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THIRD INNING

'member these are MY impressions get yer own.

Hunter Dozier took a paintball just outside.  Dr. D started worrying a bit about "nibbling."  Nibbling occurs when you are afraid, or at least tentative, about throwing a pitch inside the strike zone.

Dozer took another ball and then a mighty hack at an unhittable Marco Gonzales curve ball.  He got the best possible outcome:  he topped it.  To Kyle Seager.  Which gives you as much chance of reaching base as if you're a contemporary major leaguer bunting the shift.

Alcides Escobar was detonated on 5 ruthless pitches, paintball for 0-1, swing thru a perfectttttt changeup 0-2, hold up on a couple tease pitches, and then fan on a jam pitch.  Dr. D stopped worrying entirely about nibbling or anything else.

Some Feeb saw 91 fastball 0-1, 78 hook 1-1, 78 hook swing and miss 1-2, 84 change foul tip, routine fly to Span on a cutter above the hands.

IMPRESSION:  STOP DA FIGHT.

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FOURTH INNING

KC got a little "traffic" -- two on, one out -- when 

Hang on.  We have to digress here.  One of the first things Bill James brought to a screeching halt, was the idea that pitchers could throw double plays at will.  Bob Gibson particularly would talk about setting a guy up and then come low-in, BOOM, double play.

Nowadays we realize that very seldom does anything even vaguely like this actually occur.  But it did in this case.  A very jumpy Salvador Perez swung over a changeup, and then Marc-O took it lower -- whereupon Perez jumped out and topped an easy bouncer to Dee Gordon.  Double play, end of "traffic."

Impression:  Better not mess up those final totals tonight, keed.  Dr. D is wanting to see some killer stats.

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FIFTH INNING

As Marco was knocking them down 1-2-3 with two strikeouts -- both on deadly curve balls -- Bill Kreuger came on to give HIS impressions.  Let's check him on them.

√ Incredible game-to-game consistency after the first four starts.

√ Great first-pitch strike percentage.

√ Amazing mix:  four pitches and they are not, NOT sez Bill NOT thrown down the middle.  Every one of them is well-located.  We're not talking about a 2-pitch guy who shows two more.  We're talking 4 pitches that are weapons.

√ Curve ball is best weapon.

√ Remarkable "touch and feel" for a young pitcher.

√ Reminds him of Jimmy Key:  clean-cut, (?), ball kinda jumps out of his hand sneaky fast, EZ-breezy motion ... Gonzales is going to win 12-15 games a year for a long time.

The Mainframe's impression:  very verrry nice job there Mr. Ex-Major Leaguer (TM) Sir, especially on noticing that the curve is the real garrotte in this assassin bag.  For some reason it had taken people half a season to notice that the changeup isn't that great a pitch, but Bill Kreuger has now noticed.

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SIXTH

Two hard-hit balls, nothing dangerous, a smoked lineout and a single -- but both on changeups IN the zone.  Marc-O's changeup has to be set up or thrown to drop outside the zone; it's sort of a trick pitch that way.

I mean, not to exaggerate it.  But he can't start a game throwing 6 of 10 changeups all thigh-high.  He'll get hurt.

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SEVENTH-EIGHTH-NINTH

He tricked them here.  He came out "pitching frontwards," that is, starting hitters with a fastball first pitch.  Of course by this time his fastball was "playing up" to 93 MPH+ and they were way late on everything.  Marc-O has made a statement that --- > after a few innings, and especially late in the game, he "doesn't want them to have any idea what is coming."  The Key/Moyer/Beuhrle effect:  as the game goes along, they get inside your head.

Overall, he threw 71 strikes against 25 balls and how many were centered?!  First pitch was 22/30.  Other numbers:  8-5, 3.77 now.  The slash line is 7.8 / 1.8 / 0.9 so his other stats:

WAR - 2.0 #13 in the AL (so that Marco is on pace for about 4 WAR)

xFIP - 3.42, #10 in the league

FIP - 3.40, #10 in the AL

ERA - 3.77, #23

Walks - 1.79, #3 in the American League (Kluber, Manaea)

Control ratio (K/BB) - 4.35, #8 in the AL

For a few thoughts on offense, and sundry, check my second site at D-O-V.  For thoughts on tomorrow's game, we're day-to-day.  If you want to help us out, toss a potato in the pot before you ask for a bowl of hobo stew.  Hey, it's just good Depression Era etiquette :- )

Enjoy,

Dr D