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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    Just an FYI......Frelick must be cooling off. After the 4-hit game, it took him a full two games in Fridays' doubleheader to collect 4 hits. Four-for-seven day leaves him at a slowpitch softball-like .456.
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    I've seen a ton of first pitches chased that weren't strikes. And I've seen a lot of first pitch strikes taken, & the AB was still successful. But to answer your question, I think it's the team philosophy. They do walk a fair amount & sometimes work the count successfully, but that almost seems like an individual thing more than anything. So I strongly agree it IS the philosophy. The idea of "the first two strikes are yours, the last one is for the team" I think runs through most of this roster. And I absolutely hate it. Pitchers know this & take advantage. It should depend on situation (like I said above, McCutchen swinging 2-0 leading off. if runners are on 2nd & 3rd, different animal). Another thing, too, is there's hitters who can change the mindset a bit with 2 strikes, and hang on for dear life, foul off 4-5 pitches, etc. I don't see much if any adjustment from our guys in those counts, I guess mainly because we don't have those type of hitters. The organization does seem to want to change that going forward.
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    IMO he pitched.......not well, not horribly. See above. If the question was how did Ashby PLAY, then "well" would be laughable. Ned constantly bending over backwards to defend Suppan is something I purged from my memory forever. Thanks a lot!!!!?
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    It's tough to put a finger on, other than to pull out the same old boring word about consistency. In everything, really. Take the first inning. We score two against Thompson. Renfroe follows with a grounder steered through the right side vs the shift. Smart. Then Wong walks. We score no more, but forced the guy to throw 26 or 27 pitches. Great start to screwing up their pen for the whole weekend. In the second inning, we only make him throw 7. By the last two/three innings we've got McCutchen swinging 2-0 leading off the inning, and then the chases, turning 2-1 counts into 1-2, potential 3-2 counts into chased swings, and so on. Ashby allowing a potential 4 runs that had nothing to do with batted balls. The talent to at least reach post-season is there. I mean, MLB has seen to that with the expansion of the playoffs. Whether it's Counsell, the players, hitting coaches, whoever, the consistency isn't.
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    The areas that have been mostly good the last week--the areas that HAVE to be good for them to have a chance to win consistently--disappeared today. Typical from Ashby. Lots of impressive stuff, not enough consistency, and you could make a solid argument that his being late covering 1B in the 1st cost him 3 runs. WP in the second cost him another. The bats did enough today to make up for being so-so, but not poor. Hopefully by the middle of next week Taylor goes back to being what isn't a bad gig for him, 4th OF. His ABs the last two days were deplorable, double notwithstanding.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    Yep. He's been waiting back & driving to right, but he constantly goes away from it. Just really inconsistent.
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    Very solid in his last start. Hoping that was a prelude but it just seems to be a "one forward, two back" kinda stretch for him. Frustrating when you have to be patient when someone has such great stuff, but someday he'll stop self-inflicting.
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    Looking forward to seeing how Ashby follows up on what I thought was a real strong performance last weekend. A little disappointing that they had to use 4 relievers yesterday after going up 5-0 but no one was greatly extended & they should be fine there. Two days in a row w/ Yelich not seeing LF. That's..........interesting............
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    I think it's OK as long as the team he's pitching for is trying to go for a World Series?.
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    Honestly, I think I'd be pulling against them either way. But that's certainly a potential added bonus!!?
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    Maybe it's the dark side of my personality, but with all the media hype surrounding their moves and the whole "dream team" aura that seems to surround them, I find myself enjoying any failures they experience. But I wish all their losses could occur in the early or middle innings. Don't like the idea of Josh being put through the ringer by their fans.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    If he can pitch from ahead in the count, I think Cousins can be very, very effective. I was also scratching my head about Kelley coming back, but wouldn't put Strzelecki in the same category. He's been quietly effective in the role he's been asked to fill. My guess is Reetz gets a flier from somebody.
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    If he can pitch from ahead in the count, I think Cousins can be very, very effective. I was also scratching my head about Kelley coming back, but wouldn't put Strzelecki in the same category. He's been quietly effective in the role he's been asked to fill. My guess is Reetz gets a flier from somebody.
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    Starting to get REAL intrigued by Mendez. Even in the low minors, when I see someone with a 1:1 BB/K ratio AND putting up numbers I get excited. Looking at some of Jace Avina's stats I see, along with the gaudy HR total, that he's been hit 16 times. Safe to say we got us a fella who crowds the plate & likes the ball in?
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    I don't disagree with this. I guess the "Counsell-colored glasses" comment sounds derogatory, but I simply meant that hitting him ninth to start was something I could see him doing. And it certainly has merit.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    I wasn't sure if that was the case or not. Thanks for the info.
  17. Jim French Stepstool
    He certainly did his job. Not a huge fan of his, but he's made adjustments after a real bad stretch & it seemed to work, so kudos. There are a lot of guys like him on the back end of pitching staffs (not his style of pitching, but effectiveness-wise). He's definitely once again become useful. The game he started was a loss, but I want to give some props to Feliciano too. From everything I've heard his struggles are defensively, but after a misplay in the first inning on a WP I thought he was pretty solid, and loved his last two ABs.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    Nuthin's ever easy. A 5 run lead w/ Burnes on the mound & you wind up having to use 5 pitchers. BP was fresh so it doesn't hurt you but still....... Sure would be nice to still have Bickford, that's an impressive multi-inning arm for the pen. Didn't show that kind of when-I-most-need-it command when he was here. To continue to look lost way too often at the plate (14 K) & split these four says something. It's nice to see the defense & consistent mound quality return. Time for one of those offensive hot (or at least lukewarm) streaks.
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    That was in response to Monty (obviously) & was posted before I read your response to him. I agree he isn't someone who should come up right now. I said Frelick is clearly ahead of him.
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    Not advocating for this, but if/when he gets here it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he hits ninth. Just looking at it through Counsell-colored glasses. let's remember, he loves the L-R-L-R thing. Maybe the most we could hope for would be Yelich & Frelick at the top vs RHP. Right now I just want to see the kid promoted. Didn't know about the CBA thing & how ROY is tied into draft picks. Sounds silly to me but whatever.
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    Ruiz has greatly improved as his career unfolded w/regard to drawing walks & making contact. That trend has pretty much continued at N'ville even though the numbers aren't as gaudy. And from everything I've read & heard he is a guy with elite speed who has learned to play in such a way as to take advantage of that speed. Having said that, his is a story that will most likely unfold later as I'm sure Frelick is "ahead" right now.
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    Yahtzee.
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    .........is hitting .440 at Nashville with a .525 OBP. Four-for-four last night w/a walk. Don't know how much longer they can keep him farming given the problems scoring runs in Milwaukee. Perhaps he would struggle to make an adjustment to MLB pitching, but those numbers have to be getting harder & harder to ignore.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    I wish Rosenthal was rehabbing in AA. Then he could face Peters & this could be settled once & for all.?
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    Totally agree. You have to be just tearing your hair out as an opposing GM or Mgr. Vets already on the team or acquired in deals that almost all work out. The money to at least be in on any free agent you have a mind to consider, or to lock anyone up that you want to keep. Oh, and if you need to trade for a piece, your farm system is better than just about everyone else's. Would love to know if they inquired about Hader, and if so what was offered.
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