Game 54, Mariners at White Sox
Hernandez vs Peavy, 5:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day!
The big news of the day – and thanks to the media’s insistence on bringing it up every day, the big news of the last month or so – is that the Ichiro-as-#3-hitter experiment appears to be over, as he’s back in the leadoff spot today. Dustin Ackley shifts back to #2, where he began the season, and Kyle Seager takes over in the third spot.
Guess what? It’s still not going to matter. Beyond getting your best hitters near the top of the line-up and your worst hitters at the bottom, the actual placement of who hits where is a minor issue at most. But, unfortunately, the coverage around the team isn’t going to reflect that reality, so this minor story will continue to be blown way out of proportion. So, since the story essentially requires an opinion, here you go:
Ichiro’s skillset is best suited to the leadoff role. He doesn’t have a lot of power (despite the BP sessions and people wrongly suggesting that he could hit for power if he wanted, and making accusations that he was selfish for trying to get singles for personal gain instead) and his speed helps him get a lot of infield singles, which is why he spent his entire career up until this year at the very top of the batting order. Moving him to third and hoping he would turn into something that he was not was the result of external pressure from others, and he responded to the request by significantly changing his approach at the plate – his ground ball rate is by far the lowest of his career.
Unfortunately, all that speculation about Ichiro being able to change his game was simply wrong. He’s still a 5’9/150 pound hitter who can’t hit home runs whenever he wants, so now he’s facing disappointment and anger from people who wanted him to be something he’s not. It’s actually kind of sad watching people find new and different ways to hate him.
“He gets too many singles because he doesn’t care about the team! He could hit for power if he wanted to! Oh, he can’t? Well, then he’s a bum who should hit 9th!”
Ichiro is 38. He’s not what he used to be. He’s not a power hitter, he never was, and any hopes that he would turn into one were misguided. But most of the animosity towards him comes from a lack of understanding of player valuation and a stringent attachment to player types, thinking right fielders have to hit home runs and anyone who doesn’t look like our preconceived ideas of positional strengths is doing it wrong. He’s simply a formerly great player near the end of his career who isn’t as great as he used to be. That doesn’t make him worthless. In fact, he’s still one of the better players on the team, and given the collection of talent on the positional side of things, he’s still one of the better hitters on the team.
So, yes, he still belongs near the top of the order. Whether it’s 1, 2, or 3 doesn’t really matter to me. If moving him out of the three spot means we can stop talking about batting order every day, then great, I’m all for it.
Interestingly, lost in the batting order shuffle will be the fact that Miguel Olivo is behind the plate tonight with Jake Peavy on the hill. Right-handers are hitting .187/.230/.333 versus Peavy this year. John Jaso is not in the line-up. That’s a far more egregious mistake than any kind of batting order decision, and will instead be swept under the rug so that the pointless conversation about who should hit third can continue. Isn’t the mainstream media awesome?
Ichiro, RF
Ackley, 2B
Seager, 3B
Montero, DH
Smoak, 1B
Carp, LF
Olivo, C
Saunders, CF
Ryan, SS
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92 Responses to “Game 54, Mariners at White Sox”
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Good AB’s by Ichiro and Ackley. This could be a big pitch inning for Peavy
djw-
You’re correct, of course. It doesn’t equate to 40 more doubles (that was a bit of “hyperbole” on my part), but to say a guy singles too much, who also steals the most bases on a team, does also show a lack of comprehension of the value of steals by the guys who just throw out the “singles too much” thing. The actual value is a mysterious “x”, but certainly isn’t “0”.
But anyways, sorry for demonstrating a “significant lack of comprehension” when talking about people who lack a significant comprehension of Ichiro’s worth. (“We mainly criticize in others what we dislike about ourselves” is my favorite quote in life, and I’m as guilty as anyone else, if not moreso).
Felix did not look liked he felt very “comfortable” after giving up that HR to Beckham. It is a good thing Olivo was there to “comfort” him after !!
Also, Olivo looked very “comforatable” on the DP ball he hit. It was like he had done it many times before.
Felix does not look comfortable – to me – throwing his fastball today. He is throwing an awful lot of breaking balls. His fastball velo is still low for him. He also looked like he “tweaked” something last inning. He looked to be in a bit of pain after a pitch to the second batter. Did anyone else notice this?
