A friend of mind called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to go to the airport this morning and fly down to Tampa with him to “hang out” and to see game four of the Washington Capitals/Tampa Lightning series in the NHL playoffs. My answer was a resounding no. I do love Florida, and I am a Caps fan, however…that sounds like something a college student would do. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have done something like that in college. I’ve never really been into the whole spontaneity thing. (I’m quite the catch, aren’t I?!) I like things planned out, and I fully intend to follow that plan once it’s made.
Luckily I’m not a professional baseball player, or a professional athlete of any sort. You could probably throw war general into that claim as well. If you follow the script to the minute in sports (or war), odds are you’re going to become so predictable that you’re going to lose (or die). So what does any of this have to do with…anything? There’s always more than meets-the-eye! One of the bigger surprises of the still young 2011 season is Nick Markakis’ struggles at the plate. After last night’s 6-5 loss in Kansas City, Markakis is hitting .207 for the season. (It is worth mentioning that Markakis’ defense hasn’t seemed to lapse through his offensive struggles.) One thing I’ve noticed is that Markakis isn’t weakly grounding out, striking out, etc in his at-bats. His approach at the plate appears to be the same, and often times he’s making good contact with the ball. The thing is that his shots are going straight at the fielders.
So is Markakis just one of those hitters that showed some promise and fizzled after awhile in the big leagues? Not in my opinion. However the fact that his shots seem to find the fielders’ mitts so often might be a bit telling. Is he a predictable hitter? Now that might be a possibility. As I said, I like predictable in my life. (That might be a bad way of putting it; I like to know what’s coming next-good or bad-so that I can prepare.) However in sports that just doesn’t work. I play pick-up basketball every week; if I’m guarding someone that always goes to his right when trying to get around you, as a defender I know how to contain the guy. (Note to self: stop going to your right!) Let’s keep in mind that all major league teams have what they call spray charts, which show hitters’ tendencies so that teams can better position their fielders. This is where the concept of shifts begins in that if a guy has a tendency to grossly pull the ball one way, teams will play their fielders accordingly to get more support on that side of the field.
So let’s perhaps give just a little bit of credit to the Orioles’ opponents in that perhaps they’re reading Markakis very well. However if that’s the case, Markakis also needs to examine his hitting and try to change it up a bit. Easier said than done I suppose. I do intend to follow up on this in that when the O’s return home I’m going to look at the outfielders when Markakis comes to the plate and see if they shift for his at-bat. It’s one thing to hit the ball to right field each time; it’s quite another to have the outfielder literally have to take two steps to get the ball. I can’t tell you how to remedy this problem (if in fact that’s part of the problem), it’s just something that he might need to examine. Ultimately, all players go through slumps. Nick Markakis is a great player, so I’m not overly worried about him. I don’t think that he needs to move down in the order or anything like that. However perhaps the O’s might consider doing a spray chart on their own guy and seeing if in fact he’s hitting the ball to the same spots.
I’d love to go to Florida; I really would. It’s just not conducive to my personality. If you’re going to go there to see playoff hockey, it would stand to reason that you wouldn’t just show up and expect to get tickets at the door. It’s not a Rays’ game for crying out loud! Not to mention that I have baseball to watch. Does that guy know how much hotels can cost in a place like Florida at the last minute like that?! Not to mention airfare! Where are some people’s brains?!
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