Boo Bill!
Church is doing things that he never did with the Nationals. He’s hitting in the clutch and displaying power that general manager Jim Bowden was looking for during Church’s three-year tenure in Washington.
Boo, I say to you, Mr. Ladson! Boo!
Ryan 2008 RISP : .333 / .423 / .429
Ryan 2007 RISP: .282 / .387 / .492
Ryan 2006 RISP: .273 / .382 / . 564
Ryan is getting a few more hits, but hit pretty well before don’t you think?
As for power Ryan is slugging .561 right now, which is better than the best he did with the Nats (.526 in 2006). However his isoSLG is actually lower than that year (.250 in 2006, .237 in 2008, and if you must know .198 in 2007) meaning he’s actually slugging about as well as he did 2 years ago, but that fact is covered up by the one thing he IS doing differently than he did with the Nats. He’s getting more hits. Period.
Part of that is a high BABIP (.370 right now) , but he’s historically had a high BABIP, so we wouldn’t expect it to go down as much as we might for another player. Why then is he hitting better? Let’s let Ryan Zimmerman explain:
“We all know that he is talented. He is a good player,” Zimmerman said. “When he would play four or five games in a row, he would kind of get in a groove. It’s hard knowing you don’t play every day. He has a chance in New York, and he is taking advantage of it.”
Now actually Church played plenty of 4 or 5 games in a row in 2007, he was the starter until after the All-Star break, BUT I will say that if I were him I would have never felt secure in my position. After how they treated him in 2006 there was an axe over his head and it showed. Free from that - well you see how he can play. If he ends up hitting .320 with 30+ HRs I’ll be shocked, but he is a very solid #3 OF.
GAME
Nats lost. Lannan did what he did - spread out those hits as much as possible, though with 12 out there he couldn’t do much better than the 6 IP and 4 runs that he gave up. I don’t know how he does it - just that he does.
STOP PITCHING LUIS AYALA!
On May 6th, He came in to pitch at Houston. 1 IP, 3 Hits, 2 runs. He looked tired.
Two days later on May 8th he came in to pitch against Houston. 1 IP 2 Hits, 1BB, 2 runs. He looked spent
Three days later on May 11th, Marlins. 1 IP 3 Hits, 2 HRs, 3 runs. He looked dead.
Two days later, last night, Mets. He comes in and somehow, magically gives the Nats a perfect 7th. Somewhere in his youth or childhood, Manny Acta must have done something good. Then Ayala comes back out to pitch the 8th? Why tempt fate? More importantly, why tax an arm that has looked so horrible recently? I don’t get it. Is he expecting the worst from Redding today?
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8 Responses to “Boo Bill!”
May 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Ayala, and for that matter Chico, are arm injuries waiting to happen…soon.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Relievers are fungible true, but I’d rather they use them wisely than wear them out over the course of 2 years like they do now. When you hit that first year of real contention you want to have a bullpen you can trust, not another testing ground to see who you can ride like crazy.
Bad for the Nats right now - there’s still a long way to go in theis stretch of games without a day off.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Save Ayala :(
May 15th, 2008 at 7:53 am
There’s been a lot of talk about Church and his excellent year, but look at the lineup he’s in.
It’s needless to say, he’s in a much better position to produce than he was in Washington with the talent around him. He may be confident, and a new guy, but I am attributing much of his success to the prodigious talent around him, not so much because of ability.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:44 am
I side (sorta) with Anthony. But I give Churchie more credit. I think it is his talent that we are seeing, I just think the talent around him lets it shine through more. Let’s face it, on this team he was probably the 2nd or 3rd best hitter teams were facing. (NJ, Zims while the two played together). On hte Mets lineup thats not really true, so I’m sure he’s seeing better stuff to hit.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:45 am
FYI - No mention of NJ’s injury?
May 15th, 2008 at 10:13 am
That’s probably part of it for Church, but I’d put that behind (1) talent (2) playing over his head right now, and (3) being secure in his role, to explain what is going on with him right now.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Oh, I was not saying Church is not talented, Bryan, but I think he’s helped not only by All-Stars in his lineup, but also the change of scenery, knowing he’ll play everyday and playing for a team that has high expectations.
I knew he’d be better in NYC, but a potential All-Star and maybe MVP of the team so far — no. Well, I think he may come down to earth as the season goes on, but there’s no doubt, he’s been a boon for the Mets.
I never thought the guy got a fair share in Washington, and glad he’s getting a chance on a contending team.
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