Felix is racking up a bunch of pitches
If we don’t get any hits, it doesn’t matter how comfortable Felix is…
Thanks AJ and O-Dog!
Great stuff Olivo! Another DP.
FO-Livo. You wreak
justinh “I have to believe the M’s and Wedge know the numbers and the fact Jaso would be better against Peavy than Olivo.”
Exactly my point, so if coach isn’t going by the numbers then it must be something else.
Back to back homers for the Sox.
Gordon Beckham and Alberto Callaspo?
And Adam Dunn… Okay, now it is making more sense
Olivo’s problem is he’s TOO gritty.
It obscures his vision.
Is there a setting on the TV lower than mute? Because these White Sox announcers are unbearable
Seager!
“Ichiro is 38. He’s not what he used to be. He’s not a power hitter, he never was, and any hopes that he would turn into one were misguided. But most of the animosity towards him comes from a lack of understanding of player valuation and a stringent attachment to player types, thinking right fielders have to hit home runs and anyone who doesn’t look like our preconceived ideas of positional strengths is doing it wrong. He’s simply a formerly great player near the end of his career who isn’t as great as he used to be.”
Some of us made the exact same points at the beginning of this dreadful “experiment”. Others justified his lack of production as a matter of “luck” and “sample size”. Right.
Hey, between the time I got off the train and when I got home, we scored two runs! Yeah!
Seager is bringing it!
Three lefties at the top of the order is definitely a problem tonight against a good left handed reliever
Montero is going to own you, Crain
Well, fuck me
Smoak!!
Yes!!!!!!!!
Seager is beginning to make me believe it’s not small sample size.
Carp, unfortunately, is too.
Has everybody now noticed how many calls Dave Sims makes before the play actually occurs? He calls some plays based on what he thinks will happen instead of what actually happens. It occurs at least twice per game.
I think be must suffer from Premature Enunciation.
Oh crap and OUCH.
Are you shitting me? That has to be negative 100 Oozer points, right there. Kelley got away with two meat pitches and then gets beat anyway because of a facial off the center fielder. This is a new.
I sure hope Guti can iron out his colon, weight, oblique, knee, foot, back problems soon.
Saunders has done an adequate job in CF, but still … He’s not Guti and he is out of position, too
Frack!!!
Saunders flubs a ball, and Olivo holds onto a foul tip? What’s going on? Bizarro World stuff!
Aaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhh !!!
Would have had him without the double clutch choke.
You don’t lose too many games during a season because of a fly ball off the face. I am pretty sure I have never seen that occur until today. At any level. Ever!
Why not have Jaso hitting for Olivo right now?
(and of course Miguel responds with one of his infrequent hits)
Yay Miguel! hehe
Didn’t someone hit a HR off Jose Canseco’s face?
More of a header with Canseco, but I forgot about that. I don’t think his gaffelost the game late, but it sure was funny as shit.
He was a Yankee at the time too, so it was even more rewarding.
Correction, a RANGER. Right?
I think it was off the top of his head, and bounced over the wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbIHRGUesZQ
Canseco’s one of those guys I’ve tried to forget about.
Ah, thanks Westy. Loved the replay in slow-motion! He was a Ranger at the time.
Somebody better tell that Cannuck to take a hockey mask out to CF with him next time. Hoser.
Some of us made the exact same points at the beginning of this dreadful “experiment”.
The “experiment” was not dreadful, it was irrelevant. It makes no difference whether you hit Ichiro 1st or 3rd. He belongs in the group of hitters that ought to be near the top of the order, the precise location has always been irrelevant.
I think the obsession with batting order has a lot to do with beat writers needing something to talk about on a day to day basis. There’s not much actually worth saying about day-to-day random fluxuations, but they have to produce copy every day. Thus, blathering on about batting order.
Dave is one of the few people to comment on the disturbing hatred of Ichiro. The local press has dismissed Ichi as a washed-up-no legs cripple. Anyone without a biased view has to wonder why Ichi is so despised. Rookie of the Year, MVP, Gold Gloves, Silver Slugger Awards, All-Time hit record, about a .330 lifetime average, 40 steals a year….Only a smallness of mind can excuse these Ichiro haters. Those 9 years with 200 hits were just terrible…right?