Frayed Knot

LUIS GUILLORME IS A GOD LIVING AMONG US

Thursday in Syracuse.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Can we just go straight from Max to Diaz? I'm tempted to just let Max pull the car into the garage himself ... but we've got time before we have to decide on that one.

We have had too many baserunners in this game to only have two runs. Need to tack on.

Edgy MD wrote: The hit-it-to-Canó strategy may have reached it's natural limits. He got a bit lucky on that one. Meanwhile, barely over four innings worth of pitches for the good Max to get thru five IPs And we are now officially into their pen ... which may or may not be a good thing.

~4-1/2 innings worth of pitches for Fried to get thru 3 And now starts the 4th with a 4 pitch walk to the best base running threat.

=Ceetar post_id=99276 time=1657565890 user_id=102] =roger_that post_id=99264 time=1657562002 user_id=128] Yeah, but that means that you've effectively moved the defense out of what they think is their best positioning against you. What I'm talking about here is bunting against the shift, not bunting against a more traditional defense.

And still no Marte.

The one variable I've introduced here that isn't being discussed is the "hitting a grounder towards an unoccupied 3B vs. bunting towards an unoccupied 3B" question. Am I wrong to think that the former is easier than the latter for most hitters? I would think that directing a bunt is MUCH easier than directing the ball via a swing. Swinging involves contact and timing, bunting just a pre-angled bat and contact. Both halves of that equation seem considerably easier to pull off without a full swing, even a controlled one.

Just as the "Walk him every time" crowd is/was wrong when they promote that strategy against the rival menace or even against Bonds in his prime (I remember various number crunching articles on that topic at the time) if the defense is giving you something approaching a 1.000 OBA by leaving half the field deserted then the lack of outs being committed would more than make up for the lack of XBHs

Of course the numbers will vary between specifically an 0-2 count vs the more general 'with two strikes', but the point still holds either way. Then tack on the JMcN was face maybe the best pitcher in the league this year, one of the points Ronnie was making. oe: cross-posted with above

It wasn't his last AB of the game but an earlier one when Alcantara was still in. It wasn't a bad idea, Ronnie was all in favor of it, just not great execution. Wonder if that's one of those things hitters practice for two minutes before getting bored and figuring that they're as good at bunting as they're going to get. And they've got to keep these players from having sex in the off-season. Probably the fuckin' CBA that keeps ownership from outlawing it.

11 - 6 / 3:32 was your final After the Yanx put up two-spots in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd innings I figured they were off to the races but, quite obviously, their all-er-nuthin' offense stalled after that, perhaps unable to figure out whose turn it was to hit the next 2R homer. Aroldis Chapman is now being used in 6th inning try-and-hold-em scenarios (he didn't) and Miguel Castro got pasted in the 8th: 4 runs (2 ER) didn't record an out and now sports a 4.00 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP Matt Carpenter had the 3rd inning 2R HR. He doesn't start everyday, but he's now 22 for 64 as a Yanqui with 13 XBHs, 10 of them HRs or just shy of half his hits! That translates to a slash line of .344/.477/.859 // 1307 or a 267 OPS+ This after spending his last three seasons in StL (2019-21) whopping his way to a .203/.305/.346 // 671, 82 OPS+ and only his talent for walks kept it that high. Looked at another way: 22 HRs in 763 ABs for '19-'21 vs 10 in 64 ABs this year for the now 36 y/o And before we cite the Little League RF fence, five of those ten HRs came on the road.

The Yanx, up 4-0 since about two minutes after tonight's SNB game at Febway began, are now down 11-6 in bottom 7 (3+ hours in). Miguel Castro among those getting their butts kicked.

I understand the use of it during the Covid season with the travel restrictions and desire not to have extra-long games mixed in. (I didn't LIKE it, but I understood it). My fear is that the longer it takes to go away -- as it was renewed for the second Covid season and then again this year due to the (slightly) condensed sked -- the less likely it becomes that it actually Will go away. Manfred swears it's out after this year. The DH was also a temporary experiment that supposedly needed periodic re-votes to keep it going. And then it didn't. So like a government program that has long out-lived its original mandate and its usefulness, I fear these rules become permanent by simple momentum.

After five straight zeros, Braves win in bottom 12.

Lindor's swing on the 2-0 count might have lost the game. He probably thought "he doesn't want to walk me with Pete on deck" and he wanted to be the hero so he swung on a low pitch that even the ump would have called a ball. Yup. I suspect he sold out on the fastball but got a slider instead. That's a very different AB with a 3-0 count rather than 2-1

Or maybe this is one that will go 15. Three half-innings worth of zeros so far.

So with a 1st pitch sac bunt, a 2nd pitch GO, and a 5-pitch K, the Nats fail to score the Manfred Man in top 10 Don't think I need to opine how this game is going to end.

Thought we caught a break when Alcantara was yanked after 7 with a low pitch count and a taxed pen ... but no.

Riley K's and they're going to the clown car rules in Atlanta.

Winning run on 2nd, two outs bottom 9, Austin Riley up who I believe is hitting .999 since June 1st

It's a beautiful day for a ballgame, let's score three.[/Erniebanks]

=Ceetar post_id=99108 time=1657470039 user_id=102] yes, but go ahead and challenge it with data, not lack of data.

Edgy MD wrote: Does anybody else think that analogy works? "there's no evidence for something but I'm still gonna insist it must be out there somewhere" No, he said that it Might (very different from 'must') exist to some degree or another even though current thinking says that it doesn't. But mainly he was simply using the concept of clutch as an example of a topic where we shouldn't act as if we already know all there is to know. Just because the current status quo replaced the previous one doesn't mean that the current one shouldn't also continue to be challenged.