Situational Hitting

[33rdst]

It's been said before but it deserves mentioning again, in light of the tough loss by Bedard yesterday. This team is awful at moving runners over and scoring men with less than two outs. I'll bet 50% of our losses can be attributed to our inability to situationally hit. The Friday night loss to New York and the first game of this series are but two examples of this.

Can't we get some guys that can at least put their bat on the ball in these situations? Man is this frustrating. Tejada,lour esteemed team leader, seems to be among the worst in these situations. I was at Sunday's game and in his first two at bats he had opportunities to move the runner over or drive him in and he did neither. Yesterday he did it again with Patterson in scoring position. it's the little things as much as the gaudy numbers that make you a team leader.

[LA2]

Mora and Conine once in a while show the intention and ability to do this. I agree that it's a sign of team leadership. Frank Robinson had no problem aiming a grounder to the right side, absorbing a HBP, or lofting a fly out to move a runner along when one run wd decide a game.

[Moose Milligan]

I like this thread. Little things like this are a big part of what makes a team a winner.

I haven't watched many of the Tigers games this year, but I'd be willing to bet they do a lot of little things right.

[Fan4Life]

It's been said before but it deserves mentioning again, in light of the tough loss by Bedard yesterday. This team is awful at moving runners over and scoring men with less than two outs. I'll bet 50% of our losses can be attributed to our inability to situationally hit. The Friday night loss to New York and the first game of this series are but two examples of this.

Can't we get some guys that can at least put their bat on the ball in these situations? Man is this frustrating. Tejada,lour esteemed team leader, seems to be among the worst in these situations. I was at Sunday's game and in his first two at bats he had opportunities to move the runner over or drive him in and he did neither. Yesterday he did it again with Patterson in scoring position. it's the little things as much as the gaudy numbers that make you a team leader.

The teams that get the the 3rd out when they need it, or, produce to score runs with two outs when they need it, are generally the most successful teams. Bedard could be 15-6 if not for the inability of our hitting being able to produce in a timely situation as well as his inability to get a key 3rd out when needed.

[ripkenfan]

We are quite possibly the WORST situational hitting team I have ever seen. It's pretty pathetic actually.

[isestrex]

This brings up a valid question:

Is this Terry Crowly's fault?

[AgentOrange]

We are quite possibly the WORST situational hitting team I have ever seen. It's pretty pathetic actually.

SH seems to get over looked. Great teams have great ABs. If you get out, have a productive AB at least.

There are going to be some people on here that will fight this one. I happen to like it though...

[billyc123]

I agree that we're pretty bad at this. When I don't get to see a game (like yesterday...or the day before:mad:), the first thing I look at in the box score is LOB. It seems that usually, we leave more men on than our opponent.

Which brings me to Mora's bunt yesterday. Was he doing it on his own or did Perlozzo call for it to move Fahey to 2b? Either way, I don't like it. I think it's a questionable call to take the bat out of Mora's hands, given that he's a pretty good hitter, "close & late" & if Mora does it on his own, he shouldn't have that kind of authority; if, on the other hand, Perlozzo called it, someone needs to tell him that sacrificing isn't always the right call.

The little things are extremely important in all sports, but it seems their importance is magnified in baseball, where there are so many & each has potential to impact the game's outcome.

[NewMarketSean]

Again, this has been a problem with the O's for the last 5 or so years (along with failure to hit LHP and holes at 1B, LF and DH). What is the FO going to do about it this season?

[Sports Guy]

I talked about Markakis yesterday.

He has 1 sac fly all year. ONE!

When there is a runner on third with less than 2 outs, he gets into like ground ball mode or something. He needs to learn the art of hitting the flyball when it calls for it.

[Hank Scorpio]

I dunno boys... I posted something the other day about our ineptitude with RISP and Drungo threw some stats at me.

Our OPS in general is like .757

Our OPS w/ RISP is like .744

In the 2nd half, we have GOT to be horrible though.

[AgentOrange]

Try to hit a fly ball and you're just as likely to hit a popup or miss the pitch completely. It amuses me how people think it's so easy to hit a sacrifice fly ball. I watch the Yanks & Mets and as good as they are, they fail all the time with runners on 3rd and less than 2 outs. Every team does. I'm not sure what our statistics are but it's not a matter of situational hitting. It's a matter of not having enough good hitters. I'm sure Markakis is trying to drive the ball or hit it hard somewhere. If he actually tried to hit a fly ball he'd be getting out of what he does best as a hitter and lessening his chances of driving in the run, IMO.

It actually is very easy to hit a Sac fly. I played in college, you don't have to worry about anything else but hitting the ball hard on a line somewhere. It usually ends up as a basehit or a fly out.

I am not saying you have to be 100%, just be more productive, you are a major league player, you should be able to do it.

[AgentOrange]

You must have been really good and really stupid. So you could hit the ball hard or on a line anytime you wanted. Why didn't you just do it all of the time and you'd be in the majors now?

No, every situation is different. You don't have to come across this way in your posts.

I was a smaller guy, when I was up, I could focus on hitting the ball hard and hitting the first pitch I could handle (if Runner on third and less than 2 outs). Thus this normally would result in a fly out. I never said it was easy to get base hits. Yet it is faily easy to produce a run with a runner on third and less than 2 outs.

[AgentOrange]

Maybe the quality of pitching you faced isn't quite the same as these guys are facing.

Do you actually think ML players don't want to drive the run in?

Do you think they're trying to hit popups, groundballs, or to strikeout?

The game was so easy for you. That's why you are posting on this board just like the rest of us.

I didn't say the whole game is easy.

Obviously, My skill level matched up well with the same skill as the players I was playing against. This is the same with Major league players.

The pitchers are vastly better than what I faced, but the hitters are more skilled than myself.

You just read what you want and roll your eyes. Thats really mature.

If you are a major leaguer and your only purpose is to get the runner home from third, its not that hard. And in fact, many major leaguers get them in around 70% of the time. I suppose it is very hard...

[Sports Guy]

No, every situation is different. You don't have to come across this way in your posts.

I was a smaller guy, when I was up, I could focus on hitting the ball hard and hitting the first pitch I could handle (if Runner on third and less than 2 outs). Thus this normally would result in a fly out. I never said it was easy to get base hits. Yet it is faily easy to produce a run with a runner on third and less than 2 outs.

Yes he does.

I get what he is saying but guys like Raffy were masters at hitting flyballs when they needed to.

It is all about getting the right pitch to hit. Yesterday, Nick swung at the first pitch, which was a cutting sinker in on his hands...Obviously that is not going to go in the air.

Early in the season, people got on him for not driving the ball...Again, the lack of sac flys shows that. People were also upset about him not comign through with RISP enough...This is another example.

Wait for the best pitch to hit and you will get a flyball. Swing at the wrong pitch and you won't.