7/19/2004 - Brewers (Hendrickson) @ Reds (Harang)

[homer]

Helms!

[ja002h]

And Helms doubles. We're clearly moving into the Twilight Zone inning now.

[The Big Cheese]

On 7/19/04....

 

 

Gary Bennett > Pudge

 

 

FREE BENNETT!!!!!!!!

[ja002h]

Let's go Craig. Get us within 3.

 

Or not.

 

Cards back on top...

Zambrano has now nailed Edmonds in the hip twice. He's lucky he hasn't gotten punched out yet.

[endaround]

So Brooks no longer pitches?

[ja002h]

Yeah, Bennett, J, officially is NOT getting it done. Let's swap him for a position player.

[Diskono]

oh great it looks like i have to change my picture now

 

thanks gary

[Shampoo4U]

Amazing Bennett gets a career night when NOT needed. It is why many stats are worthless-- it is all timing. Will he get hits when they "really" count? Or were all his month worth of hits just a waste tonight?

[Gormans Gofer]

Shampoo - I think your senses are lathered up.

Why didn't Bennett's 4 hits count tonight? The score was 8-4, not 20-4. Don't rip a guy when he gets 4 hits.

[DHonks]

no luck right now with the lineup. Our 1-5 guys go 6-21 with 4 walks, yet we're not stringing any hits together. Sounded like the Reds weren't hitting the ball that hard off of Lil Ben, just placing it well. Groundball single to rf, liner just over Counsell, etc. Okay Ben, the next one is key. Need a big start or when that off day comes up in August we'll have an excuse to send you down

[clancyphile]

And maybe Hendrickson's not ready for the majors yet, either.

 

He's come up twice, been hammered twice.

 

Keep him in AAA until September.

[tyguy20204]

Give him a few starts, at least.

[SquirrelMaster]

He has NOTHING more to prove at AAA, as so many people have pointed out. Give him at LEAST 8 more starts. Sheets wasnt lights out when he first came out of the gates, was he?http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif

[mothershipconnection]

Sheets had a 4.76 era his first season, give the guy some time, rookie pitchers get lit up. There's no reason to make any judgements until he's made at least 5 o 6 more starts (which even then will be premature) since guys rarely find their groove in their first game after being called up (unless they're facing the crew).

[H0FFY]

I dont know WHEN he should be brought up. I have changed my mind thinking he would be an improvement this year in right field.

 

But, if guys like Hart and Krynzel and Weeks get playing time (not just a game but REAL playing time) that will bode well for next year. The minute we slip out of the race (it could be a matter of days), I say bring Hart up. And for sure, if Krynzel is over .300 come September, let him have a solid month in Milwaukee.

 

And, cruelly, if we dont play Pods much in September, and we dont play Clark and we dont play Spivey... we save money in arbitration.

[batman]

Want to know why Lil' Ben had trouble yesterday night? This pretty much tells the story.

 

http://www.mountaincry.com/images/hendrickson_chart.jpg

 

Thanks to CBS Sportsline for the oh-so-cool charting tools. Lots of balls all over the place, and not many corner-painting strikes.

 

He'll be fine, but last night wasn't pretty.

 

~Bill

[molitor fan]

Batman, any chance we could make those charts a daily thing? That was very telling.

[Shampoo4U]

In a game that the Brewers are down 4-0 out of the shoot and 7-1 later then Bennett has a 4-4 night and your telling me those hits matter? How about having those hits with runners in scoring position and a 2-2 game when the hits matter? Does he then get a 4-4 night and any rbi's?

It is liking looking at some stats and seeing 10 Hr's and then finding out that all 10 HR's came in the 9th inning of games that were 10-1 and that HR made the 1-- the HR's have little meaning. But show me those HR's in place of hitting into a double play.

 

It would be like a pitcher being able to have a 1,2,3 inning in a 7-1 downer and then getting shelled in a 4-3 tight game. The 1,2,3 inning has little meaning. Do it when it counts.

[Shampoo4U]

To me it is also like Jenkins hitting a HR last night in the 9th-- it had little meaning to the game. Hit the HR in Saturdays game in place of hitting into a double play and the Brewers might of had a chance. But no then he hits into his DP and Brewers go on for a big 0 that day. His HR on Friday had meaning to the win. It is all in the timing of the event.

[behind the plate]

I didn't care much for that chart. How accurate could it be when it shows zero foul balls and pitches called as balls when they were right down the middle?

[ja002h]

I think the blue pitches in the strike zone correspond to balls in play (or foul)

[batman]

It is all in the timing of the event.

 

And the timing of the event is almost certainly outside the control of the player in question. While Gary Bennett is a terrible hitter, do you really think he doesn't *try* in all situations? Did he make a conscious decision last night to get some hits in a meaningless situation? Of course not.

 

It is astounding to me that you are able to find something negative about our impotent-with-the-bat-catcher's 4-for-4 night at the plate. I mean, seriously... give ole'-no-stick credit for a great game, don't rip on him for mis-timing his production.

 

It's not always raining... sometimes ya' gotta enjoy the sunshine, even if it only peeks out of the clouds for a few minutes!

 

~Bill

[brettac1]

Molitor fan, just go to the CBS Sportsline GameCenter and click on "Game Chart", there you can look at each players game charts, as well as the pitchers.

[batman]

The chart is from CBS Sportsline... I just did a screen capture and linked to it.

 

As for its accuracy, the data is provided by STATS, Inc. and so I think its about as good as you could hope for. I'm sure they've got more robust charting tools that teams subscribe to, but for free this seems pretty solid. The blue ones that are in the strike zone are foul balls... the problem is that the yellow mixes with the green to make blue. On the actual chart page, you can just show strikes or just show balls or just show balls in play... there is just so much overlap that the colors mix together in the "cumulative" view. I should have explained that but I thought it was obvious... my bad.

 

Here's the direct link to the chart for yesterday's game:

 

cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/ga...19_MIL@CIN

 

Have fun playing around with it.

 

~Bill

[JohnBriggs12]

I did see the game. Apparently because in his first start vs. the Dodgers Hendrickson had trouble throwing his curve for strikes early, he decided to go strictly with his mediocre fastball in the first inning. He got too much of the plate with it occasionally and the Reds hitters didn't miss.

 

When he finally started going to the curve more, it was erratic but it did make his fastball more effective.

 

For him to be successful, he needs to be able to establish that he can throw his best pitch for strikes from the get go. If he can do that, he can keep hitters off balance. Unfortunately, in his first two starts, he hasn't been able to do it.