How hard is it to ask a strategic question?

[eddie83]

Jim Palmer questioned as did this entire board Buck's decision in the 7th inning. In the post game interview did Jim Hunter even touch on the subject?, no.

I mean it is so insulting to the fans at home. How difficult is it to ask the manger about pitching Gallardo in the 7th inning? There is no point to these interviews at times at all. I don't expect Hunter to be as critical as a fan or newspaper writer but just ask the question. It isn't that difficult.

[Three Run Homer]

Has it even been confirmed that Brach wasn't available tonight?

[baltfan]

Buck does this. He likes to get a feel for guys and how far he can push them. He looks at things on the basis of the season in total, not one game. He got burned more than once with Chen doing this exact same thing.

[LA2]

Buck does this. He likes to get a feel for guys and how far he can push them. He looks at things on the basis of the season in total, not one game. He got burned more than once with Chen doing this exact same thing.

And finally figured out how to use him so well that Chen did a lot better than people expected.

[Frobby]

The Reporters who cover the Orioles really are poor at asking those kinds of questions. I agree that's it's not that hard to ask the question in a polite, open ended way. I have no doubt that Buck had his reasons for leaving Gallardo in, and I'd like to hear them, whether I agree with them or not.

[Larry18]

The Reporters who cover the Orioles really are poor at asking those kinds of questions. I agree that's it's not that hard to ask the question in a polite, open ended way. I have no doubt that Buck had his reasons for leaving Gallardo in, and I'd like to hear them, whether I agree with them or not.

Barry Svrluga talks about the tunnel vision a baseball beat reporter develops. Their primary focus is writing a game story about what happened not the managers tactical decisions. Since there is no way to quantify how a different decision would have affected the game most reporters will tend to not open that can of worms. Although Davey Johnson used ask Adam Kilgore for permission every once in a while.

[eddie83]

Barry Svrluga talks about the tunnel vision a baseball beat reporter develops. Their primary focus is writing a game story about what happened not the managers tactical decisions. Since there is no way to quantify how a different decision would have affected the game most reporters will tend to not open that can of worms. Although Davey Johnson used ask Adam Kilgore for permission every once in a while.

Interesting. I do not read the Post much but I certainly remember some articles calling out Matt Williams last year. I didn't watch his postgame press conferences so I don't know how much he was grilled. To me the strategic questions are they ones that interest me the most. We all watched the game we can see how the pitcher looked.

[Larry18]

Interesting. I do not read the Post much but I certainly remember some articles calling out Matt Williams last year. I didn't watch his postgame press conferences so I don't know how much he was grilled. To me the strategic questions are they ones that interest me the most. We all watched the game we can see how the pitcher looked.

Going into last nights game, the bullpen had thrown 38 innings in 10 games. I can understand a manager wanting to get 7 innings out of his veteran starter under those conditions. I don't know the health of each bullpen pitcher although I do know that Bundy and Wilson were used as starters prior to this season and may need more time to warm up and thus be more susceptible to fatigue than your standard bullpen arm. I think Buck is way above average in using his bullpen,and for me that's good enough to trust his judgement even when it doesn't make sense.

[eddie83]

Going into last nights game, the bullpen had thrown 38 innings in 10 games. I can understand a manager wanting to get 7 innings out of his veteran starter under those conditions. I don't know the health of each bullpen pitcher although I do know that Bundy and Wilson were used as starters prior to this season and may need more time to warm up and thus be more susceptible to fatigue than your standard bullpen arm. I think Buck is way above average in using his bullpen,and for me that's good enough to trust his judgement even when it doesn't make sense.

I think Buck is a outstanding strategic manager who does a great job protecting his arms. That being said he isn't flawless. It made no sense pitching Brach up 6 runs in the 8th the night before. Why not Bundy or Givens there?

He had O'Day up during the comeback so pitching him I had no issue with and I assume Britton was in to get work.

[baltfan]

This game is built upon egos and confidence. Buck is well-aware of that fact and plays the long game more often than not. Guys notice when you show confidence in guys.

[Ohfan67]

Buck was asked the question and it looks like every beat writer wrote about it.

[calmunderfire]

Jim Palmer questioned as did this entire board Buck's decision in the 7th inning. In the post game interview did Jim Hunter even touch on the subject?, no.

I mean it is so insulting to the fans at home. How difficult is it to ask the manger about pitching Gallardo in the 7th inning? There is no point to these interviews at times at all. I don't expect Hunter to be as critical as a fan or newspaper writer but just ask the question. It isn't that difficult.

Hunter's job is the day to day covering of the team and the games played. He's not paid to offer analysis and or fire the hard hitting questions. Those are the writers, bloggers and analysts on sports networks. Turn on MLB Tonight and they cover this stuff all the time. Only problems is they spread their time over 32 teams and not just the O's.

[Frobby]

Going into last nights game, the bullpen had thrown 38 innings in 10 games. I can understand a manager wanting to get 7 innings out of his veteran starter under those conditions. I don't know the health of each bullpen pitcher although I do know that Bundy and Wilson were used as starters prior to this season and may need more time to warm up and thus be more susceptible to fatigue than your standard bullpen arm. I think Buck is way above average in using his bullpen,and for me that's good enough to trust his judgement even when it doesn't make sense.

I give Buck a ton of deference. I just want the reporters to get him to explain his thinking.

[El Gordo]

I give Buck a ton of deference. I just want the reporters to get him to explain his thinking.

They asked and he answered: "sixth. He hasn’t recorded an out in the seventh since June 27, 2015 in Toronto, a span of 20 starts.

“He’s carrying good stuff,” said manager Buck Showalter. “I just didn’t want to take him much over 100 and whatever. But he’s fine. Colby (Lewis), a very similar outing. Just we didn’t pitch the last nine outs as well as they did.”

Showalter said he didn’t want to use three relievers who were needed to win last night’s game, an apparent reference to Brad Brach, Darren O’Day and Zach Britton.

“That kind of put us in a little different ... but you’ve got to use those guys to win a ballgame the night before,” Showalter said." Don't necessarily accept it. http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2016/04/wrapping-up-an-8-4-loss-1.html

[Frobby]

Thanks for posting. Buck's answer brings up another question, i.e., why did he use Brach and Britton in a game where the O's had a six-run lead the night before? It seems his reluctance to yank Gallardo after 6 was in large part because he didn't want to use those guys two nights in a row.

Oh well, I'm over it.