I dont think I've ever seen that many O's strike out looking

[Bazooka Jones]

Glad to see it. This team may have hope after all. Thy didnt chase a bunch of awful pitches that they had no chance of doing anything wih. If they keep tat mentality, they will get a lot if walks and score runs.

Agree with this. A lot of the calls were off the plate. I hate how umps position themselves off of the back sides of catchers rather than standing directly behind.

[Tony-OH]

A great hitter like Cano will think about how the other team is pitching him and instead of lookin middle in on the first pitch, actually look for the outside pitch and drive it the other way. We have guys like Hardy who can't even reach the outside pitch. His whole AB is centered around getting a mistake middle in. Did anyone on the team drive the ball to the opposite field tonight? There were some bad calls but we took a lot of fat pitches. I think Markakis alone was called out on strikes his last 3 times up. We have no go to guy. It's as simple as that. The game could have gone 20 innings. We weren't going to score. Score? A hit would have been nice. Last hit I remember was Reimold's cheapie into RF. Totally feeble at bats. When the other team is constantly pounding the outside corner with fastballs you have to adjust and look for it. We have a bunch of mistake hitters.

This is the unfortunate truth. Our approach the entire season has been terrible. The only guy who seems willing to go opposite field when they are pitching him away is Davis, and that's because the guy sells out his power to take base hits. It's obvious this team has no ability to situationally hit. I mean, how many times has this team had a guy on second with no outs or third with less then two and we have failed to advance them? That's what's so frustrating. It's just a poor approach. I agree 100 percent about Hardy. He's such a terrible situational hitter it's not funny. He has one swing and is you make a mistake middle in he's going to hit hard some place, but he's one of the last guys you want in there in a situational hitting situation.

[Tony-OH]

I like that the O's were taking pitches. I don't like that they seem to be a team in transition from hacking at whatever they see to selective aggression. We're in between. Even when we did swing the bat last night, many of our swings lacked any kind of authority. I really do think we're in transition to a different approach at the plate, but it was ugly.

With that said, what I learned last night was the Yankees have some real premium arms in the bullpen. Location + movement had us baffled. Their pitchers definitely deserve some real credit.

Taking pitches while working the starter is a great idea. It leads to longer at bats and the ability to get the starter out of the game. Taking pitches against relievers, especially relievers that were mostly throwing fastballs on the first pitch for strikes is ridiculous. There is a time to work the count and a time to be aggressive. The Orioles approach last night once they got into the bullpens were atrocious. The Yankees took advantage of a large strike zone by peppering the outside portion of the plate while the Orioles hitters kept getting int holes, pulling pitches foul, then watching strike three away. I give Martin a lot of credit, he basically went fastball on 1st pitch for a strike. Breaking stuff inside on second pitch (which most of our hitters pulled ridiculously foul), a waste pitch, then pepper the strike zone away.

[primetime]

Taking pitches while working the starter is a great idea. It leads to longer at bats and the ability to get the starter out of the game. Taking pitches against relievers, especially relievers that were mostly throwing fastballs on the first pitch for strikes is ridiculous. There is a time to work the count and a time to be aggressive. The Orioles approach last night once they got into the bullpens were atrocious. The Yankees took advantage of a large strike zone by peppering the outside portion of the plate while the Orioles hitters kept getting int holes, pulling pitches foul, then watching strike three away. I give Martin a lot of credit, he basically went fastball on 1st pitch for a strike. Breaking stuff inside on second pitch (which most of our hitters pulled ridiculously foul), a waste pitch, then pepper the strike zone away.

I agree.

I know we've been poor at seeing a lot of pitches, being patient, etc and I'm all for trying to improve in those areas.

However, when the Yankees run out a parade of strike throwing relievers, at some the hitters have to try to attack. When hitters are constantly behind in a count, it spells disaster for at bats; hence the weak swings and indecision later in the count.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not espousing we start going up and hacking at the first pitch but situations should dictate a change to the gameplan. The situation was pretty clear last night, Yankee relievers were pounding the strike zone early and often, which lead to our high K totals.

[Frobby]

This is the unfortunate truth. Our approach the entire season has been terrible. The only guy who seems willing to go opposite field when they are pitching him away is Davis, and that's because the guy sells out his power to take base hits. It's obvious this team has no ability to situationally hit. I mean, how many times has this team had a guy on second with no outs or third with less then two and we have failed to advance them?

To directly answer your question:

1. The team has had 10 at bats with a runner on 3B and less than 2 outs, and has scored the runner 4 times (40%) compared to league average 52%. One fewer run than expected.

2. The team has had 7 at bats with a runner on 2B and nobody out and has moved the runner over 4 times (57%) compared to league average (53%).

Perception is different from reality. There is this commonly-held belief that other teams are near-automatic at moving runners in these situations, whereas in truth the league-wide success rate is barely over 50%. The Yankees so far this season have only a 36% success rate with a runner on 3B and less than 2 out, and a 50% success rate with a runner on 2B and nobody out. These situations aren't automatic at all and the Orioles haven't been dramatically different from other teams in terms of success rate.

[CA-ORIOLE]

To directly answer your question:

1. The team has had 10 at bats with a runner on 3B and less than 2 outs, and has scored the runner 4 times (40%) compared to league average 52%. One fewer run than expected.

2. The team has had 7 at bats with a runner on 2B and nobody out and has moved the runner over 4 times (57%) compared to league average (53%).

