FanPost

Lack of retaliation (continued): I'm still worried

We have now blocked the ball with flesh 27 times (tops in baseball).  We've still hit 5 batters (fewest in baseball).

C'mon, Royals pitchers, throw inside!  Use the inner half of the plate!

I really hope this isn't a blatant indicator of Bob McClure's "pitch to contact" theory.  That mindset never worked under the many years of the Baird administration, and resulted mostly in marginally talented baseball pitchers in a K.C. uniform getting shelled night after night.

I'm not going to make the argument that it isn't "macho" to knock a few hitters down now and then for intangible reasons.  But, like I previously said, Royals' pitchers are limiting their success rate every night by using 11 of the 17 inches allotted to them in a typical umpire's strike zone.

I love control, but the walk numbers and HBP numbers this season (as well as in seasons' past) are consistent.  To me, if a pitcher is wild, he should be wild in the outer and inner halves (not necessarily from top to bottom).  It worries me that if we still have a carryover from the Baird administration (which we do), this could continue to happen, and hitters will eventually catch up to our pitchers in a big way this season.

There's a sense of pride missing from this organiation.  It seems we're still in the mode of finding ourselves, and through the past 12 years, we've allowed other teams to take advantage of our hitters.

My only worry is: what if an injury were to occur?  Alex Gordon gets nailed on the shin and goes down for 20 games.  How will Gordo, and the team for that matter, feel?

I asked my pitching coach, Tom Urquhart, yesterday morning about whether pitchers' lack of "retaliation" can actually upset hitters, and, while he played in a slightly different era (early 1970's), he said that it absolutely did, and then proceeded to talk about the Royals' lack of establishment of the inner half.

This bothers me.  And with the Royals' marginal pitching talent as it is, use the entire 17 inches (and then some)!

Jack
http://royalsnation.proboards62.com/

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