Nick bunted on his own

[Moose Milligan]

It's one of those things, if he dropped a perfect bunt and all the runners advanced, we'd be applauding his baseball smarts, saying how smart and skilled he was due to catching the Sox off guard.

That bunt outcome was the worst possible outcome anyone could have thought of.

Nick took a risk and it totally backfired, he obviously didn't think it through. Unfortunately, he's cooling off which is a shame.

[russ snyder]

It's also a fools errand to assume that a huge inning would have most certainly happened. Runners on 1st and 2nd, if Nick grounds into a DP, then we have a man at 3rd with Hardy up who hits a single scoring one run. The next batter makes an out, the inning is over with one run scored. Way too many variables to say with complete certainty that we played ourselves out of a big inning.

This is a good point. You can't assume that Nick would not have hit into a double play or a double into the gap. Buck did a nice job of not throwing Markakis under the bus IMO. Even if Nick executed the bunt perfectly, Buck probably would have said something to him about sacrificing on his own.

[Tx Oriole]

Remember all that stuff people said about Nick being a "high baseball IQ player"? Those people need to seriously reconsider that assessment.

For the time being, I have no confidence in Markakis.

Big time over reaction

[Brendan25]

Remember all that stuff people said about Nick being a "high baseball IQ player"? Those people need to seriously reconsider that assessment.

For the time being, I have no confidence in Markakis.

I'm sure Markakis is fully aware that he's been swinging a hot bat since coming back from the DL. IIRC, he singled in his first at bat. There's no need to take the bat out of his hands and put it in Hardy's.

It was just a mind boggling decision whoever made it. And it cost us this game. Probably put us into a funk too.

Ok...? Thanks for the compliment.

The point remains: you don't have Babe Ruth bunt with nobody out and two on. Perhaps Markakis didn't make that call, but whoever did really needs to think.

These might be the 3 worst posts I have seen since joining this site. Holy cow talk about overreaction.

[Frobby]

I didn't see the game, but it seems like a pretty bad decision that was greatly compounded by poor execution leading to the worst possible result. I will only add that on the very few occasions where I have seen Nick attempt to bunt, he has never looked very good at it. He only has two bunt hits and four sacrifice bunts in his entire career. To me, the element of surprise is outweighed when you aren't very good at the surprising thing you are trying to do.

That said, do I trust Nick's judgment? Sure I do. Everyone makes a mistake sometime. Nick makes very few poor decisions compared to most players.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm sure Markakis is fully aware that he's been swinging a hot bat since coming back from the DL. IIRC, he singled in his first at bat. There's no need to take the bat out of his hands and put it in Hardy's.

It was just a mind boggling decision whoever made it. And it cost us this game. Probably put us into a funk too.

That's ridiculously over-the-top. If he pushes the bunt up the line and everyone is safe the play becomes part of the legend of the '12 Orioles. It didn't and suddenly Nick Markakis is a baseball dullard who can't be trusted?

[Orioles0615]

If he would of ran out of the box instead of sitting there for a few seconds thinking it was foul, he prob would of beat the relay to first.

[weams]

If he would of ran out of the box instead of sitting there for a few seconds thinking it was foul, he prob would of beat the relay to first.

I really hate when we lose.

[DrungoHazewood]

Ok...? Thanks for the compliment.

The point remains: you don't have Babe Ruth bunt with nobody out and two on. Perhaps Markakis didn't make that call, but whoever did really needs to think.

You know Babe Ruth had a bunch of sac hits in his career. The rule was a little different then and sometimes included other stuff like sac flies, but he definitely sac bunted a fair amount, including 10 times in 1926 when he had a 1.253 OPS.

[Trackmaster]

It's one of those things, if he dropped a perfect bunt and all the runners advanced, we'd be applauding his baseball smarts, saying how smart and skilled he was due to catching the Sox off guard.

That bunt outcome was the worst possible outcome anyone could have thought of.

Nick took a risk and it totally backfired, he obviously didn't think it through. Unfortunately, he's cooling off which is a shame.

No, I look at the a priori decision, not the outcome. I'm not a big fan of bunts in any scenario, but bunting with runners on 1st and 2nd at the major league level is just suicide. Any fielder worth their salt can simply field it and throw it to 3rd as easily as they can throw it to 1st.

Bunting a guy to 2nd or 3rd...at least that has a possibility of not ending in disaster. But statistical models and scenarios show that you're expected to get more runs with the extra out than the advancement of a base.

[CanadianOriole]

You know Babe Ruth had a bunch of sac hits in his career. The rule was a little different then and sometimes included other stuff like sac flies, but he definitely sac bunted a fair amount, including 10 times in 1926 when he had a 1.253 OPS.

Fire Miller Huggins!

[Brendan25]

I really hate when we lose.

[DrungoHazewood]

No, I look at the a priori decision, not the outcome. I'm not a big fan of bunts in any scenario, but bunting with runners on 1st and 2nd at the major league level is just suicide. Any fielder worth their salt can simply field it and throw it to 3rd as easily as they can throw it to 1st.

Bunting a guy to 2nd or 3rd...at least that has a possibility of not ending in disaster. But statistical models and scenarios show that you're expected to get more runs with the extra out than the advancement of a base.

Yes, but... game theory also says that it can be productive to occasionally use plays that are unexpected, otherwise the defense will set up knowing that you will never use them. A surprise bunt can be a wonderful, positive play because the defense is caught unaware. And when they get burned, they start cheating a little just in case, and you get a small advantage in the future.

It's a small-scale version of game theory with the extreme shifts teams use now. If David Ortiz dropped a dozen bunts for singles against the shift, you quickly reach the point where his near-1.000 OBP makes the shift counter-productive and it forces teams to play him in a non-optimal way.

[PaulFolk]

It's one of those things, if he dropped a perfect bunt and all the runners advanced, we'd be applauding his baseball smarts, saying how smart and skilled he was due to catching the Sox off guard.

Do you mean if he had successfully sacrificed? Or if he had beat it out for a single?

If it's the former, I wouldn't have been applauding his baseball smarts. I'd be lamenting giving up an out against a pitcher on the ropes who had yet to retire a batter in the inning.

If it's the latter...well, that wasn't gonna happen. When does Markakis ever beat out a bunt single? Perhaps it's happened at some point in his career, but I can't remember any.

Markakis's bunt was the turning point of the game. The O's were primed for a big rally against Buchholz, and they let him off the hook, never to score again. No excuse for giving up an at-bat in such a critical situation.

[BmoreMatt]

I didn't like the decision but it was poorly executed and that's the part that matters. All the what ifs are moot. In the 1st inning Mclouth had a swinging bunt after he showed bunt and advanced the runners from 2nd to 3rd and from 1st to 2nd. Same situation different outcome. It happens.

I have total confidence in Nick going forward.