banks703

He is certainly over managing.

LOL

Would really have liked to see Ced explore the bunt for a hit there. Geesh.

He damn sure would

Does Hyde pinch run Mateo ?

It can’t go without mentioning how many close calls are going against the O’s while they seem to be going in favor of the Rangers

Thank goodness Ant got out of bed today

Buttholes á puckering

I wonder if they scouted Texas at all since Carter was promoted. He was on base like 7 of 8 ABs against the Rays. He’s now been on base 10 of 11 ABs this post season.

Need Hicks to do Hicks things here

Good thing Mountcastle feasts on lefties

58% breaking balls today. Going four and allowing only 2 with his command today is a win. The offense needs to do something.

They’re sitting on his stuff. It’s like they know what he’s throwing.

Going to the well way too much

I don’t love not having a lefty long man. I guess they can get multiple innings out of each of Danny, DLH and Cionel but Cionel has shown a propensity to falter in outings of multiple innings. Losing Means for this series really stinks on many levels. Very surprised Irvin was added but I suppose management knows better than us so LFG!

He would if another guy had better seats.

(or He)

What if Cionel continues to be nails in the post-season? I was certain that they would cut him loose earlier this year during his struggles but he has been really good the last six weeks or so and truthfully, I think I trust him more in the ninth right now than I do Cano unless the matchup is obnoxiously in Cano’s favor. I think it’s also possible that they tell TWells to prepare for the role in the off-season. All of this to agree that they do still need to go after a guy with closing experience… but that I won’t be surprised if they don’t. Hell, I could even see them being back Jorge Lopez to close if they think they can fix him in the off-season.

Great data per usual. The part about Gibson in the pen; I really think it comes down to who they draw. If the Jays get by Tampa, I really think Gibson will be given one of the starts. He was pretty dominant against the Jays this year (21 IP 5 ER - 2.14 ERA) as was Kremer (17 2/3 IP 3 ER - 1.53 ERA) and to a lesser extent but still very good was Bradish (14 IP 4 ER - 2.57 ERA). I know that a lot of us assume the rotation will be Bradish, GrayRod, Means and possibly Kremer but I think Gibson will get a start if they draw Toronto.

To anyone (and there are a bunch) who talks smack about Jim Palmer; kick rocks I know that a lot of folks don’t like Jim’s style and how he can miraculously remember everything it seems but look, they honored this man tonight and all that he could do was celebrate others. How can anyone not appreciate that?

They talked on the broadcast last night about how GrayRod was using his cutter during his first ten starts and how he was getting knocked around on the heaters. Ben mentioned how it's difficult as a pitcher to effectively command both the cutter and the slider and when they sent GrayRod down, they told him to work on FB command. I haven't heard anyone affiliated with the team say it outright that they told him to stop throwing the cutter (Cakes would say it about both GrayRod and TWells all the time and I can recall at least once during an in-game convo with whoever was mic'd up, Cakes said to tell Tyler to stop throwing the cutter). I can't find any data that shows that GrayRod has thrown a single cutter since his Aug 2 start against the Jays (he threw one to Vlad Jr.) Ben mentioned that he leads major league starters this year in 100+mph pitches and (I think it was Cakes) said that when he came back up to the big club, he stopped pitching like he was trying to strike out everyone. I haven't looked at the data enough to support or disagree with that statement but he's been so good since coming back from Norfolk that he's lowered his 7.35 ERA from his first 45 1/3 innings by three runs down to 4.35 over his last 75 2/3 innings, throwing to a 2.58 ERA over that span. I saw yesterday that only Bradish has been better over that time. I am confident that we can declare (at least I will) that the GrayRod that we've seen over the last 75 2/3 innings is the pitcher that he is going to be for a while. Damn it, it's nice to have him and KB and Means and even Kremer going into the postseason and next year with GrayRod, Bradish and Kremer all locked up at least through 2026.

@Roy Firestone I don’t think that I am in the minority when I tell you that I hope that you don’t ever stop posting content like this .. for us but also for yourself. It’s easy for us as fans to forget that, while we do love these players and their celebrity, it’s almost exclusively from a great distance. I appreciate that you participate with us on this board because it bridges a gap for us as fans, to the player as friends, through you. You have a uniqueness that the rest of us do not have in a legitimate closeness with people who are heroes to a lot of us. I’ve always felt had that your sharing is genuine and I thank you for it. We watch these supermen play a game for our entertainment and can overlook the fact that there is life and love beyond baseball. When I read about Brooks yesterday my heart sank so I immediately called my father. I’m sad for the loss of his hero and I’m sad as a lifelong Orioles fan but I’m most sad for the people who had the privilege of actually knowing Brooks and loving him closely. I think I can speak for a lot of us on the board when I tell you that we’re grieving for you and we’re very sorry for your loss and we hope that you never stop sharing these wonderful stories with us.

Exactly what I have been suggesting

Sure it could.. if he's terrified of letting the ball be put in play then he's pitching to strike out everyone and there's plenty of data that supports that hunting strikeouts leads to pitching more out of the zone which leads to more walks. A good defense behind a pitcher can make a huge difference. Look at Bradish's improvements - Walk Rate is down and K% is up. His GB% has increased. EV, Hard Hit% and LD% are up (albeit slightly) from last year but BABIP is down significantly from last year. His defense is making plays behind him.

Yeah, I didn't mean to deter from Bradish's excellence this year.