Daily Archives: May 3, 2007

Ottawa Lynx April Wrapup Part Three

7. Lehigh Valley

The Ottawa Lynx In April (Part Three-Fielding)

It has seemed obvious from the last two segments of the Lynx in April that the Lynx defence has been the most consistent and important part of their game in April. We looked at the pitching breakdowns yesterday and with the large amount of base runners allowed coupled with a fairly decent team ERA, and with not much offense to speak of, a simple process of elimination should lead us to the above conclusion. But traditional fielding stats really don’t tell us very much and the evolving modernization of those stats can make for more complicated reading than the various time travel theories presented by the world’s leading physicists. Therefore, I am not going to delve into such calculations because, after all, baseball is supposed to be fun isn’t it? Instead, although I will quota a few general statistics. My summation of the Lynx defence in the month of April will be much more subjective than my discussion of hitting and pitching.

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The box score says it all…

Other Stuff

A few weeks ago, after a particularly strong outing for Pat Overholt, I noted that his success is basically tied to being able to get groundouts, as he has been home run prone in the past, and as a starter, he’d have to really focus on pitching at the bottom of the strike zone to be effective. Last night, Pat got a lesson about not keeping the ball on the ground, to the tune of 7 ER. Here is the only stat you need to know

2 groundball outs, 8 fly ball outs.

He gave up 3 home runs in the game, 2 of them to top prospect Jay Bruce. In a 4 start stretch from April 5th through April 21st, Overholt had gotten 37 ground balls to only 13 fly ball outs, and he was largely successful in those starts. In the start prior to last night’s, he got 9 ground balls to 7 fly balls, struggled with his command (5 walks), but managed to avoid major damage, allowing only 1 ER in 6.2 IP. Last night, however, he wasn’t so lucky.

Reading Report—Week Four

6. Reading

After the first four weeks of the season Reading, although inconsistent remains tied for the top of the Southern division (with Akron), with a 12-10 record. Looking at how individual Phillies rank in the league SS Jesus Merchan is hitting .373 and is 2nd in the league in batting average. OF Javon Moran leads the league with 21 runs scored and is 4th in stolen bases with 9. 3B Mike Costanzo is third in the Eastern League with 5 homeruns, and 6th in the league with 15 RBI’s, however his 31 strikeouts (2nd in the league) and 11 errors, remain of great concern. Looking at the pitching, Anderson Garcia still leads the way with 6 saves , and Kyle Kendrick is leading the league with 32.0 innings pitched.

Continue reading Reading Report—Week Four →