FanPost

The Mark Connor Myth

It seems to me that on this blog, there is this pervasive idea that once Mark Connor comes for a mound visit, only bad things happen. I have never thought of Mark Connor as good for anything and I remember participating in the boos last year when he would come out.

But, at least to me, it seemed like he wasn't so ineffective this year and people seemed to completely ignore the good outcomes and highlight the bad. Sometimes it seems people will boo his mound visit when the mound visit the LAST INNING proved to work out.

 

So I did some dirty work:

Date Inning Pitcher Situation Outcome Success?
07/22/08 1 Mendoza walk, double, walk - 2 outs FO - 0R Y
07/22/08 4 Mendoza 1b, 1b, HR, double - 2 outs 2 1B -1R N
07/22/08 7 Nippert GO, FO, BB, 1B, BB, GS, 2B - 4R N
07/19/08 4 Harrison 1b, FO, BB, Force, 1B - 1R FO - 0R Y
07/19/08 5 Harrison GO, 2B, 2B, FO- 0R IBB, 2B, GO - 3R N
07/19/08 6 Nippert K, 1b, 2B, K, 2B, HR - 5R K - 0R Y
07/13/08 1 Harrison GO, 1B, HR, BB, 2B - 2R, Runners on 2nd, 3rd - 1 out GO, GO, - 1R M
07/13/08 4 Nippert FO, 1B, 1B, K, BB - 0R FO - 0R Y
07/12/08 3 Millwood BB, HBP, GO, FO, BB - OR, Bases Loaded, 2 outs 1B, GO - 1R N
07/12/08 9 Diaz 1B, E, SF, K, HBP, BB - 1R K - 0R Y
07/11/08 9 Madrigal BB,BB FO, FO, BB, Pitching Change (Eventually 0R) Y
07/10/08 3 Feldman 3B HBP, SF, BB, BB, SF, CS - 2R N
07/10/08 4 Feldman 1B, 2B, BB, HBP BB, GO, IBB, 1B, pitching change - 3R N
07/10/08 9 Wilson K,BB, BB, 1B - 0R BB, FO - 0R Y
07/09/08 7 Francisco FO, BB, FO, HR, 3B - 2R FO - 0R Y
07/08/08 9 Wilson GO, 1b, BB, GO - 0R IBB, GO - 0R Y
07/07/08 1 Mendoza BB, GO, 1B, 1B - 2R BB, GIDP - OR Y
07/07/08 2 Mendoza 1B, HR, GO, 2B, 1B - 3R HR, HR - 2R N
07/06/08 7 Wright GO, FO, K WP, BB - OR, 2 on 2outs GO - 0R Y
07/06/08 8 Wilson HR, FO, K, HR - 2R K - 0R Y
07/05/08 5 Feldman GO,1B, HBP - 0R, 2on 1out FO, GO - 0R Y
07/05/08 6 Feldman GO, GO, 1B, BB - 2on, 2outs FO - 0R Y
07/05/08 7 Francisco FO, 2B, 1B - 0R, 1st and 3rd 2 outs GO - 0R Y
07/04/08 2 Padilla GO, BB, 1B, 2B - 2R FO, 1B, GO - 1R N
07/02/08 3 Mendoza GO, 1B, E, FO, BB - Bases Loaded, 2outs GS - 4R N
07/02/08 7 Madrigal 2B, BB, 2B - 2R 2B, 1B, GO, 1B, Pitching Change - 3R N
07/02/08 8 Wright 1B, FO, 1B, GO, 1B, 1B - 1R, Bases Loaded 2outs 1B, FO - 2R N
07/01/08 4 Millwood GO, BB, 1B - 1R, 2on 1out K, FO - 0R Y
07/01/08 6 Rupe K, FO, 1b, 1b, 1b - Bases Loaded 2outs FO - 0R Y


In 29 mound visits (up to and including the game on July 22nd):
- 17 of them ended in 0 runs (success),
- 11 of them the opposing team scored runs (failure),
- 1 of them, the opposing team scored a run but the pitcher just yielded outs (undecided).

I'm not sure what expectations people have after a mound visit but a 59% success rate seems pretty good. Consider that if a pitcher requires a mound visit, he's already pitching badly and the expectation is probably that he's going to fail anyway. In some situations, you expect that nothing in the world is going to get the pitcher out of the inning short of the hook.