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| Camelback Ranch - Glendale: The Heart of Spring Training-dom on Earth |
See, in my effort to better understand the game of baseball, I broke it down into all the elements I could isolate, from the smallest and most narrow to the biggest and most broad. Starting small, we have the plate appearance, the outcome of which is dictated by pitch selection and prowess at the plate. Then we move onto the game itself, which is comprised of innings, and can result in either a win or a loss. Moving on, we have two types of analysis: performance and personal. Performance analysis takes into account how each player did on the field, and personal analysis goes into what that performance means for his role on the team and his team's chances of fielding a contending ballclub. Then you can look at the season as a whole, and if you want to expand your gaze even further, you can study the entire history of organized baseball.
An individual plate appearance is best experienced watching the game on television. After all, the broadcast camera still offers the best view of home plate except by the umpire. The best way to watch a full game is live in attendance. That way you get the full view of the field, you can experience the sounds and smells of the game in addition to the sights, and you have generally a more complete perspective of what goes on. For statistical analysis, you can get all the numbers spread out in front of you at sites like mlb.com and baseball-reference.com. But for personal analysis, or the Stories of the Game, you need a good old fashioned blog.
For instance, if you read the boxscore for this game in question, you'd see that the White Sox shelled the A's to the tune of 18-1. Pretty embarrassing, right? What wouldn't be apparent from the boxscore, however, is that Chicago had their best pitcher from 2010 on the mound, while Oakland's starter was little more than a personal interest story who's not even in near contention for the starting rotation. And while the A's fielded their entire starting nine, they only got a couple of at-bats each before giving way to backups and prospects. So this contest was less a "game" and more a chance for the White Sox to pad their spring stats while the A's looked helplessly on.
White Sox starter John Danks was arguably the White Sox's best starting pitcher last year, despite settling in at 3 or 4 on the team's latest depth chart (depending on who you check). He led his club in swp, and performed like it against the A's. He tallied 102 points: 0 walks, 0 home runs, and 4 strikeouts in the "three true outcomes" categories.
The lineup behind him wasn't that bad either, cranking 18 runs on 21 hits, including 4 homers. And this was without their speedy table setter Juan Pierre or their superslugging new DH Adam Dunn. It looks like Gordon Beckham might be poised to break out of his sophomore slump - he scored an incredible 62 swp off a 3-4 performance, including a 3-run home run, a walk, a steal, and 4 runs scored. New contract recipient Paul Konerko and injury prone Carlos Quentin hit home runs too. Considering the White Sox play in the 3rd best hitters park in the majors (according to the Hardball Times) and that they were the 5th highest swp scoring offense in the league before the addition of Dunn, I think we'll see plenty of runs on the south side of Chicago next year.
The absence of the two above mentioned regulars freed up some at-bats for Alejandro de Aza, a hopeful backup outfielder, and Lastings Milledge, a nearly-completely washed out prospect. He's unlikely to break camp with the Sox, and after failed tries with the Mets, the Nationals, and the Pirates, this might be his last chance at big league-dom. The only other notable we saw was catcher of the future Tyler Flowers, who hit a big ninth inning home run.
The A's were as bad as the White Sox were good. Bobby Cramer was on the mound, a career minor leaguer who finally made the bigs last year and made a handful of decent starts. He currently sits about 8th on the Depth Chart of A's starters behind fifth-starter candidates Brandon McCarthy, Rich Harden, and Tyson Ross. In other words, he's not a viable rotation candidate in any sense of the term. So when it became apparent the game would turn into a blowout, the regulars were out of there pretty quick.
Of said regulars, only Daric Barton had a decent game with a modest 20 swp on the strength of 2 hits in his 2 PA. Nobody else in the lineup did anything remotely interesting. We saw two of the three candidates for the A's fourth outfielder spot (Conor Jackson (who's also eligible at first base) and Matt Carson... Ryan Sweeney was doing some side work in a batting cage somewhere). As for prospects, we caught a glimpse of slugger and natural first baseman Chris Carter trying his hand in left field. Potential outfield star Michael Taylor got a couple of at bats. And glasses-wearing shortstop prospect Eric Sogard showed up in the field.
If there was one glimmer of hope for the A's in this whole affair, it would be that former starter Josh Outman threw 3 1/3 good innings in relief. If the prize of the Joe Blanton trade can prove again that he's decent starting material, the A's could have one of the deepest staff in the majors.
Well, that's pretty much it. No performances that solidified a spot on the roster, no one played themselves out of a chance to break camp with the team. A by-the-book blowout. However, the excitement of watching and writing about baseball after a long winter will give me the strength and motivation to continue with these stories!
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