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Home , Adam Eaton (outfielder), Austin Kearns, Bill Bray, David Dellucci, David Ortiz, David Wells

9BLACK E9 DAILY 07-30-06 MD RE E9 BLACK

The Washington Post x R Sunday, July 30, 2006 E9

Years since of the Washington Senators won the title, making him the last player to win batting crowns in each league. The Dodgers’ (1999, 2000 AL batting champ) currently is 2 MLB Sunday By Dave Sheinin 104 points behind the Pirates’ in this year’s NL batting race. OF THE WEEK CASE STUDY NO. 2 Shifty vs. CF Strategies BONDS VS. NATIONALS IN 2006: 6 at-bats CF BRAVES AT REDS LF RF 2 walks Managers play the percentages 1 LF Friday, 7:10 p.m. .000 average Saturday, 1:20 p.m. and rearrange their fielders, Used this past Sunday, 1:15 p.m. sometimes in downright RF SS 2B week at RFK 24% disorienting ways, to defend 3B NORMAL Stadium against the 15% 31% The Braves were dead on June against some of baseball’s best left- 1B DEFENSIVE Giants slugger, the of Bonds’s batted P ALIGNMENT Nationals shifted their balls go to this area 22, at the end of a 10-game handed pull hitters. Some shifts used of the 2B but kept their 8% losing streak that had them 13 recently against , Barry in 2006 3B SS games under .500, in last place C in relatively 4% 18% in the NL East and nine games Bonds and : straightaway positions. RF 1B of the wild-card hunt. D-E-A-D, even crept in toward dead. When GM John Schuerholz x% = Approximate percentage of balls by respective the at times. The shift made P brazenly claimed they were still batter to various areas of the field in 2006. for some memorable moments, such alive, our reaction was a smile of as 1B snaring a surefire pity, the kind you give to an down the line, SS Felipe Lopez converting a 6-3 ground out from the C eternal optimist who simply CASE STUDY NO. 1 cannot face the dark reality. second base position, and 3B Ryan Well, golly gee, whaddya Red Sox Zimmerman handling a throw at second on a BONDS know? By Wednesday, the Braves vs. Jason Giambi attempt. CF had pulled within five games of GIAMBI VS. RED SOX IN 2006: the .500 mark and had cut their 33 at-bats LF CASE STUDY NO. 3 wild-card deficit from nine to 7 hits 1 3 home runs 21% Tampa Bay 4 ⁄2. And next weekend, with RF 8 RBI LF these three games against the .212 average Devil Rays vs. wild-card-leading Reds, they can 15% 31% David Ortiz This is the 3B CF reduce that deficit even further. of Giambi’s batted 20% standard infield ORTIZ VS. DEVIL The Reds, though, are not balls go to this area RAYS IN 2006: “overshift” used by of the outfield going away; they are 9-5 through 53 at-bats RF many teams for left- in 2006 13 hits Friday since their big eight-player SS 17% 30% with the Washington handed sluggers such as 3B 2B 4 home runs Giambi, David Ortiz, Carlos 14 RBI of Ortiz’s batted Nationals. balls go to this area Delgado and Barry Bonds. The 8% .245 average 5% 20% 1B of the outfield 3B plays in the normal SS This wacky alignment, in 2006 SS 2B position, the SS swings around to P which, as best anyone can 20% the opposite side of the second base tell, has no precedent, is 5% 9% NEWS & NOTES bag, the 2B moves into shallow right nicknamed the “3-4” defense, 1B field and the 1B hugs the line. The both for its three-/four- P outfielders similarly shift to the right. With C alignment and for Ortiz’s Wild-Card runners on base, the usually is uniform number. Devil Rays not so extreme, because fielders have to be hit upon the idea while prepared for stolen base attempts. riding a stationary bike in April. Does C Race Starts GIAMBI it work? Well, Ortiz is hitting .245 with four homers in 53 at-bats this Getting Wild SOURCES: Stats Inc., ESPN season against Tampa Bay, but in It was during the all-star break recent games Maddon has switched ORTIZ that third to a more traditional shift. baseman said with conviction, “The [American League] will not come out of the East, period.” Sure about that, Alex? “One hundred percent,” he said. Turns out, Rodriguez is as good as prognosticating as he is at hiding his fear of failure. It’s true that when Rodriguez spoke those words, it was difficult BY DAVE SHEININ to imagine the AL wild card coming AND LARRY NISTA — from anywhere besides the Central Division. The and White Sox had the two best records in baseball, the Tigers were two games