Let's first set some goals.
First of all, Shmuel's pitching.
Now, for 2003 we had:
Shmuel's pitching goals were to keep his ERA in single digits, walk less than one batter per inning, more strikes than balls, and more SO's than BB's. He acheived all these goals except the last. If you rely on the ISA's stats, then the results were:
ERA was just under 9,
Free Ride per inning (BB+HP) was 0.93,
S/B ratio was 1.37,
Free Ride % (BB+HP) was 14.20
SO% was 2.60.
For 2004, let's try this:
Primary goals:
• Keep ERA below 8
• Keep Free Ride percentage (BB+HP)/(# batters) to %10, maybe %11
• Do not make worse stats than in 2003
Secondary goals:
• Increase SO percentage to %5 or so
(we may ignore this one, though)
• Increase S/B percentage to 1.50
(if this is kept up, then the primary goals will be easier
to achieve)
-----------------------------------------
OK, stats are in for the first two games (Tigers and Dimona). Now, the stats say that Shmuel had 3 HPB, but this writer doesn't remember any HBPs in the first two games. The next two games were decidely worse, and the stats will suffer. Anyway, we have the following so far:
|
Item
|
Value
|
Comments
|
|
ERA
|
5.83
|
comply
|
|
Free Ride percentage (BB+HP)/(# batters)
|
16.9
|
poor, although the stats are in question
|
|
Free Ride per inning (BB+HP) /(#innings)
|
0.92
|
OK, I guess
|
|
S/B ratio
|
1.45
|
definite improvement
|
|
SO%
|
7.7
|
big improvement
|
-------------------------------------------------
Final pitching stats for Shmuel for Spring, 2004:
|
Stat item
|
Goal for 2004
|
Value in 2003
|
Value in 2004
|
|
ERA
|
<= 8
|
9
|
11.20
|
|
Free ride %
|
<= 11 %
|
14.20 %
|
22.4 %
|
|
Free ride per inning:
|
<= 0.93
|
0.93
|
1.58
|
|
SO %:
|
>=5%
|
2.60 %
|
5 %
|
|
S/B ratio:
|
>=1.50
|
1.37
|
1.06
|
This, of course, shows a bad year. The only thing I'll say is that it proves Shmuel is human. OK, OK, we can use other things to prove he's human, but still.
The problem seems to be mental. There is a kind of feeling, after some successes, of being able to take it easy on the one hand, but also worrying that "Oh, boy, now everyone's expecting so much more from me". This "laziness" coupled with the pressure is a killer combination. Dimona heckling doesn't help.
In addition, our No.2 pitcher, Yechezkel, got injured, then drafted. As a result, he pitched all of 20 pitches for the whole spring season (vs. 1200 for Shmuel). So, we'll just have to be patient, work on the mental aspects, and hope for the best. Lame, I know, but what can you do? Fortunately, separate stats are kept for the fall season, if at all. As of this writing (Sep, 2004) Yechezel is healthy, but he's still a soldier, but he's got only a half schedule. So, we'll see how that pans out.
Interesting to note that the Strike Out percentage went up. This means that the pitches that were in there, were more competitive. This only supports the theory that once the mental aspects are solved, and the pitches are more accurate, we will have one helluva hot pitcher, Dad.
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