Edgy MD

Ceetar wrote: nobodies getting fooled by Lucas Duda or some other masher occasionally deciding this at-bat he's going to lunge over the plate to slap one the other way, or working hard on bunting well in order to drop one down the third base line. You'd have to do it so regularly for it to move the spray charts. Unless you mean show bunt the first pitch to try to get guys to take a few steps over or in. I don't want Duda looking to flick pitches on the outside corner to the left trying to avoid the one guy there. I want him focusing on driving the ball. Which he does to all fields. He's only an extreme pull guy in terms of grounders. And grounders aren't really where Duda's going to be successful. .his low BABIP is a factor of luck, not the shift. (1) You don't have to bunt well in order to beat an extreme shift. Adequate suffices (2) Yes, making them let up on the shift is an aim of the occasional bunt. Getting an easy hit now and then would be another aim. But successful bunts, unsuccessful bunts, foul bunts or just squaring can all affect the positioning. (3) It ain't just DooDoo.

"Bunting Is for Losers" is shorthand for "Sacrifice Bunting Is for Losers." Bunting for hits is awesome and daring and honorable and keeps the defense honest. [fimg=400]http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mantle-Bunt-Spring-Reds-won-4-2-Elston-Howard-1963.jpg[/fimg] Rick Barry was convinced that any player in the NBA who was willing to work on the underhand free throw could hit at least 80%. Maybe that's self-serving. But when you got some rebounding masher hitting 40-50% of his free throws, it's a scandal that he doesn't at least try it. But nobody wants to look wishy-washy like Rick Barry. When the defense is handing you a hole, it's a damn shame that folks ignore it and keep trying to find a seam among five (out of seven) guys playing to one side of second base. But big beefy guys don't want to go against their apparent strength, no matter how much it has been compromised. But they should. That's how Colón became a folk hero.

Not that he's wrong but... Phil Mushy wrote: At a time when we’re debating which bathroom stall men, women and those somewhere in-between can use as a matter of liberty and law, could there be a greater monetized perversion of right from wrong? Give me about one second to answer that one, Phil.

Other ideas: Ty Kelly, T.J. Rivera, Brandon Nimmo, and a team-wide refresher course in protecting with two strikes. Stay in the at-bat, you Metly whiffers! Also, lay down a few bunts just to gum up the shift works. Bunting is beneath the dignity of nobody.

Points for not mixing the cleats up with your opponent's face.

I'm making a poster out of the Syndercaard and hanging it on my wall.

Great to see Irish's avatar back.

Adrian Beltre squeezes you, you just go to sleep real peaceful like.

There was a second confrontation in that game. What made it interesting to me was the coaching situation. On the Bleu Jays' side, they had a three manager day, after ejections of both manager John Gibbons (tossed for arguing balls and strikes) and DeMarlo Hale (likewise after his pitcher plunked Prince Fielder). I don't know who the third manager was, presumably hitting coach Brook Jacoby. On the Rangers' side, the coaching staff were taking their lives in their hands, trying to get in between their red-topped players and the Jays, while themselves wearing blue pullovers that made them look like a perfectly good target to a raging player. Rougned Odor landed a heckuva haymaker, but I'd sure hate to be on the wrong side of an Adrian Belte wallop. Footnote to the game was that Matt Bush walked off with his first career victory.

Now that's an ugh.

Nothing ugh about painting the corner for strike three on his last pitch. And nothing ugh about Big Jim Henderson. Big. Jim. Henderson.

Public opinion matters when dollars follow. Tyler Chatwood should not be pitching into the seventh against the Mets at Coors.

It used to be my sig line: "Stop ruthlessly pricking my gonfalon bubble!"

Well, I guess they lose series now. Nice relief from Dick Scott to no avail.

Wright look bad there.

Why did Gonzalez quit on that? He almost trapped it with his foot.

Time for a good time.

347 down the line is a different world.

Some crazy risk there, Wrighty.

Rilly sick of Granderson smashing the ball and it getting eaten up by the shift.

Two run double by a guy who should have been struck. And the Mets blew the double play. Hopefully, Duda isn't gun-shy about throwing across the diamond.

Dick Scott getting his first shot running the team.

Ashtin Gerberg, boy.

I don't think I particularly was. I was defending my position against an unreasonable critique. I apologize if it was less-than charitable. But... "I don't see why you like him so much." What kind of statement is that? I'm a Met fan. Do I need a reason to root for the guy? Has he maliciously hurt anybody? Is there some sort of moral falling in straining his rotator cuff? What sort of hook is he on? You've quit on Plawecki enough also. I don't know why, but you seem to be the first to quit on most everybody. I invite you, with all the friendship and kindness I have, to quit dogging all these guys and enjoy the game, despite all of its uncontrollable vicissitudes. It's one injury, at a position where they have a pretty solid plan B. The Mets rode the storm out last year and it worked out pretty good for them.

In part, yes, I'm referring to Josh Hamilton, even though Hamilton first re-asserted himself in Cincinnati. Beyond that, there's always been a market for redemption stories in the Cotton Belt.