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From The Dugout
By Keith LeClair
©2004 Bonesville.net
Keys to late-season success
Over the last few weeks, I
have received several e-mails about what a team must do to play well
down the stretch. I have my own ideas, which certainly doesn't mean they
are right, but most baseball analysts would agree they are pretty
critical in winning the big games:
1. The game is controlled
on the mound and the pitchers have to throw their fastball for strikes
on both sides of the plate. You have to control the strike zone and make
the opposing team put the ball in play. If you give up eight or nine
hits a game, that's OK, but you can't mix in four or five walks and
expect to win. That means work quick in a good rhythm and keep your
defense in the flow of the game. That means your pitchers are throwing a
lot of first pitch strikes and staying out of hitter's counts, like
(1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2). What you would like to see is a lot of ten to
twelve-pitch innings.
2. You have to play sound
fundamental defense and minimize those four and five-out innings. Those
innings, accommodated with base on balls, absolutely are a recipe for
disaster. That doesn't mean you're not going to make errors, especially
physical ones, but you can't kick the ball around down the stretch and
expect to win. This goes without saying that in big games you can not
commit mental errors, like throwing to the wrong base and not keeping
the double play in order, or not collecting outs in bunt defensive
situations.
3. Teams down the stretch
have to "situational" hit, whether it be getting a bunt down late in the
game or hitting a ground ball, fly ball to the backside (which means
right of second base) with a man on second and nobody out. The other key
ingredient to situational hitting is scoring runners on third base with
one out or less, via a ground ball or sac fly. This is critical in
winning close games versus good pitching down the stretch.
As a team, these are the
little things that will help your team win a four-three ballgame, along
with good smart base running decisions. For example, ball in the dirt
and moving up to second to stay out of a double play or taking third
with one out to put yourself in a better scoring position. These, I
categorize as doing the little things that only the coaches and players
see as making a difference in winning and losing.
I feel if a team can do
these three things well down the stretch in big games, they will always
put themselves in a position to win. This may seem like pretty standard
stuff, but you will be amazed at how many little things cost teams wins
down the stretch.
Let me throw one more key
in that doesn't show up in the box scores, but can control the outcome
just the same:
4. You have to catch a
break from either a call made by the umpire or a bad hop single. That
may sound a little odd coming from a coach, but in the Regionals at LSU
in 1999, we were one strike call from getting out of the sixth inning
and keeping a six-run lead. I am not saying that call cost us the game
or the Regional, but it is those breaks that sometimes can put you over
the edge.
The same could have been
said in the 2001 Super Regional against Tennessee. We were one
borderline strike call from winning that first game and in all
probability going to Omaha. By no means am I slamming umpires. My point
is, you need that break that can propel you over the top, like a call or
bad hop single, something that may be out of the ordinary in a close
ballgame.
I hope that answers some
of our readers' questions and gives you a little inside insight of what
a coach preaches and turns his hair grey. My hat's off to the Pirates'
record-setting 19-game win streak. Unless you coach, sometimes it's hard
to understand just how difficult that feat is to accomplish. Go get 'em
Pirates!
If you
have a question or comment about the Pirates in particular or baseball
in general, fire your best pitch at Ol' Condo:
Sound off to Coach LeClair...
02.23.07 10:27 AM
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