Casey Earns a Walk, Boone with a Solid Single

[Alex]

Casey EARNS a walk by taking some pitches but then driving one pitch foul.

On the 3-2 pitch, the pitch was close, but I believe because Casey knocked a solid foul ball down the line and deep, the ump was not as likely to call strike three.

If Casey had kept his bat on the shoulder the whole time, a close pitch like that probably gets called strike three.

Also, Casey made a nice hard slide into second to break up a double play, although Grady probably would have beaten it out because the ball was not hit that hard.

But it was a top notch slide into second, legal and effective.

Boone had a very solid single up the middle, looked to me like he turned on it when the ball was close to the plate, a very good sign. Boone then avoided being picked off.
If Buerhle doesn't throw over Boone probably takes off and gets his first stolen base of the year.

Solid inning for the Killer B's. Michaels left runners on first and third with two outs. Michaels fouled off several pitches his first time up, this time he was up 2-0 on the count when he popped it up to end the third inning.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Alex:
Casey EARNS a walk by taking some pitches but then driving one pitch foul.

On the 3-2 pitch, the pitch was close, but I believe because Casey knocked a solid foul ball down the line and deep, the ump was not as likely to call strike three.

If Casey had kept his bat on the shoulder the whole time, a close pitch like that probably gets called strike three.

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">On the first 3-2 pitch, Casey knocked the ball solid and barely foul down the left field line. Because Casey took the bat off of his shoulder and made solid contact on the previous 3-2 pitch, I think the ump gave Casey the call on the next pitch. If during his at Bat, Casey either does not make contact with any ball, or swings and misses, I think the ump will favor the pitcher on a 3-2 count, so Casey completely earned that walk, and that is a good sign.


That's what I was trying to say yesterday but I don't think I was clear.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 07, 2006 05:45 PM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

[Alex]

Casey with a first pitch swinging GRAND SLAM!

I had criticized Casey on another forum for keeping the bat on his shoulder during the final week of spring training.

I now realize this was a decoy by Casey and the tribe to get the opposition thinking this was the same old Casey.

Casey is not only swinging earlier in the count, but he's making solid contact as well. Once pitchers give up pitching Casey down the middle early in the count (and they will), THEN Casey will start getting his walks because he won't be down in the count early.

Good for Casey.

Aaron looks Good,

Ben looks like he's thinking a million miles a minute. The result for Ben so far has been decent, but he's going to need a rocking chair by May if he doesn't relax.