Sele v. Benoit (or Park, whichever) today
As the pride of Poulsbo prepares to take on one of his former teams today, MLB.com’s profile on Aaron Sele has some items of interest.
Multiple times, Sele says that inducing ground balls is the key to success for him. That may be true, but if so, it’s not a good thing. Check out his ground ball/fly ball ratio for the last few years compared to the rest of his career.
This is a flyball-oriented staff, and Sele is still more likely to induce a ground ball than Ryan Franklin or Jamie Moyer. But if Sele is hinging his hopes on returning to Jake Westbrook death-to-earthworms territory, I’m not sure that’s in the cards.
We all need confidence to succeed, though, and the veteran curveballer still has that. Here’s how he summarizes his fortunes last season:
“You can’t pitch more than five innings if the manager won’t let you,” said Sele, who was 9-4 for the AL West champions last season. “Mike (Scioscia) does things his way and it has worked for him. But I threw the ball real well (in 2004) and the team won 16 of my 24 starts.”
So 214 baserunners in 132 innings, an ERA over 5.00 and a one-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio constitutes throwing the ball well? From where I sit, Scioscia pitching Sele no more than five innings at a time wasn’t a bad decision, it was a favor.
With Joaquin Benoit (Edit: actually Chan Ho Park) going for the Rangers, runs should be scored. Let’s hope they’re mostly Seattle runs.
Comments
11 Responses to “Sele v. Benoit (or Park, whichever) today”
I believe Chan Ho Park is starting for Texas.
Which, of course, should have no effect on your conclusion.
It is Chan Ho Park pitching. Joaquin Benoit is on the D.L.
Jeff sez: “So 214 baserunners in 132 innings, an ERA over 5.00 and a one-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio constitutes throwing the ball well?”
well, in Sele-land it does; he has always put guys on, and depended on his offense to get him out of trouble….
re: Park, from the Star-Telegram “A 5.83 ERA in spring training isn’t all that terrific, but it is a shade better than the 5.85 regular-season ERA that Chan Ho Park has posted in his three years with the Rangers. The Rangers also notice that Park walked only three batters in 29 1/3 innings in spring training; he walked 4.5 batters per nine innings over the last three years. So the Rangers look at that as well as Park’s health, his improved sinker and his overall spring demeanor and have decided that his spot on the Rangers is no longer in imminent danger.”
My bad on the Benoit/Park deal, y’all are right. Serves me right for trusting Sportsline.
King Felix is pitching for Raniers tonight. We can listen to the game at
http://www.sportsjuice.com/providers2/index.php?tname=trainiers
Art Thiel’s column this morning referred to Ron Villone’s 2004 season as a “complete, quality effort”.
I can think of nothing to say to that.
Classic Art Thiel. The guy is seriously overrated.
Just realized my comment in 7 was a little unclear and could be applied to Thiel or Villone. It was meant for Thiel, but it works either way.
mlb.com reminds me:
Park was 2-0 against the Mariners last year, allowing 10 hits in 14 shutout innings against them.
Oh god. I had managed to suppress those memories.
You’d managed to forget “back-to-back-to-back” home runs?
Kevin Jarvis I remember. “SHUT OUT BY CHAN HO PARK” I’d managed not to.