Ramon Ortiz vs. Jorge De La Rosa
First three times through the rotation, sorted by xFIP:
| Dude | FIP | xFIP | GB% | K/G | BB/G | HR/G | HR/F |
| Ortiz | 4.07 | 4.51 | 40.3% | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.91 | 8.8% |
| Silva | 3.63 | 4.66 | 37.1% | 4.5 | 2.0 | 0.50 | 4.6% |
| Ponson | 6.72 | 4.71 | 56.5% | 4.8 | 3.3 | 1.90 | 25.4% |
So far this season, the major difference between Ortiz, Silva, and Ponson has been the HR/F rate, which has been shown to be largely (though not totally) out of a pitcher's hands. To me, it says that hitters have jumped on every mistake that Ponson has made, and that Silva and Ortiz have seen their mistake pitches go unpunished. When I looked at the ZiPS projections before the season, I saw three pitchers who were essentially equivalent in value. I still see three pitchers who are essentially equivalent in value.
Some of Ortiz's peripherals that I posted last time moved in the right direction in that last start, but his contact rate went up from 84% to 86%. I don't see Ortiz maintaining much success with that contact rate, but who knows...
Jorge De La Rosa has been one of those Nuke LaLoosh-style pitchers who gets a lot of strikeouts, but also allows a ton of walks. Except that last year he didn't really get all that many strikeouts, either. In his first three games this season, his walk rate is way down. Has he turned a new leaf? I'm awfully skeptical.
Bert: For some reason, Joe Mauer likes hitting in Kaufmann Stadium.
Could it be the quality of the Royals' pitching staff?
I'm going to be out for a while. If anyone wishes to provide inning summaries, go ahead. Also, brianS and ubelmann, the Vault is yours.
Does this mean anything?
mayyyyyyybe.
Or, maybe not.
There's that head first slide that I love.
Left the bases loaded. Ugh.
Ortiz, 2 Ground outs, & K
If I heard the lineups correctly, Kubel is not playing again. That's just dumb, even if a LHP is going today. As ubelmann detailed, the Twins lineup is fairly punchless anyway. At least Kubel has some power. Sometimes I just don't understand Gardy...
Boy, that's a new way to make an out.
oops...
Bartlett's D is better than he's shown so far this year.
Ortiz, 2nd inn: 2 gb outs, 1 GB error 1K...
Wow. 2 more ground outs and another K. Ortiz pulling a Felix Hernandez.
Did I hear that right? The Royals haven't had a winning month since the middle of the 2003 season? Holy cow, that's almost unimaginably bad.
Ortiz served that one up to Gload.
Bummer. Ross "Glowed" 2-run HR. And it was going so well...
Teahen running. expecting the bunt again??
Two on, two out. Hopefully The Razor can avoid the big inning. Gotta get Gordon here.
Dazzle says Hunter pulled up on that pop-fly because Bartlett kept coming and coming. If so, that's the second time in two games (see: L-Rod error) that Hunter didn't take charge on a pop fly to shallow center. What's up with that?
KC announcers didn't say anything of the sort. He just couldn't get to it.
Needed that K
Well...stayed out of a big inning
Homer
delayed Vault-ism for last inning's Gloading
Our guys can sure make some mediocre pitchers look good sometimes.
Yup: Jae Seo and Casey Fossum, to name two.
And I'm sure some have said the same about Ortiz and Silva.
but not Ponson. Unless you are ubelmann
Hey all, checking in.
Twins hitters need to pick up the pace here; The Blade has a (pretty) good game here, but we need to rally against Jeremy.
Hitters? We have hitters in the lineup today?
Sorry. "batters"
I'm entertained by the mlb.com article Note: Twins in need of third catcher -- don't they mean Twins in need of a good DH?
Did I hear dazzle right? teahen in CF?? Where's DeJesus today??
I'm feeling a negative Fung Shui from the Twins lineup today.
wouldn't be such a big run if Gardy would play some hitters in place of a couple batters
I was away from the game for a couple minutes, and turned the radio back on just as Sweeney hit the RBI single. The radio guys said the Twins coaching staff was very upset about it. An RBI single to a good hitter like Sweeney doesn't seem like that big a deal. What happened?
I think they were upset that Ortiz gave him a hittable pitch. so why not just IBB him?