up on the White Sox and the White Sox were six games up on the Yankees for the Big Swing to the Right wild card. But since the all-star break, the White Sox have plummeted and the With Radical Defenses, Opponents Try to Neutralize Powerful Left-Handed Hitters Yankees have surged. And this week, when the former got swept By Dave Sheinin lengths necessary to neutralize the tionals Manager , “We even shift against some guys the Angels’ shift. at home by Minnesota and the Washington Post Staff Writer enemy, namely left-handed sluggers who used the shift successfully this that most people leave alone,” said Ortiz said he sometimes makes a latter swept the Rangers in , with a propensity for pulling the ball past week against Bonds. “You want Red Sox Manager , bigger effort to hit to the opposite the Yankees moved ahead of the The first time he saw Tampa Bay’s to the right side. to keep him from swinging the bat naming reserve field against the shift, but teams White Sox in the wild-card take off toward left Its targets are mostly obvious: In and going for his natural power, keep outfielder David Dellucci as an exam- to him in such a way as to make that standings. field, slugger David addition to Ortiz, shifts are frequent- him from hitting one out, or hitting ple. difficult. The White Sox, as you might Ortiz went into your basic sniper-on- ly deployed against Barry Bonds, one to the gap.” Although shifts are now common- “They pitch me soft away, and recall, suffered a similar stumble at the-roof mode — ducking for cover, , , Jason Former manag- place, no one had ever recalled seeing hard inside,” Ortiz said. “And when almost the exact same point in the flinging his hands up to his face, look- Giambi, and Jim er is credited with in- anything as radical as the one Tampa it’s soft away, I can only hit that in the season last year, but recovered to ing around to see where the shots Thome. In the standard shift, teams venting the shift in 1946 as a way to Bay Manager Joe Maddon deployed air, not on the ground.” hold off Cleveland for the division were coming from and where he load up the right side of the infield defend against Red Sox slugger Ted against Ortiz the first time the teams “The guys who you use it against, title, then won the . could go to hide. with three infielders (the second Williams. Other teams soon followed played each other this season — the you’re just trying to take away the ex- And so, instead of a runaway, “I didn’t know what was going on baseman typically plays on the out- suit, and in subsequent years, it was one with the third baseman playing tra-base hits,” Padres the wild card is now a four-team — the dude just took off,” Ortiz said. field grass in shallow right), and the widely used against , left field and everybody else on the said. “If they race, with the Yankees (through “I thought maybe somebody was outfielders also shift to the right. Willie McCovey and others. right side. After several games, Mad- laid down a for a , you’d Friday) holding a half-game lead shooting. So I was ready to get out of Many teams also shift the other But in this era of increasing so- don eventually went to a more con- take that from them every time.” 1 over Chicago, 1 ⁄2 over Minnesota there. And the security guy [near one way for , the most phistication of statistical analysis, in ventional shift. Ortiz does have two bunt singles 1 and 4 ⁄2 over Toronto. of the dugouts] was fooled, too, be- feared right-handed hitter in the which all it takes is a “spray chart” — “I try not to think about it — this season against the shift. But of Looking at strength of schedule cause he came out on the field.” game. showing a hitter’s tendencies to each they’re trying to mess with my course, the best way to beat the shift over the season’s final two months However, what Ortiz was witness- “You go about it thinking, ‘Let’s part of the field — to indicate which mind,” said Ortiz, who figures the is the same as it ever was. does not help much in sorting out ing was not sniper fire, but the latest put something in the hitter’s head to hitters should require a shift, there shifts have cost him between 20 and “They’re not going to stop him ev- the wild-card picture — all four and most drastic wrinkle in Opera- see if he [will] take the base hit [to are a dozen or more players who see 40 points off