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
*probably
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— May 1, 2011 #
I do understand his point. I just respectfully disagree. Point taken.
Comment by Tripp— May 1, 2011 #
Mike, I just dont understand why you blame the defens everytime the bullpen blows the game. the bullpen has been attrocious this year for the most part. I wont argue about Navarro cause I agree hes awful, but the bullpen just isnt good, and it doesnt matter when or what situation they come into. why do you defend the bullpen so much when they have constantly failed to hold leads this season? the dodgers bullpen ERA coming into tonights game was 5.14 or so I heard. I know some of the is Lance Cormier inflated, but it seems like you can never just say the relief pitching sucks, which is the truth. we all udnerstand about BABIP and the element of bad luck, but you cant continue to defend a bullpen that is failing to preform.
Comment by format— April 30, 2011 #
I don’t think Mike is excusing the bullpen’s poor performance by blaming the defense. Rather he seems to be pointing out that everyone wants to crucify the bullpen exclusively which isnt really fair as many of the meltdowns could have been prevented by solid defense. Like that Marlins game where Brox should have gotten out of the inning if Carroll fields that routine grounder cleanly. Yes the bullpen has been shitty. But on occasion so has the defense that is backing up that pitching. ESPECIALLY with a guy like Guerrier who isnt a strike out guy and pitches to contact.
Comment by Eephus Blue— April 30, 2011 #
thats not true actually. the defense has bailed out the bullpen in many games going back to the opening series against the giants. Loney, Uribe, Kemp, ethier have all made terrific plays late in games bailing out the terrible relievers. gwynn included last night of coarse. the game in florida was one of the few where the defense failed. the defens isnt the problem here, the bullpen is just bad plain and simple, lets call it like it is.
Comment by format— April 30, 2011 #
There’s a huge difference between being bad outright and struggling. The back of the pen, when Kuo is healthy, has plenty of talent to succeed.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
I don’t intend to defend the bullpen, which has been awful, or kill the defense, even though its not great. I just do see a real difference between allowing a bunch of seeing eye grounders, which seems to have happened a lot lately, and a bunch of doubles, homers, and crushed liners.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 30, 2011 #
well i think part of that is the relievers dont strike out anyone, or get many hitters to swing and miss. they pitch to contact and when the balls are put in play, anything can happen. they also walk a ton of batters.
Comment by format— April 30, 2011 #
Well – Neither Broxton nor Jansen is a “pitch to contact” guy. MacDougal is an extreme GBer who throws hard enough to miss bats. Broxton has been hurt by pitch selection (something I blame substandard catching and having a 1B as a manager for) and a screwed up foot strike (something that Honeycutt clearly knows about but hasn’t fixed full time yet). The guy has one of the best sliders in the game and it has been absolutely nasty when use this year.
Comment by Alireza— April 30, 2011 #
So it’s Broxton’s fault that Carroll and Sands faltered? You can’t whiff guys every single time.
A weak grounder should be converted into an out, plain and simple.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
yes there were a couplef of games that were not broxton’s fault entirely, the florida game being one of them, hte bullpen still sucks though, and would have been worse had the defense not bailed them out on many plays this year. a weak grounder should be converted but good bullpens can come in and strike guys out
Comment by format— April 30, 2011 #
Gregerson is K’ing 6.57 per 9. Bell 6.30 per 9.
Obviously, those guys have the true talent to K a lot more people, but their defense has clearly done a lot to help them. On the other hand – the Dodgers have a 2B who is a 2B because of his arm playing SS and a AAA player playing 2B.
Comment by Alireza— April 30, 2011 #
^^^^ This.
Comment by Gregory Zakwin— April 30, 2011 #
Hey, if you’re not expecting half the outcry over Guerrier that fans have raised over Broxton, I’m one of the guys who’s been hammering on Broxton. Fine. Point taken. Guerrier sucks, too. I agree with your earlier posts about Coletti having overpaid for him. In fact, I think the whole McCourt mess conveniently obscures and lets Coletti off the hook for his consistently horrible investments. Except for those who know better, sympathetic baseball fans will got on believing Coletti has been hamstrung by McCourt.
Comment by dutchbubba— April 30, 2011 #
Sorry but I agree with Mike and think his points are valid. Broxton is ass and so is the defense. That is what you get when you have a top market team who has mismanaged the finances so bad that the GM has to try and fill out the roster with journeymen who should be playing on teams like the Royals or Pirates not the Dodgers. Just face the fact that this team is a .500 club, if they don’t pitch extremely well and don’t make mistakes they don’t win. They don’t have the talent to score their way out of their mistakes because they are hamstrung by a budget. In turn they trot out marginally talented players who are on the team because they meet the budget restrictions. The lack of operating $ and Colletti having to bring in scrubs like Aaron Miles and Dioner Navarro rather than elite talent will lead to many more of these types of loses.
Comment by Lasorda's Lair— May 1, 2011 #
For Mike – Russell Martin wouldn’t have needed a pinch runner and would have blocked that ball :-P
Comment by Alireza— May 1, 2011 #
Im curious. What elite talent would u have gotten on the FA market for those positions of back up infielder and back up catcher?
