8/15/2015 Norfolk Tides 1, Louisville Bats 0

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY

Game 2 of 3

It's Todd Frazier Bobblehead night in Louisville...however, I'm not actually getting a bobblehead. My daughter Chihiro is with me at the game, and she's getting one...my other daughter Kei couldn't make it, so she's getting mine.

The lines were pretty damn long, everybody here loves Todd Frazier. They love bobbleheads, too.

Chihiro and I actually ended up standing in two different lines today...the folks at Louisville Slugger Field have made a lot of changes since the 2013 Opening Day debacle. These changes are excellent; among other things, better line management for giveaway days that include designated lines for ticket holders and regular ticket checks. We had Club Level tickets, and were standing in what is usually the Club Level only line...we found out soon enough that we were in the Season Ticket Holder line. Sure, we are season ticket holders, but didn't have actual season tickets, so we high-tailed it to another line in timely fashion...if you squint, you'll see us in the photo above.

My kids love Todd Frazier...even when they are old and likely not to care about baseball so much, they will always remember growing up and watching him play here with their dear ol' dad. 

They certainly will never forget actually meeting Todd...it seems like this was yesterday, but it wasn't.

My scoresheets, using my pitch-counting method! Read about it HERE, download the scoresheets for free HERE!

LOU Starter RHP Donovan Hand faces Cuban OF Dariel Alvarez (Orioles prospect IF Christian Walker is at 1B)

NOR LHP Chris Jones versus Kristopher Negron. Jones went 8 innings plus one batter, allowing 2 hits, 4 strikeouts.

Jones pitches to 1B Kyle Waldrop

Hand versus Walker in the 3rd inning. Walker will get a single here, but the game will be scoreless until Walker's next meeting with Hand, a solo HR that gets Norfolk on the board...it will be the only run of the game.

RHP Miguel Celestino, in relief, and NOR C Audry Perez

Celestino faces former Louisville Bat Paul Janish, playing SS today for the Norfolk Tides

Reliever RHP Jose de la Torre and NOR OF Julio Borbon

With the tying run, LOU C Chris Berset, on base (after being hit by Chris Jones), RHP Pedro Beato is called to the mound to close the game for Norfolk...one quick out, and one not-so-quick out follow, Kyle Waldrop represents the winning run for the Bats...

...here, he's about to strike out swinging to end the game and complete the shutout

My pick in the Mystery Rookie Card game? Ha ha, it's the legendary Wily Mo Pena...a guy who some here in the states may have forgotten, but still brings warmth into the hearts of millions of baseball fans in Japan...

  

Official Program (featuring Robert Stephenson) and Scorecard

Ticket

Bat Chat and Gameday Stats

If you enjoy my work, I encourage you to spread the word via Twitter 

(I am @yoshiki89), and also please leave a comment!

5/7/12 Norfolk Tides 4, Louisville Bats 2

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY
Game 1 of 4

I was excited at my first chance to see Jeff Francis in Louisville this season, but this almost didn’t happen…the weather forecast was pretty darn nasty looking, with a 100% chance for thunderstorms right about the time of first pitch threatening. My wife, being the good sport she is, decided we should brave the possibility for a rain delay just the same, so we solidered on. The good news: the thunderstorms did come (we could see them across the river) but never threatened the game at all. The other news: Jeff Francis, he of “future greatness” several years ago, is still working on a few things.

So really, is Jeff Francis not his old self anymore, or was his old self that great to begin with? I’ve only really followed him since he became a Royal last season, and while I fell in love with his “stuff,” the fact of the matter is, he wasn’t much help for the Royals last year, and is now working out in AAA Louisville for the Reds


Not saying the Reds don’t need any help in pitching, but is Jeff Francis the answer? Is age catching up to him, or is his ability to miss bats getting there first?

Well, hang on just a second…Jeff Francis may be 2-3 so far this season for a Louisville squad that is at the bottom of their division with a 10-21 record, but you know what…tonight he looked pretty damn good, for the most part. Here’s a breakdown of his work this evening:

Other than a rough 3rd inning, he faced no more than 4 batters (faced 3 batters in 4 innings), induced 8 groundball outs, struck out 6 and only walked one. So what happened in the 3rd inning?

