In a rain-soaked affair, Randy Johnson defeated the Nationals last night to secure his 300th win. The Giants managed to score 5 runs for Johnson — the majority of them came in the 9th after he left the game — and thanks to some tight-rope bullpen work from Brian Wilson, the night ended in victory.
Johnson’s final line of the night was: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
The damp weather in DC was conducive to ground ball outs. Johnson posted 12 outs on the ground to just 4 in the air. It seemed that over and over the Nats were pounding the ball into the ground. Emmanuel Burriss made a highlight grab that most likely saved the game and preserved RJ’s chances for the win. Not bad for the DC local. At times this year Burriss’ defense has looked a little iffy, but he was solid in both games of the double header.
Maybe the most contested call of the night was Adam Dunn’s called third strike against Brian Wilson in a full-count with the bases-loaded. I watched the game on MASN because of blackout restrictions and the MASN announcers were disgusted with the knee high fastball that was called for strike three against Dunn. Everything from “You can’t fight City Hall” to “Tim Timmons (the umpire) will get the save for this one.” came out of Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble. It was pathetic. I know that announcers are allowed to occasionally root for their teams, but after hearing Dibble chant “Drop it! Drop it!” on air after the Nationals hit a couple pop fly’s in the infield, I knew I was in broadcasting hell.
By the way, the pitch looked pretty solid on PFX.
Eat it, Dibble.
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UPDATE: A very nice press conference with RJ can be found, here.
On MLB, the pitch looked borderline to me, but it wasn’t an egregious ump error. Judgment call that went against the Nats, so stop whining, Dibble. I just watch with the sound off–way less aggravation. Just once before I die, I want to see Brian Wilson not go 3-2 on a hitter. Please, dear God, just once, let him put someone away on a 1-2 pitch. Still, it was good to see him get a road save.
Great play by Burriss, on a ball that was essentially hit the same place as Gonzalez’ single the night before. The difference was that last night, it got a piece of the mound, and deflected just enough for Burriss to glove it. So luck, maybe, but also a great play; gorgeous flip to Renteria.
Did RJ hurt himself on his diving toss to Ishikawa? It looked like he may have, and SFgate mentioned it. Hope not. Great to see 300 for one of the most ferocious competitors in MLB history.
>> Just once before I die, I want to see Brian Wilson not go 3-2 on a hitter. Please, dear God, just once, let him put someone away on a 1-2 pitch. Still, it was good to see him get a road save.
This got me thinking.
Some brief stats:
30.9% of PA’s against Brian Wilson this season have come in a full count scenario.
vs.
13.1% of PA’s against all NL pitchers (SP and RP) have been in a full count scenario.
I’d love to split that again by just examining the percetnage of PA’s that come against just relievers that are in the full count scenario. But, 30.9% to 13.1% is a pretty huge difference.
>> Did RJ hurt himself on his diving toss to Ishikawa? It looked like he may have, and SFgate mentioned it. Hope not. Great to see 300 for one of the most ferocious competitors in MLB history.
I’m not sure. He landed on his pitching arm and they pulled him right after. It’s possible that he might miss a start or two. I hope not, too. I’ve read that this morning that the Giants are going to start Cain on 3 days rest on Monday. I’m not too wild on that idea.
Question about the PFX strikezone: isn’t it just a generic box, that is, the average strikezone of all players? I ask, because Dunn is unusually tall for a hitter, and as such, his strikezone would start higher up than that box would indicate.
Watching the telecast, I thought it was pretty clearly a ball. Not the worst strike call ever, but even with my homer hat on I thought the game was tied.
The zone box for Dunn is adjusted some by averaging the PFX data for sz_bottom and sz_top. The width is still rulebook, IIRC.
Definition of sz_bot and sz_top from Mike Fast’s PFX blog:
# sz_top: the distance in feet from the ground to the top of the current batter’s rulebook strike zone as measured from the video by the PITCHf/x operator. The operator sets a line at the batter’s belt as he settles into the hitting position, and the PITCHf/x software adds four inches up for the top of the zone.
# sz_bot: the distance in feet from the ground to the bottom of the current batter’s rulebook strike zone. The PITCHf/x operator sets a line at the hollow of the knee for the bottom of the zone.
I believe that adjustment pushed up the bottom of the strike zone by a couple of inches for Dunn. I’m not necessarily saying that the pitch was undoubtedly a strike — but it was pretty close and it wasn’t as bad as the MASN folks were making it out to be. It was a close call.
Good to know, thanks. I guess umps just really haven’t been calling the low strike as much as they should. Bring on the machines!
Hey, awesome work, showing stats backing up observational evidence on Brian Wilson. We need to come up with a nickname for him: we had John ‘The Count’ Montefusco, now we have Brian ‘Full Count’ Wilson. Or maybe, since this is after all Brian Wilson, we can find some kind of Beach Boy connection. Like call him Alley Oop, a la “he can knuckle your head before you count to four.” Too much of a reach?
I’m not crazy about starting Cain on short rest either. Come on, let’s give Billy Sadler a start. He’s doing well in Fresno. Or Henry Sosa. They’re both already on the 40 man, so you wouldn’t have to buy anyone’s contract. Pucetas is also on the 40 man, but restricted; anyone know what the terms of his suspension are?
Of course, our studs of the future are still in AA. Maybe not quite time yet to bring them up, though.