Mega Thread for Second Guessing Buck 8/9

[Going Underground]

Saw a great tweet yesterday: "The beer was cold, but Matusz and Gonzalez left it out on the counter all afternoon."

IMO, walking Trout and Pujols to get to Murphy (who kills us) is moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic with anyone else outside of O'Day or Britton in there. I wasn't able to watch the game yesterday but was keeping up with twitter updates and rolled my eyes immediately after I saw Matusz coming in. There's just no reason for him to be in that situation.

It was only him,Britton or Garcia left and Buck was not going to use Britton unless the Orioles went ahead.

[Old#5fan]

I like Buck but in watching the Orioles and rooting for them since 63 I think this was possibly the dumbest managerial move by an Orioles manager I have ever seen.

[tntoriole]

Buck made a mistake. Gonzalez made the biggest mistake with his two out two strike gift to Murphy. The bottom of the batting order stunk.

And Adam Jones who had an 0fer right in the middle of the lineup.

[Aristotelian]

IMO, walking Trout and Pujols to get to Murphy (who kills us) is moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic with anyone else outside of O'Day or Britton in there. I wasn't able to watch the game yesterday but was keeping up with twitter updates and rolled my eyes immediately after I saw Matusz coming in. There's just no reason for him to be in that situation.

Just to be fair, while there's absolutely no such thing as being "due," some guys do heat up or get locked in. Just look at Chris Davis for an example of a guy who goes from best in baseball to totally lost. Not sure how Murphy had been hitting before today's game, and I'm ready for some stat buffs to tell me I'm crazy, but I think you do need to look at how hot a guy is in the last 7 days or so.

No matter how hot a guy is, it is NEVER the right move to have Matusz face a right handed batter. Never. Look at his numbers and remember all the times we have been burned by him facing the worst right handed hitters.

Matusz had gotten Murphy in his last appearance (but gave up a base hit to Aybar).

[DJHJR86]

Do not agree with the intentional walks at all. Have to pitch to both Trout and Pujols in that situation.

[WNY Orioles Fan]

Do not agree with the intentional walks at all. Have to pitch to both Trout and Pujols in that situation.

I can kind of see the int walk to Trout, you can't let their best player beat you, but you have to face Pujols. At the very least, pitch him carefully and see if he swings at some junk.

[Frobby]

If Pujols had beaten us, folks would be second guessing Buck for pitching to him. IMO, we lost that game because we didn't score after the 6th inning. Simple as that.

[TheDirtyBird]

Why in the F did we not send out Britton in extras, yea we don't have the lead, but he could go multiple innings and we wouldn't have to throw Brian out there, so frustrating

[TouchemAll]

Not sure about the walks, but man trusting Matusz to throw strikes even to a lefty was even too much for Buck strategy.

I thought for sure Matusz was going to walk in the winning run, and of course at 3-2 he has to throw a meatball right over the plate and hope for the best well that back fired BAD.

On a GOOD note maybe that will let me watch the O's next year WITHOUT Matusz, lefty batter or not he's the LAST GUY in our BP I want in that do or die situation.

[WNY Orioles Fan]

If Pujols had beaten us, folks would be second guessing Buck for pitching to him. IMO, we lost that game because we didn't score after the 6th inning. Simple as that.

At least Matusz could have actually pitched to Pujols as opposed to Murphy considering the bases were loaded. He could have nibbled against Pujols. Against Murphy, he didn't have that option.

[Tx Oriole]

If Pujols had beaten us, folks would be second guessing Buck for pitching to him. IMO, we lost that game because we didn't score after the 6th inning. Simple as that.

I agree.

[crawjo]

I thought it was clearly the right move to walk both Trout and Pujols. I would have been shocked if they had allowed Matusz to face either one of those guys.

[LookitsPuck]

Right move to walk Trout and Pujols. Matusz is a disaster against righties. That said, we've seen Matusz meltdown with the bases loaded (he's walked in a run against the Rays and has went 3-2 on numerous batters after falling behind). So the outcome should have been no surprise.

But Buck's hands are tied. He had: Garcia, Britton and Matusz. The right play from Duquette is not to bring up a failed prospect (Lake) when you're playing down a man in the pen (having Garcia). That game is much different if Givens, Roe, Garcia, Britton and Matusz are available in the 10th. I don't think Buck trusts Roe that much lately but he had no choice. So he had to go to Roe because Matusz stinks against righties.

[Crazysilver03]

Maybe I missed it but why bring in a new pitcher to issue 2 IBB. I never understood this logic.

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[blid]

Maybe I missed it but why bring in a new pitcher to issue 2 IBB. I never understood this logic.

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He came in to face Calhoun. Then walked Trout/Pujols to get back to a lefty.

I don't really second guess the decision so much. We just didn't have the pitchers imo. Roe and Matusz can't really be counted on. And someone mentioned we'd regret trading Hunter... not really, I don't have much more confidence in him.

That's why Givens felt like such a revelation with what he was doing while he was up here. We didn't see him for long but having another lock down reliever would be a huge boon.