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Paul Hagen: Phillies' hitters get Rockies' Jimenez 'out of whack'
WANT TO sound really knowledgeable next time you're watching a ballgame? The first time a batter swings at the first pitch, lean over to the person sitting next to you and say something like, "They really need to run some more deep counts on this starter."
Now, there's a lot of truth in the idea that the more pitches a team can make the opposing starter throw, the better off they will be as the game wears on.
The problem is that the pitcher can usually foil that strategy by throwing first-pitch strikes. Most hitters are going to become more aggressive once they get down in the count.
At first glance, the Phillies used smart at-bats to get to Rockies righthander Ubaldo Jimenez in Game 1 of their National League Division Series yesterday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Jimenez opened by sailing through four shutout innings. He then gave up two in the fifth and three more in the sixth and was sitting on the bench, wondering how it all got away from him so quickly.
He retired 10 of the first 12 batters he faced . . . then got outs on just four of the last 11 hitters.
He threw a total of 45 pitches in the first four innings and 35 in the fifth alone, beginning with an eight-pitch leadoff walk to Jayson Werth as his appearance unraveled.
But the Phillies didn't start just start working the count in the fifth. They took the first pitch from Jimenez 18 times out of the 23 hitters he faced. It wasn't until Werth came up to start the fifth that they began to carry it through entire at bats.
"In the fourth and fifth innings, you could see he was getting a little frustrated," centerfielder Shane Victorino said. "He was trying to figure out, 'What are these guys doing?' A couple guys got on and you could see that we were starting to get to him."
Added shortstop Jimmy Rollins: "We got some guys on base and I think he became concerned with the runners and started leaving some pitches up in the zone. Even if you throw hard, if you leave it up there in the hittable part of the zone, professional hitters are going to be able to put the barrel on it."
Jimenez' view is that his mechanics got out of whack. "I was trying to force it too much," he said.
The running men
Jim Tracy has talked a lot in recent days about the importance of controlling the speed of Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino at the top of the Phillies' order.
So it was a little surprising that he decided to start Yorvit Torrealba behind the plate instead of Chris Iannetta, even though Torrealba had pretty much taken over as the regular receiver by the end of the season.
"He is back there because of the contributions he's made for us as far as the offensive and defensive side of things," the Rockies' manager said. "There's quite a trust factor with our pitchers with regard to him."
Still, Iannetta threw out 15 of 64 runners (23.4 percent) trying to steal during the regular season. Torrealba nailed just four of 53 (7.5 percent).
So it probably wasn't surprising that the Phillies were able to steal three bags in four tries, even though the runners talked about the jumps they got off Ubaldo Jimenez and Tracy pointed out, correctly, that it didn't really change the outcome of the game.
"It's not secret that running is a big part of our game," Jayson Werth said. "We look to take advantage when it's there and we like to be safe when we run."
Torrealba batted .324 after the All-Star break after hitting just .225 in the first half and had 17 RBI in September/October and having just 14 the entire first 5 months of the season. On the other hand, he batted just .220 against lefthanded pitching this year while Iannetta hit .220 against lefties.
