Mormon Baseball

Posts Tagged ‘John Buck’

Only one of three Mormon players on playoff teams in action last night stepped on the field, but neither of the two teams with Mormon players won, as the Los Angeles Dogers beat the Atlanta Braves 6-1 and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1.

Elliot Johnson was the first Mormon player to take the field in this year’s playoffs, starting the game at second base for the Braves. But the speedy Johnson was 0-4 at the plate, including 3 strike outs, and never really got a chance to steal a base. Johnson will likely see much of the playing time in the NLDS, because the Braves have left Dan Uggla off the roster, probably because his performance at the plate this year has been poor.

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The only playoff team with two Mormon players, the Pittsburgh Pirates, beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-2 last night to advance to a five-game series against the League-leading St. Louis Cardinals starting Thursday. However, neither of the two Mormon players, backup catcher John Buck and reliever Kyle Farnsworth, appeared in the game. As backup players they may appear late in any of the Pirates’ future playoff games. And the heroic’s of the Pirate’s starting catcher, Russell Martin, in last night’s game may make Buck’s appearance in the playoffs less likely.

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Adam Rosales chance to appear in a post-season game this year ended last night as his team, the Texas Rangers, lost to the Tampa Bay Rays in their playoff game to see which team would earn the second AL wild card spot. Rosales did not appear in the game.

Meanwhile, tonight two Mormon players could appear in the first NL wild card game as the Pittsburgh Pirates face the Cincinnati Reds. Both Buck and Farnsworth would only appear late in the game, and Farnsworth is the more likely to make an appearance.

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With the end of the regular major league season yesterday, the post-season lineup has become clear, leaving 7 of the 14 Mormon players we follow on teams that have made the post-season in some form. The 7 players are:

• John Buck (Pirates)
• Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox)
• Kyle Farnsworth (Pirates)
• Doug Fister (Tigers)
• Elliot Johnson (Braves)
• Adam Rosales (Rangers)
• Eric Sogard (A’s)

Of these, Rosales has perhaps the most tenuous position. He hasn’t seen much playing time as the Rangers have fought hard to make the post season, ending up with a tie for the second wild card spot in the American League. As a result the Rangers face a one-game playoff tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays to see who will get the wild card spot. If they win, the Rangers will then face another one-game playoff on Wednesday against the other wild card team, the Cleveland Indians, to see who will face the Red Sox in a 5-game series starting Friday.

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Four Mormon players are on teams that have clinched a berth in this year’s playoffs, and another 5 could still make it — and two almost certainly will. Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Red Sox), Doug Fister (Detroit Tigers), Elliot Johnson (Atlanta Braves) and Eric Sogard (Oakland Athletics) will all experience the post-season. In addition, John Buck and Kyle Farnsworth (both with the Pittsburg Pirates) are very likely to also make the post season. And Jeremy Guthrie (Kansas City Royals), Bryce Harper (Washington Nationals) and Adam Rosales (Texas Rangers), all still have a chance of seeing the post season, if their teams win and others lose.

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Phillies ace Roy Halladay was srong in his start last week against the Nationals, lasting 6 innings and giving up just 1 earned run while striking out 5. But Halladay didn’t have the control he has had in the past, as he walked 5 and hit two batters. But the outcome was good enough that we wonder if perhaps Halladay is back, or on his way back to his form of previous years. Commentors claim that his velocity is down, so Halladay may need to make the adjustment that aging (Halladay is 36) pitchers often have to make, trading velocity for placement and surprise. He has perhaps 4 starts left in the season; in those starts we may see what kind of pitcher Halladay will be for the remaining years of his career.

Also strong on the mound last week were relievers Kyle Farnsworth and Matt Lindstrom, both of whom held opponents scoreless in their relief appearances. Farnsworth struck out three over a total of 2 innings while giving up just one hit. Lindstrom struck out four over 1 2/3rds innings while giving up 3 hits and bringing down his era to 2.89. Neither pitcher walked a man.

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We have confirmed that Tiger’s starting pitcher Doug Fister is Mormon and have added him to the list of players we track each week. Fister is in his 3rd year with Detroit, and his 5th in the majors. He was drafted in 2006 in the 7th round by the Mariners, and spent 4 years in that organization, including 2 1/2 in the majors.

However, this past week Fister struggled, giving up 7 earned runs in 5 innings for a loss. But overall this season he has been good. He is 11-7 with a 3.81 era and 1.30 WHIP.

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In a bit of a bind when forced to use Sunday’s starter on Saturday, the Phillies activated Roy Halladay from the DL rather than have him pitch another rehab game in the minors. And Halladay pitched fairly well, giving up just 2 earned runs in 6 innings while striking out 2 and earning a win. Since the Phils have still 32 games to play, Halladay could still start 5 or 6 games, bring his win-loss record into positive territory and perhaps even bring his era down below 5.00. Of course, all that assumes that he is back in his best form—a big assumption.

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Despite his team’s poor performance, Matt Lindstrom is still managing to perform well. This past week he gave up just 3 hits and one walk while striking out 5 over 4 2/3rds innings. And despite struggling a bit earlier this month, Lindstrom’s season era is just 3.26.

But all this doesn’t mean that Lindstrom will be able to stay with the White Sox, as he would like. The team is second from the bottom in the American League, and third from last overall, which has led it to make many of its players available for trade, including Lindstrom, who cleared waivers this week. But his relatively low salary should have let him be claimed off waivers if there was any interest, so perhaps he will stay with the White Sox.

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Over his past 5 starts, the Kansas City Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie has a 4-1 record, improving his season totals to 11-7 and putting him tied for 11th in the majors in wins. Does this mean that Guthrie has turned around his performance? Can we expect solid pitching for the rest of the year?

The answer isn’t quite clear. Guthrie’s struggles have kept everyone guessing, with the best guess being that he will pitch well one game and then struggle the next. And looking behind the wins at his era and performance each game, Guthrie’s performance is still not something you can count on. In the last 5 games, he first pitched well, and then twice gave up 5 earned runs, but somehow managed to win one of those games. The most recent two games were solid—he gave up first 1 earned run, and then 2 last week. His era for these 5 games was still 3.98, just a little below his season era of 4.22. So its hard to make much of the last 5 games. But give me another strong outing or two in a row? Well, the Royals will be much happier and much more confident in him.

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