his batting average this ery time,” Francona said, “unless teams play slightly more than half tion Infield Storm, whereby teams the opposite field] or take the bunt some type of shift against at least season, which is .285, including a they decide to put somebody in the their remaining games against around the major leagues go to any over there,’ ” said Washington Na- some teams. game-winning hit yesterday that beat stands.” teams with records of .500 or better. However, it does suggest the 1 Tigers’ 8 ⁄2-game lead (through Friday) in the Central is vulnerable, 3 UP & 3 DOWN THE LIST: NOT TRADES, BUT JUST AS EFFECTIVE since they play 34 of their Touch of Perfection remaining 60 games against One or more playoff races will be impacted, no doubt, by deals that are made at .500-or-better teams, plus they The Lerners’ first homestand RICH HARDEN the trade deadline. But many times, an even bigger impact is made by a key player Starting , have to make a special trip to Nats go 6-0 in new owners’ first week, who returns to a contending team from a major injury — team chemistry is not al- 2 for a makeup game on Mayor Williams only rips them once — tered as greatly, and unlike a trade, the team isn’t giving up anything in return. Elbow injuries have limited this to what was previously scheduled as a success all around. In recent days, contenders Toronto (Alex Rios), Texas () and the only six starts this year, but the A’s are an off-day in the middle of a (Pedro Martinez) got key players back from the disabled list, but 6-0 in those starts and his return in Au- six-game road trip. several more are scheduled to return soon, with potentially major impacts. Here are gust would be huge. There is talk he K WORTH WATCHING: One of the Collects his first big league for the five biggest: might return only in a role, but even that would great things about the July 31 trade the Reds. Anyone else suspect this be a boost. deadline is that it’s not a true, hard guy will make Nats regret that deadline. After that date, teams can eight-player deal? , ROBINSON CANO, , OCTAVIO DOTEL 1 New York Yankees still make trades, provided the 3 , Boston Red Sox players involved clear waivers first. The imminent return of one-third of their lineup and a much-needed bullpen arm (all The next key deadline is Aug. 31, Will finish out the year as Cubs but Sheffield are expected back in the next week or so) is one major reason the Yan- Wells has pitched well enough in simulated because players acquired before manager, GM says. Nice kees have been relatively quiet at the trade deadline. games that the team might skip a rehab as- that are eligible to be placed on gesture, but why punish the guy like signment and send him straight to the postseason rosters. that? From left, mound tomorrow or Tuesday. And one juicy name to keep an Matsui, Cano eye on in August is . The Guillens and Sheffield If the Astros fail to Ozzie’s playoff hopes in Chicago, 4 Starting Pitcher, Detroit Tigers improve their postseason chances Jose’s career in D.C. both dealt major in the next couple of weeks, it is blows. (They’re unrelated, by the Maroth’s return, scheduled for late Au- possible they could trade Clemens way, besides their shared lunacy.) gust, would not only bring the Tigers a to one of the teams that bid for him quality lefty, but also would allow them to in June — the Red Sox, Yankees or Teddy Roosevelt rest rookie by going to a Rangers. Clemens’s Goes 0-6 in costumed president races six-man rotation or skipping an occasional start. $4-million-per-month salary likely during homestand, but solves the would dissuade other teams from mystery of M. LeCroy’s whereabouts claiming him on waivers. since Nats cut him. 5 , “I don’t know that [Clemens] is On the surface, the team appears not to an option” to be traded, Astros Greg Anderson have missed him, going 10-2 (through Manager told Bonds’s personal trainer again refuses Friday) in his absence. But his superb Radio. “Now, if he were to come to to testify against his man. Don’t worry glove will help. And let’s face it: Jason us and say, ‘Look, I want to go — we’re sure Barry will come visit you Tyner, Hunter’s replacement, was not going to hit .350 somewhere else for the last month in the clink. the rest of the way. Hunter could be back tomorrow. or two,’ that’s a different story.” 9BLACK E9