Perception is different from reality. There is this commonly-held belief that other teams are near-automatic at moving runners in these situations, whereas in truth the league-wide success rate is barely over 50%. The Yankees so far this season have only a 36% success rate with a runner on 3B and less than 2 out, and a 50% success rate with a runner on 2B and nobody out. These situations aren't automatic at all and the Orioles haven't been dramatically different from other teams in terms of success rate.

Thanks for that post. I thought as much, but it's good to see it.

[NewMarketSean]

To directly answer your question:

1. The team has had 10 at bats with a runner on 3B and less than 2 outs, and has scored the runner 4 times (40%) compared to league average 52%. One fewer run than expected.

2. The team has had 7 at bats with a runner on 2B and nobody out and has moved the runner over 4 times (57%) compared to league average (53%).

Perception is different from reality. There is this commonly-held belief that other teams are near-automatic at moving runners in these situations, whereas in truth the league-wide success rate is barely over 50%. The Yankees so far this season have only a 36% success rate with a runner on 3B and less than 2 out, and a 50% success rate with a runner on 2B and nobody out. These situations aren't automatic at all and the Orioles haven't been dramatically different from other teams in terms of success rate.

The problem is comparing it to the league average and being OK with league average. It's time this team did something above the league average, and did it over the entire course of the season.

[Frobby]

The problem is comparing it to the league average and being OK with league average. It's time this team did something above the league average, and did it over the entire course of the season.

Look, I don't really disagree. I get just as aggravated as anyone else when we fail to advance a runner in these situations, and I would like to see the Orioles be one of the best at this aspect of the game. But I do think it is very important that people realize that these situations are nowhere near automatic for any team. Far from it.

[CA-ORIOLE]

The problem is comparing it to the league average and being OK with league average. It's time this team did something above the league average, and did it over the entire course of the season.

We stole bases better than league average last year. We held players from stealing bases and threw them out better than league average last year. We hit homeruns better than league average last year. When we get better players we'll do more things better than league average. It's that simple. The problem is thinking we can win by playing small ball, situationally hit or doing the little things like advancing runners and make some significant difference. I'm not saying we shoudn't play good fundamental baseball, but it's just not true.

[Sports Guy]

Yeah. It worked out well.

It will in the long run if that is the continued approach.

Swinging at pitches 5 inches off the plate is going to result in a ton of outs. They can't do anything with that.

I will continue to bring up Nick...go back in his game logs and take a look at his numbers when he is slumping. Everytime he slumps, he doesn't walk.

When Nick has had his best seasons, he has struck out more. One of the reasons he struggled so much last year early on is that he was swinging at a lot of pitches outside of the zone. Now, like I said, one of the times he struck out last night, I felt he should have swung the bat. It was a ball but it was very close. I don't want Nick to all of a sudden start saying, well I have to swing at that pitch 5 inches off the plate because it is just going to lead to outs and a big slump.

When he K'ed over 100 times, he had his best season and I don't thinmk its a coincidence. He had a good approach and part of that is not just swinging at anything close.

[Sports Guy]

Did you watch the game last night? There were a lot of very hittable fastballs taken early in the count and for strike three.

I am not talking about the pitches that were called for strikes. I was in and out in terms of watching the game. I saw them taking a lot of pitches that were called strikes that weren't close. I heard Palmer blasting the umpiring. I am talking about that...Its like Nick the other night when he argued. You want him swinging at pitches like that? You want this team doing that?

Not me...I would rather see them have a game like last night and lose but continue that approach long term. If they do, it will lead to a higher OBP and more runs in the long run.

[Sports Guy]

I don't want the team swinging at bad pitches. They didn't swing at a lot of good pitches last night. You also have to adjust to the umpires strike zone. If the ump is consistently calling a pitch 2-3 inches off the outside corner for a strike and you take that pitch with 2 strikes it's not smart.

Look, obviously I want them swinging at good pitches. This isn't about that.

Its about not swinging at pitches that you can't do anything with other than hit a meek ground ball or something.

I want this team to have the approach of I am not going to go up there and hack at everything. I want them to be more selective. It will lead to more runs, it will lead into getting into the other teams bp and things like that. That would be great to see.

[Stotle]

For what it's worth, pitch f/x says the game was umpired pretty darn well up, down and out to righties. Among Yankees pitchers, Garcia was given a couple inches inside and off the plate, and when the homeplate umpire was quick on the trigger with the relievers, it was also inside to righties.

Based on what I saw watching (about 60% of the game on and off) and what pitch f/x shows, the O's and Yankees hitters had a consistent strikezone with which to work, and it was essentially the by-the-book strikezone with some cushion for pitchers inside to righties.

[LookinUp]

For what it's worth, pitch f/x says the game was umpired pretty darn well up, down and out to righties. Among Yankees pitchers, Garcia was given a couple inches inside and off the plate, and when the homeplate umpire was quick on the trigger with the relievers, it was also inside to righties.

Based on what I saw watching (about 60% of the game on and off) and what pitch f/x shows, the O's and Yankees hitters had a consistent strikezone with which to work, and it was essentially the by-the-book strikezone with some cushion for pitchers inside to righties.

This is how I saw it. The terrible calls were few, in my opinion. Most of the time the Yankees were just locating the ball just off the black, or over the plate, and the O's never adjusted to swing the bat. Reminds me of the game against the soft-tossing lefty from Toronto a couple of years ago.

[El Gordo]

I agaree with the Ted Williams school. Don't swing at pitches you can't hit, regardless of the umps strike zone.