Curt Schilling's Take on Today

by canadianangelsfan on Apr 14, 2007 8:02 PM PDT

Moved Over From the Diaries

Schilling has posted a blog entry about the game today:

http://38pitches.com/2007/04/14/41407-vs-los-angeles/

You can argue about Schilling's opinions etc., but he does treat his fans top notch with this blog. He breaks down all of his starts, answers tons of questions from the comments and all of that. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

UPDATE:
I moved this over form the diaries as it is a detailed look at our lineup from a unique perspective, reinforcing that major leaguers are INTIMIDATED by a lineup that seeks to put the ball in play in any situation. I know that stat geeks are not intimidated by this approah, but major leaguers are - hmmm, who should we be more interested in challenging?

My favorite Schilling insights follow. RevHF out...

Kotchman leads off the 5th by grounding a back door slider to 2B for the first out. Both ABs he’s centered breaking stuff up pretty well. I remember him coming to the big leagues and everyone was talking about his eye and how little he struck out. He has a nice approach and seems to be good enough to wait on a pitch he wants and not miss it. Key to guys like that is having them hit from behind in the count as early and often as possible.

Kendrick hits a split to center, not down nearly enough and he looks like he absolutely crushes balls in the lower half of the zone that are on the plate. He’s strong for sure.

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Comments

He's a pretty decent guy-

When Katrina hit he loaded supplies in this trailer and hauled it down to New Orleans. Then he adopted a family and loaded them in the trailer and took them into his home.

by 1000 Oaks angels fan on Apr 14, 2007 10:15 PM PDT reply actions

Correction -

Faulty memory - starts rumors -
he flew them to Boston and put them up in a hotel for a year -

<http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/06/schilling_family_is_hosting_nine_from_new_orleans/>

The supplies story came from TV. I don't see it documented in print though.

by 1000 Oaks angels fan on Apr 14, 2007 10:46 PM PDT reply actions

Intimidated? Sounds more like thankful to me...

Major leaguers are not "INTIMIDATED by a lineup that seeks to put the ball in play in any situation." They're intimidated by major leaguers who get on base. And they're thankful when major leaguers make outs (ie, don't get on base) early in the count. Look at some of the quotes from Schilling's blog: FIRST INNING-- "Nothing jump starts a game better than the lead off hitter making an out on the first pitch." Way to go, GMJ...Way to jump start their best pitcher. "Orlando hit a 1-0 fastball to left for out #2." Three pitches, two outs. Way to make him work. SECOND INNING--"Our pre-game plan was pretty accurate to this point. A VERY aggressive lineup, top to bottom, that will swing all through the count. Through 2 innings I had like 14 pitches." He's not INTIMIDATED, he's thankful he only had to throw 14 pitches through 2 innings. Say "You're welcome," Halos. THIRD INNING--"Mathews flies out early in the AB on a curve ball, to right, to end the inning. Still not a lot of pitches after three." And GMJ is still not earning his pay. If you're not going to hit, and you're not going to catch everything hit to you, at least make the freaking pitcher work! FOURTH INNING--"Vlad pops up a first pitch split to right. Garret, I think, hits another first pitch split to Erik at first and Orlando gets to second. Shea flies out to right on a 1-0 split for the final out. Another low pitch inning. We have a lead and I am thinking that this might be a chance to get to the finish line if I can keep locating early in the count." So, thanks to the Angels not making him work, Schilling is already looking forward to a complete game. Nice. SIXTH INNING--"I get lucky as Vlad again goes after the first pitch and hits a 2 seam fastball to Mike down the line at third." Of course, Vlad can do whatever he wants b/c he's Vlad, but this is just another example of Schilling saying that he's thankful ("lucky") that the Angels are swinging at pitches early in the count, rather than making him work. "Garrett ends the inning by flying out on a first pitch change up." Sigh. SEVENTH INNING--"So Kendrick walks and then Molina drags out a 10 pitch at bat. It ends with a swing at a fastball in for a swing and a miss, but in the inning, even though no harm was done, I've lost my shot at finishing this game." Gee, why is that, Angels? BECAUSE JOSE MADE HIM WORK!" Sure, most of the pitches in that AB were fouled/fought off 2 strike pitches, but the point is, if you make the pitcher work, you're going to improve your chances of getting him out of the game sooner. Of course this doesn't hold true 100% of the time, but as a rule of thumb, taking pitches will lead to more walks, and thus a higher OBP, more runs scored, and a better chance of getting to face a reliever against whom you might have better success than the shut down starter. And "stat geeks" understand this. Schilling didn't sound intimidated by the Angels at all in this post, and it's mainly b/c they took the pressure off him by swinging at pitches (and making outs) early in the count. Bad philosophy.

