Game Thread: March 20, 2008

That's certainly true; I know I read a few reports questioning how good Marte would really be when he was coming up, and especially after he was traded from Atlanta to Boston to Cleveland.  I too was skeptical, even when he was with Atlanta - probably because his numbers didn't "pop out" at me (especially his BA and his HR power being good, but not great,) though I probably didn't take his age into total account at the time, but I was still leery of him for some reason.

It's unfortunate though that he can't seem to master the skill of using the whole field consistently.  Even if he had to cut back on the power by cutting back on his stroke to go the other way, I'd rather see that and have him hit a solid single or double to RF or CF than see him chop an outside pitch to SS or miss it entirely for a strikeout.

I think many of the Marte supporters thought he would learn that over time, but he hasn't to this point, and at this point, I have serious concerns he ever will, being essentially a pull-hitter and being almost an all-or-nothing hitter, except, in his case, it's not HR or nothing (he does walk,) but his hits will essentially all come to LF or left-center field, but little to no production from CF to RF.  If he doesn't pull the ball, he likely will not produce, and that's why he might hit .250 at best at the ML level (and probably more like .230, though his OBP and SLG percentages will be borderline acceptable or even decent due to the fact he'll hit some HRs on occasion and draw a decent number of walks, but for the hype he received, I think most were expecting him to be more of a complete hitter than that, enough to hit .270 or better.)

Just my 2 cents.  :-)

I go to a few college games every year (mostly Loyola Chicago, although now that I work at Northwestern I've gone to a few NU mens and womens games this year) but I find college basketball on TV one of the dullest experiences imaginable.

I really enjoy NBA games on TV, but college basketball (like hockey) just doesn't translate from live to TV.

The rest of the years I just have to take a non-descript day off to drink and watch the tourney.

I'll watch just about anything that involves guys wearing numbers and running around - but just for awhile.  

Just for the record, here are Carl Willis' comments on CC and Fausto from an interview last year:

"Pitching coach Carl Willis thinks so, even though the issues that kept both pitchers from reaching their potential have been emotional rather than physical.

''The biggest difference in C.C. now is that he has the ability to control his emotions and slow the game down,'' Willis said Tuesday. ''Now he can throw any pitch in any count at any time in the game. Before, he would become overemotional and tend to overthrow.''

It took a while for Sabathia to become a fully formed major-league pitcher. He began in 2001 when he was 20 and encountered a new set of obstacles every year. He would conquer one problem only to discover another the next season.

Carmona went through an acutely painful stretch of games last year as a rookie, when he was thrust into the closer role after little more than a month as a setup man. Carmona blew three saves and a tie, losing five games in the span of a week.

It was back to the drawing board for Carmona's handlers. He was dispatched to the less stressful environment of Triple-A, getting back his old job as a starter, which maybe he was born to be. Thankfully for the Indians, taking up residence in Baseball Hell for a week did not scar Carmona for life. Willis, in fact, thinks it had the opposite effect.

''Fausto went through a wide a set of experiences in a short time,'' the pitching coach said. ''It (becoming overemotional) is something we definitely have to be aware of, because he's a young pitcher. But I feel good about having Victor (Martinez) behind the plate. He does a great job of slowing Fausto down. And I think once he gets through the first inning, he'll be fine.''

Carmona also thinks he'll be fine.

''I learned from experience last year, when everything went so fast,'' he said through his translator, first base coach Luis Rivera. ''If I get into a situation, I talk to myself into slowing things down.''