Stat Of The Night: The Defense Rests (Or Fails)

by Kyle Lobner on Oct 14, 2011 11:15 PM CDT in Statistical Analysis

Zack Greinke had a rough night tonight, but the defense behind him played a huge part in it. The Brewers committed three errors while Greinke was on the mound, leading to three of Greinke's five runs being unearned.

By allowing three unearned runs tonight, Greinke tied a Brewer postseason record:

Pitcher	Season	Series	Game	ER	R	Difference
Zack Greinke	2011	NLCS	5	5	2	3
Yovani Gallardo	2008	NLDS	1	3	0	3
Don Sutton	1982	WS	6	7	5	2
Doc Medich	1982	WS	6	6	4	2
Pete Vuckovich	1982	WS	3	6	4	2

If the Brewers can win at home Sunday and Monday, Greinke is almost certainly going to be the starting pitcher in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday. If they can't, then this is his final and best start in what has to be considered a pretty disappointing postseason performance.

All told the Brewers committed four errors tonight, coming one shy of tying an NLCS record.

Tweet Comment 3 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

The game plays out so much differently if we limit those errors.

2-1 game is much more easy to overcome. Different moves, different strategy. Oh well, we gotta get them twice at home!

That dog just won't hunt.

by Bush League All Star on Oct 14, 2011 11:31 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

also plays out differently if Greinke could strike out some hitters

I think only 2 of his pitches were swinging strikes.

BrooksBrothers has him at 30 four-seam, 20 two-seam, 18 sliders, 16 curves, 4 changeups. Been reading some reports of his fastball being flat. It wasn’t nearly as out of hand as the variety of Bad Greinke starts i’ve seen as a Royals fan

If the stuff’s not there, there’s not exactly a whole lot you can do to get around it. 27 of the 30 hitters put the ball into play and there were 17 outs out of those 27 balls in play. The rest were 7 hits and 3 errors.

Can’t blame it all on the defense. I’m guessing Greinke striking out 10 per 9 was something he gravitated towards out of necessity, and he shouldn’t be off the hook when he doesn’t pitch well and his defense fails him.

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bhindepmo
Chairman, The Melky Cabrera Seasoning Sauce. It's great on your outfield!

by BHWick on Oct 15, 2011 1:56 AM CDT up reply actions

I think Greinke got what he deserved

Yes, there were errors, but there were just as many great defensive plays behind him.

If the plays by Hairston are reversed, Punto’s ball goes through and he makes the play on Garcia the Cardinals still get three runs.

The run in the fourth inning is on Greinke, and only Gomez diving catch to end the inning prevented more runs from scoring.

The error by Betancourt extended the 6th inning so I am willing to give Greinke the benefit of the doubt on that run.

Greinke averages nearly 10 K’s per 9 IP, tonight he had none. That means 5 to 6 more balls were put in play than in an average game.

All in all, I say Greinke didn’t come through in Game 5.

by statsllc on Oct 15, 2011 8:23 AM CDT reply actions

Comments For This Post Are Closed

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

NL Central Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Cincinnati Red Reporter	25	20	.555	0	Lost 1
St. Louis Viva El Birdos	25	21	.543	0.5	Lost 2
Houston The Crawfish Boxes	22	23	.488	3	Won 4
Pittsburgh Bucs Dugout	21	24	.466	4	Won 1
Milwaukee Brew Crew Ball	19	26	.422	6	Won 2
Chicago Bleed Cubbie Blue	15	30	.333	10	Lost 10