Comment by Eephus Blue— May 1, 2011 #
What I failed to mention was the lack of depth hurts even more when your starting SS and 3B are injured, elite talent isn’t really the proper term to use for a back up but several options would have been better than Navarro and Miles. Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez come to mind but again they are players a big market team like the Dodgers should be able to sign but can’t. But judging by Colletti’s track record with signing free agents they probably would have been colossal failures. But surely someone like Yorvit Torrealba would have been a better option than either of the Dodgers catchers. Willie Bloomquist isn’t sexy but he’s better than Miles,Orlando Cabrera or Ramon Hernandez would even have been better options. Navarro has been garbage since 2008 i’m not sure why he was worth $1 million to Colletti. Truthfully i’d rather see AJ, IDJ and Mitchell playing at least we could find out if they are going to be part of the future or not. Miles and Navarro have a long track record or mediocrity.
Comment by Lasorda's Lair— May 1, 2011 #
Torrealba = Barajas minus the power
Bloomquist? You’re making this conclusion based on 1 hot month of a 162 game season.
In fact your whole point of view is based around this small slice of a season we’ve had so far, and who’s hot at the moment. Let those guys get back to their career norms and see how much “better” they are. Even if the team was free-spending they were not signing Beltre AND Martinez (who will be a DH within 2 years anyway).
The FA market only has so many “big names” and you really don’t present a realistic name they should have targeted, help us out here.
Let’s not forget, if Furcal/Blake/Uribe had been healthy we’re not even talking about Aaron Miles right now. If we’re devoting this much space & time to the 6th infielder clearly injuries are the biggest culprit.
I don’t blame you for wanting the team to do more, but let’s remember what we’re talking about here, the back-up utility man.
Comment by Mike G— May 1, 2011 #
Actually I was talking about how much I hate the backup catcher and wondering why someone with a track record of 2 years of garbage play got a million dollars.
Comment by Lasorda's Lair— May 1, 2011 #
People still use the word ‘scrubs’ in 2011?
Comment by Mike G— May 1, 2011 #
Sure. Was there a decree stating it was not a valid word?
Comment by Eephus Blue— May 1, 2011 #
We need better hitting. I for one am tired of barajas and his 202 avg. How come his hob ain’t in jeopardy? O ya nobody to take his spot. Still, loney gets crucified here, with no backup in sight. And I do like sands, but I think it’s clear he ain’t ready. One point: we need a leadoff hitter with furcal out. If there is ever a time t.g.Jr might help, it’s now. When (if ever) furcal gets back we won’t use Jr, so I’d like to see what he can do now. He’s not going to hit worst than 190 (sands avg) and at the very least, he’s good on d. What do u guys think?
Comment by Ryan— May 1, 2011 #
I don’t kill Barajas because he’s the same player he’s ever been – terrible BA and OBP with some pop. No one should be surprised by his performance. He’s actually on pace to hit 30 homers (obviously won’t happen, but still) and with catching what it is in baseball, that’s not bad. I’d still prefer the job to be shared between Barajas and Ellis.
Besides, a crappy catcher who can’t hit but has the occasional homer is far different from a crappy 1B who can’t hit OR chip in the occasional HR.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— May 1, 2011 #
Sands isn’t going to hit .190 forever. I think he will probably be up around .250 when he gets to 100 at bats. I sure like his intelligent approach to hitting. He’ll start hitting and they won’t even want to give Gwynn or Loney even occasional at bats. My guess is Loney will be the big loser here when it comes sown to it. The longer Loney swings at the ball with a pillow case, the less valuable he will be.
Comment by Bob Springer— May 1, 2011 #
Also, I’m tired of complaining about the pen. Ya it hasn’t been good. But you know what? Score more than 2 runs and you may win.
Comment by Ryan— May 1, 2011 #
This. Though the Padre pitching is very good.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— May 1, 2011 #
The Dodgers have the highest bullpen ERA in the NL if I’m not mistaken, so that warrants some complaining.
Comment by Bip— May 1, 2011 #
Fall asleep during the mid-innings with game tied. Wake up in a.m. to find out bullpen blew the game. Such is the life of an East Coast Dodger fan.
Comment by Mike G— May 1, 2011 #
thanks for replying Mike. Good point on barajas and loney. I know he’s never had a good avg (barajas I mean) but I thought we could at least get 240 outta him. But I see what your saying
Comment by Ryan— May 1, 2011 #
Who cares about this years team or next years team. It’s going to be a shit show for the next 3 years. I’m fine with that. Dodger fans have a lot to look forward to in near future.
It’s nice dream but wake up everybody, this team is garbage, and it’s going to be garbage.
Just pray Ned doesn’t make any crazy trades like last year.
Comment by Jaydavis— May 1, 2011 #
2 maybe unimportant things about the McCourt Saga: In Glendale at the Spring
Training ballyard, where are the cupholders and where are the souvenir plastic
cups???? Every other team has souvenir cups, and almost all the Arizona yards
have cupholders. Was it too expensive for Frank to put in cupholders?? What’s
the excuse for the cups??? He could ACTUALLY make money on them. Dodger
ownership hasn’t cared about the fans for years and has taken them for granted.
The only cure is to start winning and to play with a purpose. It looks like the
farm system finally might have some talent. We’ll see.
Comment by rlp— May 8, 2011 #