He gave up base hits to Joe Mahoney and Jai Miller to start, those were liners and grounders, respectively, hit to places just beyond the infield where there were no defenders; Mahoney’s shot went a bit deeper, yet still playable. Blake Davis struck out swinging next, then 2 more back-to-back soft liners towards right-and left-center field, both places “where they ain’t,” as Wee Willie Keeler would say. Another sharply hit grounder thru the gap between short and second and 2 runs had scored with one out. Bill Hall pops out weakly to Kris Negron in foul territory, then catcher Chris Robinson walks in a run in 5 pitches. DH Ryan Adams flies out to deep left-center to end the inning.

For the sake of argument, Francis was in trouble when the rookie defenders weren’t where they should have been; I’ll give some credit to the Tides for finding Francis’ pitches with their bats when they needed to, but in the world of nascent defensive metrics, you can’t ignore the fact that with better position play, at a minimum the shots fired by Avery and Antonelli would have been quick outs. This is stuff you can never see in box scores.

Francis’ FIP in this game was 4.63, a few ticks down from his 5.14 game ERA. Throughout his Major League career, Francis has been as high as 5.29 and as low as 3.88 in FIP. For the Bats this season, his FIP is 2.62 (ERA 3.96). So, that can’t really be the entire issue, can it?

I really don’t know what Jeff Francis needs to do to miss more bats, and I also really don’t know why I’m always drawn to pitchers like he, where the talent and application is there, but something just isn’t right. Whatever the issue, I’m not confident that the Reds can help him solve it.

That being said…BilLOL HalLOL.

Photos from the Game:

Warmup:
Bats LHP Jeff Francis

1st Inning:
Tides 2B Matt Antonelli faces Jeff Francis

Tides 3B Bill Hall (Major League veteran: 0-for-4, 2K, LIDP and a popout to 2B in foul territory) wobbles on deck

Bats 3B Chris Valaika faces Tides LHP Dana Eveland

Bats CF Denis Phipps faces Eveland

Dana Eveland on the mound

Phipps lines out to Tides CF Xavier Avery

2nd Inning:
Bill Hall “looking” vs. Jeff Francis

Bats RF Bill Rhinehart (3-for-3, stranded each time) faces Eveland

Bats SS Miguel Rojas (0-for-3, 3 LOB) faces Eveland

Rojas fouls one back…

Rojas lines out to Avery to end the inning, stranding 2.

3rd Inning:
Tides RF Jai Miller vs. Francis

Tides SS Blake Davis vs. Francis, 2 on and 2 out

Swingandamiss, he got ‘im!!

Matt Antonelli, bases loaded and 1 out

Ladies and Gentlemen: Corky Miller!!

6th Inning:
Bats 1B Neftali Soto faces RHP Brad Bergesen

7th Inning:
Jeff Francis: the wind-up and the throw…

(this picture is blurry, but it’s still very KOOL)

Francis checks Blake Davis at 2B

Xavier Avery vs. Jeff Francis

Matt Antonelli grounds out, SS Miguel Rojas to 2B Kristopher Negron to end the Tides’ 7th, stranding Davis

Brad Bergesen on the mound

8th Inning:
Bats RHP Scott Carroll, in relief

Tides RHP Miguel Gonzalez relieves Bergesen

9th Inning:
Bats LHP Travis Webb gets the ball in the 9th

Neftali Soto faces Gonzalez with 1 out

I was disheartened to find the Slugger Monkey stand only had 1 mystery baseball rookie pack, so my wife and I both couldn’t play the mystery rookie card game. I bought that one, and was further disheartened to find I drew a Hong-Chih Kuo RC.

Official Program, featuring new manager David Bell on the cover

Official Scorecard (with Danny Dorn) and Bat Chat

If you enjoy my work, I encourage you to spread the word via Twitter
(I am @yoshiki89), and also please leave a comment!