Pierre Gives View On Offensive Struggles
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Pierre Gives View On Offensive Struggles
Marc Narducci
Juan Pierre is used to seeing the Phillies from an opposite dugout, and a much different perspective. Pierre has been one of the offensive standouts in a list that isn’t very long for the 10-12 Phillies.
He leads the team with a .318 average, although we’d like to see a little better decision making on the base paths.
Either way, Pierre, who turns 35 in August, should see plenty of time in the lineup. When he played against the Phillies, he was used to seeing a drastically different offensive team.
“It’s tough especially with the makeup in the past for the Phillies,” Pierre said following Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. “Being an opposing guy you always had that thunder in the middle of the lineup and now you have to create runs.”
Like all the Phillies in the clubhouse, Pierre feels that the team will eventually emerge from its offensive struggles.
After the game Laynce Nix suggested that the players are now putting too much pressure on themselves and not playing relaxed. Pierre doesn’t disagree, but he feels it should be the opposite.
“With this staff if you score some runs you have a pretty good chance of winnign and you can’t say that with a lot of teams,” Pierre said. “It should be less pressure for the offense.”
But it’s not at the moment.
Players seem to be pressing and much to their chagrin, they will continue to be asked about it until showing even the semblance of offensive consistency. Pierre understands that the questions come with the territory.
“Me personally, I go through this every year, when you don’t hit the ball and get these questions,” he said. “I know it’s Philly and you can imagine it will be hyped even more.”
As all the Phillies have said, the only thing to do is keep grinding it out, realizing that there are 140 more games.
Yet the Phillies can’t keep using this excuse much longer and they also can’t wait for Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to return. Who knows when that will be and how effective the two will be after such a long layoff?
There doesn’t seem to be any panic in the clubhouse but in taking the collective temperature, one could surmise there is at least some concern.
And right now, that concern is clearly justified.
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Jua— jtj06- Juan Pierre is so great everyone wants him- 6 teams in 13 years! And what an eye at the plate! He's only walked over 50 times once despite having 700+ plate appearances 7 times. Neither he or Rollins are any Rickey Henderson who is second on the all-time walks list with 2190 and had a career OBP over .400. Sorry, the Phillies don't have much to realistically trade. Amaro spent everything he had. Would that he could find someone to value Pence as much as he did, then maybe they could start rebuilding.— jtj06
- "No, I do not like Wigs, Pierre and ham; I'd have preferred Wllingham"— warbiscuit
- At this stage in their careers Willingham, Wigginton and Cuddyer are the same player. I would not want either of them for 3 years and 7 or 10 million per ... not with a toad, not on the road, not in a tank, not at the bank.
— zubzub - Phils have their first losing April since 2007 and if I heard T-mac correctly that was the last time they had a losing month...5 years! I remember when the Phils would have a winning month maybe a month or two in the whole season if we were lucky. All you negative posters (so called fans) are a disgrace. Can't win em all and with all their struggles they are just 2 games under .500...I'll take it. Just stating the obvious here, Phils have an aging offense and even when Howard and Utley come back its not going to get a whole lot better. If RAJ was smart he should trade Hamels at the deadline for a boatload of position player prospects if Phils are out of the race and then work his magic to resign him in the off season.— tralala
- zubzub, I'm certainly not saying Rollins is a better leadoff man than Henderson. I'm saying your entire argument is seriously flawed. The stats you offered in support of your argument are irrelevant. Even your desperate rebuttal about no one else being able to lead off for the Phils in the past few seasons is irrelevant. Take it from me, Pierre is a much better leadoff man than Rollins. Fret not though. I still give your photo an E for Effort.— onthebucks
- tralala --your argument epitomizes a Philadelphian loser: don't complain that Amaro destroyed team and that they suck again becuase they used to suck all the time ... you probably suck at other things you do too— warbiscuit
- You're so hyped up right now your grammar's even suffering. Seriously, you are as bad as the nuts on the street corner with the "end is near" signs. So tell me Mr. Pat Gillick historian. How many Gillick teams have made the playoffs since he left his GM position from those teams? Only one. The Phillies. Toronto, Baltimore, Seattle, they all struggled to make it to .500 since he left. Type your hate filled rants and pace around your room for a minute or two all you want and type another but come down to earth, no one has "destroyed" this team. It's rough watching them but seriously does your life really change if they win or not? — SFPhillyphan
- Mark - as usual, you put THE right spin on this "situation:" have the other 7 "play up to Pierre" - get on base guys! To score, you gotta have baserunners first! RE: the Utley and Howard sweepstakes - I am going to respectfully disagree with you. I am feeling reeealll good about Utley's strengthening program. I think all of us will be pleasantly surprised once he gets his timing back - more like 70-30. As for #6, as long as he doesn't cave to the pressure and do stuff he shouldn't in his rehab, he should be 80-20. If the Phils can just take these games one at a time till then.....— dwp66
- I don't know how the chump known as wb expects to get any respect when all he can do is complain like a preschooler. Grow up, dude!— dwp66
- While everyone is dumping on the phils hitters why is Brian Schneider the back up Catcher. He can't throw a runner out. Defensively he is below average and he cannot hit a lick. As a back up he should at least be strong in one facet of the game... hitting or defense. He is a wasted space on the roster— missurichie
- Juan Pierre, why should I care? It's a lot more fun watching Danny Briere!— dasher
- Onthebucks- you can like whoever you want and choose whichever stats you like best. No big deal.
But being 34, drawing the outfield in, taking less pitches than Rollins, getting thrown out at second, and failing to score from second on a knee high line drive to right field does not, IMO, make someone a good leadoff hitter. I
I won't mention the defensive liability at all.— zubzub - zubzub, Which player I like is irrelevant to this conversation. The stats I like best are also irrelevant. So is my favorite color for that matter. It's the stats that support or fail to support an argument that matter. My disagreement with you is based on your initial assertion that Rollins is a better leadoff hitter than Pierre because they have similar pitch per time at bat numbers. I would argue that on base percentage is a better measure of a leadoff hitter's success and that batting average and stolen bases are better measures of support for the success of a leadoff hitter than the number of pitches per at bat. In 13 seasons, Pierre has gotten on base 17 percentage points higher than Rollins. That is significant. So are Pierre's 18 points higher batting average and his 200 more stolen bases than Rollins. I agree that Pierre is not the same player today that he once was, and in the early going, he has made base running mistakes. But what remains incontrovertible is that Pierre always was a legitimate leadoff hitter while Rollins has never been an effective leadoff hitter. Pierre makes the other team work 99% of the times he comes to the plate. Rollins seldom makes the opposing team work. His lazy pop ups and weak grounders occur with such regularity that they have become predictable. Pierre is hitting nearly 100 points higher than Rollins at the moment. Instead of working hard at being cool, Pierre is getting down and dirty and trying to make things happen. Stats don't tell the entire story about any player. Sometimes, it's the things a player does to create his stats. Pierre has better stats than Rollins across the board in all categories that actually define a leadoff hitter's effectiveness and Pierre has shown the outward characteristics that are desirable in a leadoff hitter much more than Rollins. We can do this all day long, but at the end of the day, Pierre will still be the Phils best option as a leadoff hitter. — onthebucks
