I am confused. Left field at MMPUS is not hitter-friendly? I find that odd coming from the person who has perfected the left handed swing to lob an outside pitch into the Crawford boxes.
What is missing for any conversation about a hitters park is how you decide to pitch. Chris Holt had a terrible time adjusting to Enron Field because he never adjusted his approach from the Astrodome. Holt nibbled the corners on the outside, never pitched inside and thus he walked a fair amount of guys. In the dome, the chances of a big inning happening were slimmer for Holt because a fly ball went to die in the dome. At Enron, it's a three run cheap homerun. So the best thing to do is not walk anyone, which means you come inside more and quit nibbling at corners. But to come inside means you have to pitch to contact and trust your fielders to make the outs for you.
Last night, Woody Williams basically pitched to contact and allow his fielders to work for him. He had success at Tammy Faye, just like he has had success at Minute Maid too. Don't be afraid to pitch to contact unless you've got ungodly stuff and can just dominate the other team with your stuff. Few and far in-between any of those kinds of pitchers. So the Reds problem is one of adjustment for pitchers. Don't walk anyone because that could mean lots of bad things at Tammy Faye. And if you pitch inside, trust your fielders to make the play. But are they making the play? I dunno exactly, but haven't they had this same sceanrio before with Encarnacion and revolving door at shortstop? Looks like they need to pay attention to that pronto because if the left side is shaky, pitchers may not want to come inside to right handers any more. And you're back to square one.
And of course, this goes for the bullpen as well.
