Baseball 101

[VeveJones007]

Tie game at home, you go with your best reliever in the 9th. You don't want to lose the game having your closer sitting the entire time having never thrown a pitch. On the road it's another story.

Besides, we didn't want this one to go extras. We used more of our bullpen than they did. We were outgunned for that one.

Exactly. Buck had to play for a win in 9 or 10. He did a great job using his best relievers in high leverage situations. The only guys who didn't come through were Patton (partially) and JJ.

[VeveJones007]

BTW, if you watched the extra inning games in September, you saw that Buck saved JJ for save situations until after the O's got the lead. He brought in JJ because it was him, Ayala, Hunter, or, dare I say, Pedro at that point. Of course you put in JJ.

[Babypowder]

This topic was tired the instant it was brought up. Do you know how many managers wouldn't have gone to their closer there?

The answer is zero.

[Can_of_corn]

True. Sadly it got us a loss yesterday. Now the pressure is on us, tonight is a must win.

I was being sarcastic.

BTW, if you watched the extra inning games in September, you saw that Buck saved JJ for save situations until after the O's got the lead. He brought in JJ because it was him, Ayala, Hunter, or, dare I say, Pedro at that point. Of course you put in JJ.

The game was at home. If at any point after JJ entered the game the O's held the lead, the game would have been over.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I did not see last nights game. Looking at the scorebox, why was Jim Johnson brought into the game in the 9th inning? We didn't have the lead. What are we going to do if the game goes into extra innings and we get the lead, he's not available to pitch since we already used him. I just don't understand why he was brought in for a tie game. Of course this is hindsight but just don't understand that logic at all. Any ideas?

Did you prepare for the playoffs by watching The Natural? Seeing Roy Hobbs hit a walk off homer in the top on the 9th is enough to confuse anyone about how the home team bats in the bottom of the inning.

EDIT: The scorebox?

[VeveJones007]

I was being sarcastic.

The game was at home. If at any point after JJ entered the game the O's held the lead, the game would have been over.

Yes. I was responding to those who wanted to seemingly hold out JJ indefinitely last night.

[sevastras]

Why Jim Johnson in a non-save situation?

Buck Showalter flunked out of Baseball 101.

:rofl: I see what you did there. The old (this morning) baseball 101 thread. I owe you tonight when I can give out more rep.:beerchug1:

The only reason you bring him in is for the hold for an inning or two giving your team the chance to win. It looked bitterly cold last night, and his sinker was coming in a bit high. The higher the sinker, the less sink as we saw with Martin taking it 6 rows back. I bet if it is 60 degrees out, you have a different ending to the story. Once he got a little warmer he kept it down better, but then you got a couple seeing eye singles. It was a bummer, but we have tonight.

[Fla_O'sfan]

Another thread with someone asking why Buck didn't wait to bring JJ into the game in a save situation?? There is no save situation in a home game that goes extra innings! As in NEVER!

[alaniee]

Say what you want - a win is a win to me. I don't care home or away. It cost us last night. Sucks

Now on to tonight, must win. If we don't, it's pretty much over. Pressure is on!

[Icterus galbula]

Another thread with someone asking why Buck didn't wait to bring JJ into the game in a save situation?? There is no save situation in a home game that goes extra innings! As in NEVER!

Seriously. I don't want to be mean, but I'm honestly wondering if the people complaining about this move just started watching baseball this week.

[The Wedge]

Seriously. I don't want to be mean, but I'm honestly wondering if the people complaining about this move just started watching baseball this week.

Well, the crux of alainiees argument seems to be he doesn't want JJ in unless he has a lead, which is understandable, I guess. It's coming from a feeling that he's not good unless he's a got a lead. However, it does discount the fact that he's our best reliever and once it was still tied in the ninth, he'd NEVER pitch with a lead. It's one thing to be wary of him coming in, it's another to obstinately keep arguing about how you only bring him in if there's a lead.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Johnson's last two games have been in non-save situations and he didn't pitch well in either game. So there's always the narrative where closers can't pitch well unless there's a save to be had. But in the regular season, I counted 17 games where he pitched in a non-save situation, and he only gave up runs in 1 of those games. It was a pretty epic meltdown, though - 5 runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Twins on July 16, in a 17-9 game. But in the other 16 games he gave up no runs, including September 12 against the Rays, where he (gasp) pitched the top of the 9th inning of a tie game that the O's won in the bottom of the inning.

He pitched badly last night, and that sucks, but I just don't see how you can say it was a poor decision.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, 9/12 was the game where Machado faked to first and caught the guy rounding third, so maybe JJ wasn't great in that game.

[Orange_Crush]

I wish they kept Matusz in. He could have gone another inning or 2 and looked sharp in the 8th, doubt we woulda scored on CC anyway