I know it is useless to argue that Drew be benched, since his defense has been more than good so far in the playoffs and having youngsters at SS and 3B is a bit risky (and you loose a left handed bat), but again, more at bats last night that show how poor his approach has been and/or he is not seeing the ball well / guessing or something. Its not just the horrible results, its the shitty approach which is bothering me. I mean, what "advantage" does being a lefty confer if you just have a bad approach?
First at bat ("single" - aka Wainwright brain fart):
1st pitch: Called FB strike, bottom edge of zone (fine approach - they are all taking 1st pitch first at bat as they should)
2nd pitch: Lays off close high & outside ball (good)
3rd pitch: Swings at ball two - high FB (bad)
4th pitch: Lays off bounced curve in dirt that missed badly
5th pitch: Swings at what should have been ball four, popping up to pitcher (bad)
So as the leadoff batter in the 2nd, he should have been out for swinging at mostly balls and making poor contact (when everyone else was mostly squaring up Wainwright's stuff).
Second at bat (strike out looking):
1st pitch: Called strike (curveball) in lefty wheelhouse (ok, not looking for that one, so fine take)
2nd pitch: Takes FB that misses badly (good)
3rd pitch: Fouls back curve that is almost dead center in middle of the zone (bad)
4th pitch: Swings at low inside curveball that was a ball, strikes out (bad)
Third at bat (Axford pitching - strike out swinging):
1st pitch: FB cookie down middle, foul ball (bad)
2nd pitch: Low outside pitch - ball according to FX, called strike (not his fault obviously)
3rd pitch: Badly bounced curve, ball 1
4th pitch: Badly bounced FB, ball 2
5th pitch: Pitch up in zone, fouled off (bad)
6th pitch: Curve well below strike zone, swing and miss (bad)
Fourth at bat (Martinez pitching - ground out to first):
1st pitch: Sinker outside, ball 1
2nd pitch: Sinker outside, ball 2
3rd pitch: FB low inside, fouled off
4th pitch: Sinker same location, ground out to first
I mean, the only positive thing I can say about his efforts at the plate last night was that he made them throw 19 pitches in his 4 at-bats, which beat out Napoli and X's 18.
You could go back through all his postseason at bats and see the same things, over and over - taking obvious strikes, swinging at balls out of the zone, striking out looking, or making weak contact for an out, often on a pitch out of the zone. I mean, even the vast majority of pitches he laid off in this game were no where near the strike zone, so hard to give him huge credit for his "patience" - you and I would not have swung at most of those offerings. And he got several gift pitches that were dead in the middle of the zone, and could do nothing with them.
He just looks completely lost out there at the plate, despite getting the vast majority of at bats against righties. Thankfully does not seem to be affecting his glove work, meaning perhaps Farrell and others are giving him extra props for his defense in the dugout and in doing so helping to keep his head in this, which is good if that is the case.