Oh finally, a run.
And that one is unearned.
way to go, Cuddy!
YAD (Yet Another Double)
Can't depend on the piranhas anymore; Big 4 gotta do everything, it seems.
Offense have the day off today? I would have played 9 more holes if I'd known that.
Hello, all. I'm here, time for a rally.
No head-first slides from BabySBG yet?
No. She's listened to me rail on Punto for the last nine months and is afraid to do it.
sliding head first into home is permissible.
Even encouraged.
Radio guys keep going on about how important that 5th inning run was for the Royals. That's true, but how pathetic is our offense that the other team has three runs and it's being treated as insurmountable?
Ortiz's effort is being wasted here.
Good article on Ortiz in the PiPress today.
Much as people weren't that excited about Ortiz, I'm pulling for him. Besides doing a very serviceable job so far, it's nice to see someone excited to be pitching.
Mr. Ryan on radio this morning was asked about that, and said something to the effect of "Let's see how excited he is when things aren't going so well." It just struck me as odd, because in the context, he had the chance to make a bland, positive comment about Ortiz and instead made a somewhat negative one.
I'm sure TR still has a tummy ache from the Friday night massacre.
Me too. He's been a bargain so far at 3 million. And he's got a sharp nickname: Blade or Razor. All good, so far.
Now the "Mullet" on the other hand...
Boy, Ortiz sure looks like a keeper. I hope he keeps this going when the regular season starts.
I'm not sure why I'm saying this... but why isn't Tyner in left field today?
Don't be ashamed to ask that. Sure, it doesn't strike fear in any opposing pitcher, but at least he's been (a short) head and shoulders over the other piranhas.
Come on, Joe!
Vulcans can throw!
Gardy really has a Reyes fixation lately.
I noticed that besides leading the world in HRs so far this year, A-Rod is 3rd in doubles. With Cuddyer ranking well in several categories, based upon last year's voting I have to put Cuddy as the MVP favorite.
Hee hee! I'm thinking that A-Rod will win. Jetes didn't win last year because he's been underrated his whole career.
Fair dinkum, mate.
C'mon Mike. Bunt.
Why does Dazzle keep bringing up that a HR would get the Twins right back in it?! It's not like they're hitting them left and right. Although Cuddyer is coming up.
Reyes cleaning up his own mess there?
That's one way to do it.
Boy, I think that Teahen was safe there. Bert's right, he should have run right at the baserunner.
Busted!
Can you give us the lines at the bottom, for us older nearsighted folks?
Whew. Good thing, too. When was the last time Dennys actually got a batter out??
Man, the LOOGYing just drags the game out.
Welcome to Cardinals baseball
WTF? Why the rash of WPs in KC?
Losing this series (should they lose it), in view of the split with D:\Rays should stick in a few people's craw.
Cuddyer showing Hunter how it's done.
Matt Guerrier, Private Eye
btw, I noticed that the next Twins game is versus a Jeremy. Seriously.
I can live with that bunt.
Kubel to pinch hit next. I'd have hit him here with two outs.
uh huh. What the hell is Redmond doing batting against a righty in the 9th inning?
What a disappointing series. Poorly played by the Twins.
I'm going strictly from memory, which, of course, is an unreliable guide, but it seems like this year is starting out a little like 2005. As I recall, they started out with a decent record, but were struggling to beat teams they should have beaten easily. When they started playing teams that were actually good, they ran into trouble. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I don't like the way they've been playing this year.
New Britain comes from behind to beat Connecticut Defenders (SF Giants AA club, used to be Norwich Navigators) by 9-8 with a walk-off double by right-fielder Matt Allegra in the bottom of the 9th.
The game was tied up on an exciting double by Rock Cat 3B Brian Buscher the play before to tie it up.
Also in the 3rd inning, New Britain rookie SS Trevor Plouffe launched a 3-run homer over the Stanley Tool sign in far left field.
This was before the 3rd largest (and largest Sunday) home crowd in New Britain stadium history - 7181. NBBW scored seats in the first row behind the plate. New this year is an Irish draft-beer stand (Black+Tans and hotdogs go together well).
Mmmmm. Black and Tans. And hotdogs! I wanna see a Rock Cats game...
And before everyone gets too worked up, what were our lads at the end of April last year?