Is it as simple as he is striking out less and walking more so he’s struggling with command/velocity and this is translating into more hits (line drives)? This would conform with the BB>K>GO/FO theory of pitching. If so though, why aren’t more balls leaving the yard?

Finally, on the field, what is going on? Is everything basically slow and straight?

I know these are naive questions but they are honest ones.

Of ya, one final dumb question…. where can I find league average for all of the rate stats?

I have added my light to the glowing firmament of this discussion.

“In a one-run game, the Mariners needed a double-play grounder to end the seventh inning, and instead got a three-run Michael Young double on Mateo’s first pitch. Mateo wasn’t terribly likely to get the rescue ground ball — he has one of the lowest ground ball ratios in the American League — but the two pitchers Hargrove would rather have used were unavailable.”

Mateo wasn’t terribly likely…

I’m probably almost as tired saying that as Bill B. is hearing it, supposing that he hears it at all.

It’s so ingrained in baseball tradition that ‘The Leader’ makes the tactical and strategic decisions that it’s hard to see that management in general would be better if he handed those off. The real and essential function of The Manager in the present day context is actually morale, man management, discipline, and above all ego management. Sixty years ago, baseball players were working class stiffs who could be told what to do or replaced (supposedly); now, they’re super-rich, super-famous celebrities around whose _personal_ names and personas many million dollar sports corporations have leveraged there profit-making strategies. The manager’s real responsilities are to build team and manage his people, and good manager’s are often fairly good at this. Finding one of those guys who’s also a shrewd tactitician is a pretty tough call, especially since most managers are former ballplayers without a broadbased background in information management or data analysis. Turning the bench coach into someone with actual tactical responsibility while having the manager be a team exec is A Really Good Idea. Hmmmm.

And I agree, in the offseason the Ms will go shopping for a marketable name to replace Hargrove. That’s how they operate, and why they got _him_.

You sounded like I did when I blew a gasket about Bloomquist a week or two ago! Port Orchard was scared that day, I tell you..