IGT 9/3/2013: NYM @ ATL - Ha! Medlen sucks

[Zvon]

And Young lines a single off him in the first. He's gonna steal.

[Zvon]

Duda doesn't look like Duda anymore. He looks like a young Jason Giambi. One who can't handle change-ups.

Its official: Ike's out for the season.

[Edgy MD]

Four innings in less than an hour. No truth to the claim that Matsuzaka can slow a game down from the bench.

[Zvon]

Nice little duel going on here.

[Edgy MD]

Nice triple, EY.

I'm still not dropping the egregious bunting charges I have on you.

[Zvon]

Ha! Gatis sucks and Youngs a crazyman. Just gets in under the tag. Opposite field triBOOM. 1 out. Murph up.

[Edgy MD]

An 0-2 dubble and Murph makes trubble. Mets lead 1-0.

[Zvon]

Man, Dan's eyes lit up when he saw that pitch and heeeeee ripped it. Stand up two bagger and we got lead.

[Zvon]

FknFrddyFrmn has a weird swing. Kinda like a tomahawk chop.

[Zvon]

Help yourself here Torres.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Randy Tatesque.

[Zvon]

I missed the first one. I didn't miss that one. I thought this was destined to be my first IGT win.

[Frayed Knot]

Do the Braves ever bring up a guy who doesn't seem to be ridonculously hot fresh out of the box?

Gattis (who they found sweeping the streets or something), Heyward, Freeman, Simmons, Kimbrel for example - and even going back in years to include Andruw, Francouer, Furcal, plus a bunch of guys I'm forgetting right now and virtually every starter and reliever they've ever had.
And even when those guys don't all stay great as their careers progress, the team always gets a couple of good years out of them while they're young & cheap & athletic without having to ever go through that painful break-in time that all normal rookies or newly imported players seem to need.

[Zvon]

Frayed Knot wrote: Do the Braves ever bring up a guy who doesn't seem to be ridonculously hot fresh out of the box? Gattis (who they found sweeping the streets or something), Heyward, Freeman, Simmons, Kimbrel for example - and even going back in years to include Andruw, Francouer, Furcal, plus a bunch of guys I'm forgetting right now and virtually every starter and reliever they've ever had. And even when those guys don't all stay great as their careers progress, the team always gets a couple of good years out of them while they're young & cheap & athletic without having to ever go through that painful break-in time that all normal rookies or newly imported players seem to need.

They got that down to a science.

[Frayed Knot]

It's like I get the feeling that had Kirk Nieuwenhuis come up through the Braves' system they would have brought him up two years earlier and instead of getting a few decent months out of him before things headed south, they would have gotten three really good seasons worth before the rest of the league figured him out. And when things reached that point they'd simply discard him in favor of some newer 20 y/o who'd tear things up for a while starting from day one.

[Guest themetfairy]

Poopy....

[Zvon]

I can't win one IGT this season.

[Frayed Knot]

My biggest complaint with Terry lately is that he's over-doing the double-switch; it's like he does it every time he changes pitchers.

Tonight he swapped out Satin for Turner when he brought in Black to get the final out because the pitcher's spot was four slots away. But what were the odds that he was going to use that pitcher for a second inning anyway? And once he made the switch we wound up with Turner (zero HRs on the year) PH-ing in a spot where a hail-mary longball was the Mets last best hope.
So either he goes with Turner and needs at least two consecutive hits off Kimbrel or he PH's for the guy he just brought in (with say Brown) and winds up wasting a player via a move that was designed to save one.



I heard Joe Maddon say recently that he never double-switches during a line-up change unless he knows he needs to get a second inning out of his pitcher. Terry's philosophy seems to be that he only double-switches when it's possible to do so.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: I heard Joe Maddon say recently that he never double-switches during a line-up change unless he knows he needs to get a second inning out of his pitcher. Terry's philosophy seems to be that he only double-switches when it's possible to do so.

Terry's like a kid with his new toys. He's been managing with a four (sometimes three) man bench all season long.

[Edgy MD]

Maddon, of course, rarely has it come up as an American League manager.

But yeah, sometimes a manager seems to go with the double switch just to show he's managing. Manuel seemed to do it all the time without going to the pitcher for a second inning. Besides weakening the lineup un-necessarily, it shortens the bench, and it telecasts to the other manager who you will have batting in the pitcher's slot, instead of giving you a chance to make a choice based on who the pitcher is and what the situation is.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I may have missed something but wouldn't you have wanted Brown up there when a 2-run homer is what you needed?

[Frayed Knot]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I may have missed something but wouldn't you have wanted Brown up there when a 2-run homer is what you needed?

Yes, that's the point.
But Terry, seeing as how he had just double-switched Turner into that slot just one or two ABs earlier, apparently felt it was a waste of manpower to PH for him so quickly and/or he was worried about defensive positioning going forward if Brown had run into one and tied the game. IOW, he was stuck with a problem that he himself created by doing the Turner-for-Satin d-switch in the first place when the whole advantage of such a swap (getting a second inning out of V. Black) was likely never to occur. And so, needing a HR, Turner hit while Brown did sit.

And I'm mainly bringing this up because this 'd-switch whenever he can' thing is a trend that I've been noticing with increasing frequency from Terry lately.

[bmfc1]

I'm glad that this was pointed out. I hate it when Terry makes a double-switch in the 5th or 6th inning. It's too early to remove a starter for a bench player and you often end up with an unfavorable matchup (e.g. lefty v lefty) but can't pinch-hit because you've already used up your bench.

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: ... I hate it when Terry makes a double-switch in the 5th or 6th inning. It's too early to remove a starter for a bench player and you often end up with an unfavorable matchup (e.g. lefty v lefty) but can't pinch-hit because you've already used up your bench.

And then it seems, as often as not, he'll wind up making a pitching change anyway negating the whole purpose of the d-s in the first place. That's why I liked Maddon's response: unless it's needed in order to get another inning out of the pitcher you're bringing in then it's probably not worth it -- and, yes, Maddon is in the AL and therefore not in position to make many, but when I heard him say that it was in answer to a question wondering if inexperience without the DH during an IL game was the reason he didn't employ a double-switch that particular night.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I don't mind a double-switch in the middle of the game on principle --- and heck, if you're aiming to get multiple innings out of your reliever, then yeah --- but if the advantage isn't gained, then it isn't gained.

And the presence of Turner simply has not been dovetailing with the presence of winning baseball.