7-21-06

What Penny Did Wrong

Now, I wasnt sure why Penny hadnt been throwing his splitter. Lucky for me, Chris Duncan answered that question in a very definitive way.

Dont ask me what the count was, because I dont remember. Penny tried to throw a splitter down in the zone to get Duncan to swing over it. It was a good idea, though he hasnt been throwing it much since the beginning of the year. Well, he missed in the dirt, which is where you'd like to miss if at all. So what does he do next? He throws the splitter again. Here's the mistake. A lot of pitchers will overcompensate in that situation; they'll try too hard to get the ball up higher, which is exactly what Penny did. His splitter breaks down and away from lefties, but this next one broke right over the middle of the plate, belt high to Duncan. And he punished it. Vinny said it was 431 feet.

Onto the next mistake. Walking Duncan before Pujols to lead off the 6th inning.

Duncan crushed a splitter but hadnt been catching up to Penny's fastball all night. He also looked uncomfortable swinging at Penny's curve. So what does Penny do? Try to paint the corners with his fastball. Sure, if you're Maddux, you can afford to go 3-1 and get the guy to swing at a few bad pitches. But, while Penny has had superb control this year, you dont fuck around with Pujols on deck. This isnt a mechanical issue, it's just lack of confidence. Give him a goddamn fastball over the inner half. I dare Duncan to swing. But no, he gets too careful and ends up bringing Pujols up with a man on and no outs.

After Pujols, Lofton shows off his gun (And smarts) with a throw that was cutoff by Furcal. Now, the throw had a very slight chance of getting Duncan at third, had the ball bounced perfectly and not slowed down too much. But who the hell does Lofton think he is, Vlad Guerrero? Throw the damn ball into second! You arent going to get anyone but the Flying Molinas with a throw to third from that deep in center.

Since the board has become more of a hassle than a convenience, I'll be submitting content in this forum more often than I have over the past month or so. There are a few posters over there that are keeping discussion as juvenile as possible, and I need to get away from that. If you're on that board and want to comment here, go ahead and use your scout.com username. But for guys like dodgerguru (LPA?), dont bother, I'll just delete your posts.