Author Topic: Danny?  (Read 3825 times)

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Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Danny?
« Reply #25: October 08, 2012, 12:13:03 PM »
What about this did we not know before the game?  Danny is mostly famine, occasionally feast hitter as a lefty.  I was kind of surprised that he has 14 HRs from the left side and only 3 from the right side (have not checked the split stats lately). He's in the line up because we need one more left with occasional pop to avoid a team like St L just throwing righties at us.  That, and he is one of the best defensive middle infielders in the game. 

Plenty of teams have a good glove, no stick infielder at one of the up the middle positions. Usually it's the SS, but for us it is the 2d baseman.  Oh, and if you are an batting average guy and don't care about walks, he was a .250 hitter until the last game or two of the year, and ended the regular season at .247.  Also, it's unfair to call him no stick with that pop and base stealing speed.  He has 2 of the 3 offensive tools - speed and power. 

As for Lombo, he's steadier, but has less range and a substantially lesser arm.  He's a nice contact guy who no pitcher is ever afraid to throw a strike to because he almost never will hurt you deep.  He does not walk not because he is anxious or has a bad eye, but because why throw him a ball when he can't hurt you with contact?  He does have a better OBP than Danny - .317 v. .315.  Classic case of the back up quarterback. 

All this, I'm not oblivious to Danny's poor pitch selection when he's going bad.  I can't imagine that was where he was supposed to place the bunt.  Perhaps it was a safety squeeze and Morse did not break once he saw how bad the bunt was?