Comments on: The source of not hitting with runners on is not hitting

By: The Ghost of Spike Owen

The Ghost of Spike Owen — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:44:16 +0000

The next time somebody says something to me about average with RISP, I’m referring them to the third paragraph of this post. Those numbers are damn near identical. There’s no such thing as clutch hitting.

By: DKJ

DKJ — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:15:22 +0000

How does the current Mariner horror compare to the Oakland A’s terrible season last year?

What would Billy Beane do?

Purely for speculation, of course. Absent a sudden, Rapture-like disappearance of about a half dozen (maybe more) problem people, it won’t happen in Seattle.

By: mln

mln — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:33:16 +0000

The solution to the Mariners problem not hitting with RISP is very simple: don’t put RISP in the first place.

That annoying little problem of hitting with runners on base will vanish like magic!

By: terry

terry — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:21:14 +0000

But the offense is good right?

By: hoser

hoser — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:20:41 +0000

So when McLaren challenged Ichiro to steal more bases (75?) he created a monster. Ichiro has been stealing more (26 times in 64 games! (yeah, yeah, I know, low n) nearly on course) and so he is in scoring position more. That causes his teammates to fail with runners in scoring position more. That in turn affects their confidence and we see the result.

By: JMHawkins

JMHawkins — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:12:41 +0000

Another record I wonder about for this M’s team is the percentage of runs scored on outs. It seems like this team scores a huge percentage of its runs on outs. First and third, no outs, DP scores the run. Man on third, 1 out, grounder to second scores the run. Bases loaded sac fly. It means lots of innings that start out promising and should end up with crooked numbers end up with one run, maybe.

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:46:49 +0000

Right on, right on. It’s old news, but news to some, and you can never say it enough. If there was anyone on this team who could hit AT ALL, RISP hitting would rise too. I wonder if Ichiro is a candidate for “most times left on” — gotta be someone like him, with high OBP, low HR, and terrible teammates.

By: Benne

Benne — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:45:01 +0000

Ichiro, Raul and J. Lo need to stop clogging the bases.

By: JMHawkins

JMHawkins — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:36:34 +0000

The M’s BA with RISP is .022 below their ‘normal’ – the AL as a whole is .005 above ‘normal with RISP.

And that’s actually pretty easy to explain. Derek hinted at it.

When the M’s have RISP, that probably means Ichiro or Lopez is the runner, which means Vidro or Sexson or Johjima or someone else hugging the Mendoza line is the batter. If Ichiro or Lopez is at bat, there probably aren’t any RISP because nobody else can hit.

Ichiro, Ibanez and Lopez (I-I-L) have the three highest OBP of the regulars on the team. Remove them from the RISP equation and the rest of the team is 73-392 with RISP, a whopping .214. The non IIL players strike out 16% of the time with RISP, and ground into DPs almost 4% of the time. For IIL, it’s 9% K and 2% GDP with RISP.

Put it this way: if Ichiro is on base, then Ichiro can’t be at bat to knock himself in. If Ichiro is at bat, then Ichiro can’t be on base to get knocked in. That is the crux of the M’s offensive problem. Lauren asked on an earlier thread how the Ichiro Cloning experiement was going. That is what we need, but alas, it’s not going well. The clones keep killing themselves as soon as they see the rest of the team. Unless we can fix that problem, we’re doomed.

By: Sports on a Schtick

Sports on a Schtick — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:25:28 +0000

Triunfel hit his first home run tonight. In two years the M’s offensive woes will be solved.