by angelfan30 on Apr 15, 2007 11:57 AM PDT reply actions

paragraphs, angelfan, paragraphs

".. and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball."

by ladybug on Apr 15, 2007 12:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Intimidated? Sounds more like thankful...2nd Draft

Thanks, ladybug. How's this? :)

Major leaguers are not "INTIMIDATED by a lineup that seeks to put the ball in play in any situation." They're intimidated by a lineup that gets on base. And they're thankful when batters in the lineup make outs (ie, don't get on base), especially early in the count.

Look at some of the quotes from Schilling's blog: FIRST INNING-- "Nothing jump starts a game better than the lead off hitter making an out on the first pitch." Way to go, GMJ...Way to jump start their best pitcher. "Orlando hit a 1-0 fastball to left for out #2." Three pitches, two outs. Way to make him work.

SECOND INNING--"Our pre-game plan was pretty accurate to this point. A VERY aggressive lineup, top to bottom, that will swing all through the count. Through 2 innings I had like 14 pitches." He's not INTIMIDATED, he's thankful he only had to throw 14 pitches through 2 innings. Say "You're welcome," Halos.

THIRD INNING--"Mathews flies out early in the AB on a curve ball, to right, to end the inning. Still not a lot of pitches after three." And GMJ is still not earning his pay. If you're not going to hit, and you're not going to catch everything hit to you, at least make the freaking pitcher work!

FOURTH INNING--"Vlad pops up a first pitch split to right. Garret, I think, hits another first pitch split to Erik at first and Orlando gets to second. Shea flies out to right on a 1-0 split for the final out. Another low pitch inning. We have a lead and I am thinking that this might be a chance to get to the finish line if I can keep locating early in the count." So, thanks to the Angels not making him work, Schilling is already looking forward to a complete game. Nice.

SIXTH INNING--"I get lucky as Vlad again goes after the first pitch and hits a 2 seam fastball to Mike down the line at third." Of course, Vlad can do whatever he wants b/c he's Vlad, but this is just another example of Schilling saying that he's thankful ("lucky") that the Angels are swinging at pitches early in the count, rather than making him work. "Garrett ends the inning by flying out on a first pitch change up." Sigh.

SEVENTH INNING--"So Kendrick walks and then Molina drags out a 10 pitch at bat. It ends with a swing at a fastball in for a swing and a miss, but in the inning, even though no harm was done, I've lost my shot at finishing this game." Gee, why is that, Angels? BECAUSE JOSE MADE HIM WORK!" Sure, most of the pitches in that AB were fouled/fought off 2 strike pitches, but the point is, if you make the pitcher work, you're going to improve your chances of getting him out of the game sooner.

Of course this doesn't hold true 100% of the time, but as a rule of thumb, taking pitches will lead to more walks, and thus a higher OBP, more runs scored, and a better chance of getting to face a reliever against whom you might have better success than the shut down starter. And "stat geeks" understand this.

Schilling didn't sound intimidated by the Angels at all in this post, and it's mainly b/c they took the pressure off him by swinging at pitches (and making outs) early in the count. Bad philosophy.

by angelfan30 on Apr 15, 2007 3:02 PM PDT reply actions

MUCH BETTAH!!

I actually wanted to read it this time.

I read Schillings blog after they mentioned it during the game and was impressed on how professional he is: it's a good account and doesn't come across as smearing anyone's face in the muck.

".. and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball."

by ladybug on Apr 15, 2007 3:12 PM PDT up reply actions

That's how I read it, too

Schilling had a game plan, knowing how aggressive the Angels were. It seems to me that he wasn't spending a whole lot of time "setting up" the Angel hitters, he was simply throwing pitches that he knew they would hit, and had the defense set up properly based on his pitching approach. Schilling's blog entry should be required reading for the Halo's hitting instructor.

"When you don't know that you don't know, it's a lot different than when you do know that you don't know" - Bill Parcells

by johnnyangel101 on Apr 15, 2007 9:24 PM PDT up reply actions