TLR's Slavish Devotion to L/R Splits

Zack Morris — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:50:07 -0000

During the Royals game tonight, it was pointed out that the KC starter Kyle Davies has a reverse split; he is much more successful against lefties than righties. Yet Duncan, not Stavinoha, was the DH, despite Stavinoha's reverse split and higher success rate against righties.

Similarly, TLR keeps running Villone (who admittedly does get lefties out at a good rate) and Flores (who has struggled, to say the least) out there against lefties, while he has McClellan, who has been significantly tougher on lefties than on righties.

Tony doesn't get enough credit; he has been a consistently productive manager, and has this year's bucket of scrubs, MLB debut players, and retreads competing like no one thought they could. He has done all this despite the dramatic frequency of injuries to key players. However, his clinging to conventional wisdom without actually looking at the numbers seems detrimental to the club.

Anyone agree or disagree? Are there further examples of TLR ignoring numbers in favor of traditional baseball "wisdom" in this respect?

Now that we have basked in a great victory...

Zack Morris — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 17:28:03 -0000

Who starts Game 1?

The only real options seem to be Weaver or Reyes. (Tony wouldn't bring Marquis back, would he?)

Personally, I vote Reyes. He wasn't outstanding in his NLCS start, but I'd like to see Tony show some faith in him. I think that would bolster his confidence and maybe we would see some real fire out of him. A Game 1 win with him pitching would be a HUGE bonus, and even if they lose, Weaver would be able to come back on regular rest and possibly get them a split of the road games in Game 2. If they flip them, then a loss in Game 1 puts Reyes out there in more of a back-to-the-wall situation, where I'd prefer to see someone like Weaver.

I guess the other possibility is to go Weaver on short rest in Game 1 and Reyes in Game 2, allowing Weaver to be ready to go again in Game 5. I'd like to see them roll the dice with the rookie in Game 1 and really try to get ahead with a solid performance from him and probably some bullpen help.

Any thoughts?

SB Nation User Blog: Zack Morris

TLR's Slavish Devotion to L/R Splits

Now that we have basked in a great victory...